CHAPTER 11: Discussion Questions and Problems
1. Differentiate the following terms/concepts:
a. Dictator and ultimatum games
b. Trust and reciprocity
c. Conformity and groupthink
d. Economic man and real people
2. Discuss the merits of the following statement: The evidence clearly indicates
that proposers in dictator games care about fairness because they send
responders more than they have to.
In the ultimatum game, responders reject positive offers viewed as unfair and proposers’
behavior may indicate a taste for fairness as they, on average, send more than the
3. In 1962, U.S. President John F. Kennedy took specific actions to avoid the
pitfalls of groupthink in deciding how to proceed during the Cuban Missile
Crisis. Conduct your own research and write a few paragraphs evaluating the
steps taken and their effectiveness.
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4. Your firm has built a manufacturing plant not too far from a large European
city. You are a member of a management team that is charged with designing
employment contracts that promote high effort among the employees. What
factors might you bring to the attention of the team? Would your answer change
if the manufacturing plant is located near a fairly isolated village in a developing
nation?
5. The highly successful on-line auction site eBay has attracted millions of buyers
and sellers. In these faceless exchanges, trust on both sides of a transaction could
be of concern. One action eBay has taken to promote trust in exchanges is to
allow feedback. Why is this so important and effective?
Feedback allows the generation of reputation.