The process of filling out an NCAA bracket, as well as the accompanying cognitive processes displayed by bracket pool participants, serves as an interesting opportunity to observe a number of the concepts we covered during our discussions of perception and decision making. As such, your task for this assignment is to think about how some of these concepts are at play in this context.

Specifically, pick 5 of the concepts below and explain how each might come into play when someone takes on the task of making bracket predictions and thinking about the likelihood of their bracket’s success:

Self-serving bias                                                                      

Halo effect/horns effect

Rational decision-making model      

Contrast effect

Bounded rationality              

 Intuition

Overconfidence bias                                                                

Confirmation bias

Availability bias                                                                         

Escalation of commitment

Randomness error                                                                   

Risk aversion

Hindsight bias                                                                           

Anchoring bias

Fundamental attribution error

For each of the 5 concepts you pick, do the following:

-Provide a brief “in your own words” explanation of the concept and how it factors into perception or decision-making processes

-Explain how this concept could be a factor in the way a person makes bracket predictions and/or thinks about the likelihood of their bracket’s success