You should answer two of the question sets below. They are of equal value — 15% each. Each set refers to one of the set readings.
Make sure to label your answers so I know which sets you have chosen and which questions you are answering.
Please submit your answers in a single Word document.
A.Nordell, “The Bias the Blinds” https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/sep/21/bias-that-blinds-medical-research-treatment-race-gender-dangerous-disparity
1. Nordell explores three possible areas of explanation for differences in health among different social groups. One “originates in the bodies of the patients”. A second focuses on “the social and environmental determinants of health”. She uses the story of her friend Chris’s mystery illness to illustrate the third. In your own words, what is it? In a sentence or two, explain how Chris’s story serves as an example.
2. According to Nordell, “women have historically been excluded from much . . . medical research.” Why does she think this has happened? How might that exclusion lead to poorer medical care for women?
3. What is “choice architecture”? Give an example of its effectiveness from your own experience.
4. Nordell says that medicine has been based on “an operating assumption that men were the default humans”. In an essay of about 500 words, discuss some of the consequences of similar assumptions [about sex, about culture, about age, about class] in business education and in organizations.
B. Hunt, “What Personality Are You? ”https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/aug/30/myers-briggs-test-history-personality-types
1. Hunt repeatedly likens the Meyers Briggs typology to astrology. In a paragraph, discuss how they are similar, and how they are different.
2. How might taking the Meyers Briggs test increase your effectiveness when working in teams? How might it decrease that effectiveness?
3. According to Hunt, the Meyers Briggs test “parses people through false binaries.” In a sentence, explain what she means. Is she right to claim that, in contrast, “most of us fall somewhere along a spectrum”? Why [not]?
4. In an essay of about 500 words, discuss the risks and benefits of the use of psychometric tools in organizations? Where and why might they improve operations? Where and why might they damage them?
C. Kahneman et al, “Bias Is a Big Problem. But So Is ‘Noise.’
1. What do Kahneman and his co-authors mean by “noise”? Define the term in your own words and give an example from your own experience.
2. How are errors of judgement caused by noise different from those caused by bias?
3. How, according to the authors, can the damage from noise be minimized?
4. In an essay of about 500 words, discuss how Hult might reduce noise in its grading? What reforms do you suggest? What benefits might those reforms have? What might be their costs?
D. Lowrey, “Could Index Funds Be Worse than Marxism? ”https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/04/the-autopilot-economy/618497/
1. Lowrey says that index funds are “passively managed”. In your own words, explain what she means by this term.
2. According to Lowrey, what are the advantages of passively managed index funds for investors?
3. Why do you think they have outperformed other kinds of investment vehicle?
4. In an essay of about 500 words, explain why she thinks these funds might be bad for economies and societies.
