Question 1

Bonnie and Clyde have decided to purchase a new entertainment center. Because this will be a major financial investment, they spend a lot of time researching their options. You, a psychology student, advise them to distract themselves with an alternate activity before they come to any purchase decisions. Is this really good advice?

Accepted Answer

A)  No, research has shown that people who approach complex decisions in a consciously deliberate fashion and then act immediately make better choices. 
B)  No, research has shown that people make better decisions when they study their options and act decisively before additional information causes them to change their minds. 
C)  Yes, research has shown that people who approach complex decisions after being distracted are more likely to make better decisions. 
D)  Yes, research has shown that a night of sleep is necessary before making a smart decision.

Question 2

A mindful person is characterized by all of the following EXCEPT that he/she

Accepted Answer

A)  has an active awareness. 
B)  engages in automatic behavior. 
C)  is mentally alert. 
D)  is aware of more than one perspective.

Question 3

Reliability is the extent to which a test measures what it is intended to measure.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 4

Who would benefit the most from making subgoals?

Accepted Answer

A)  Andy has to rake his yard. 
B)  Zach has to wash the dishes. 
C)  Todd has to complete a science fair project. 
D)  Pedro has a page of algebra to finish.

Question 5

Who is LEAST likely to exhibit mindfulness as part of their regular job responsibilities?

Accepted Answer

A)  an administrative assistant 
B)  a detective at a crime scene 
C)  the pilot of a plane 
D)  the usher at the movie theater

Question 6

The batting averages of major league baseball players have shown a steady increase over the last thirty years. This parallels which observation made from the world of intelligence testing?

Accepted Answer

A)  recency effect 
B)  primacy effect 
C)  Flynn effect 
D)  Whorf effect

Question 7

By definition, people who are gifted have

Accepted Answer

A)  an IQ of 130 or higher. 
B)  superior talent in a particular area. 
C)  superior creative thinking skills. 
D)  Either A or B.

Question 8

Sam manages a fast-food restaurant. He is frustrated because employees often call in sick at the last minute before they are supposed to start their shift. Given that Sam recognizes this problem, what should he do next?

Accepted Answer

A)  Sam should call a meeting with all his employees and explain the problem to them. 
B)  Sam should threaten to fire anyone who calls in sick just prior to the start of their shift. 
C)  Sam should evaluate his employee policies. 
D)  Sam should define the problem in detail.

Question 9

Whenever scientists use theories and intuitions to make specific predictions and then evaluate their predictions by making further observations, ________ is at work.

Accepted Answer

A)  inductive reasoning 
B)  fixation 
C)  deductive reasoning 
D)  functional fixedness

Question 10

________ thinking is best when a problem has only one right answer.

Accepted Answer

A)  Convergent 
B)  Conceptual 
C)  Automatic 
D)  Divergent

Question 11

When developing the Binet Intelligence Test, it was assumed that mentally retarded children would perform like normal children of a younger age.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 12

Dan is at an international food fest with his fraternity brother, Abayomi. When Dan is served a dish of Mopane worm stew, Abayomi tells him reassuringly, "That's good food!" Given that Dan understands the concept of food, Dan knows that

Accepted Answer

A)  it would be very unwise to eat this cuisine. 
B)  the stew will taste awful. 
C)  it is okay to eat the worm stew. 
D)  his algorithm for food is different than Abayomi's algorithm.

Question 13

The prototype model is used when people evaluate whether a given item reflects a certain concept.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 14

Being receptive to other ways of looking at things is best described as

Accepted Answer

A)  prejudice. 
B)  hindsight bias. 
C)  automaticity. 
D)  open-mindedness.

Question 15

Because humans are pre-wired to acquire language, it can be learned in a social vacuum.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 16

The bicycle talked the boy into buying a candy bar. This sentence is

Accepted Answer

A)  pragmatically correct but syntactically incorrect. 
B)  semantically correct but syntactically incorrect. 
C)  syntactically correct but semantically incorrect. 
D)  syntactically and pragmatically incorrect.

Question 17

Compare and contrast the human brain with a computer.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Compare and contrast the human brain with...

Question 18

You have to cook dinner for 30 people on Saturday of this coming weekend. Your apartment is a mess, and you have nothing to wear. You decide to do your laundry Thursday night, buy the groceries on Friday, clean the apartment Saturday morning, and cook the dinner Saturday evening. This process of defining intermediate problems is known as

Accepted Answer

A)  creating subgoals. 
B)  using algorithms. 
C)  using heuristics. 
D)  fixation.

Question 19

You have to study four chapters of information for your next test. If you decide to use the problem solving strategy of using subgoals, you must

Accepted Answer

A)  cram the night before the test. 
B)  breakdown the topics to be studied and focus on each in an organized sequence. 
C)  decide who should be your study partner. 
D)  study the learning objectives for each chapter instead of reading the chapters.

Question 20

Cognitive psychologists are interested in examining all of the following except

Accepted Answer

A)  problem solving. 
B)  idea formation. 
C)  classical conditioning. 
D)  decision making.

Exam 8: Thinking, Intelligence, and Language

A mindful person is characterized by all of the following EXCEPT that he/she

Reliability is the extent to which a test measures what it is intended to measure.

Who would benefit the most from making subgoals?

Who is LEAST likely to exhibit mindfulness as part of their regular job responsibilities?

The batting averages of major league baseball players have shown a steady increase over the last thirty years. This parallels which observation made from the world of intelligence testing?

By definition, people who are gifted have

Sam manages a fast-food restaurant. He is frustrated because employees often call in sick at the last minute before they are supposed to start their shift. Given that Sam recognizes this problem, what should he do next?

Whenever scientists use theories and intuitions to make specific predictions and then evaluate their predictions by making further observations, ________ is at work.

________ thinking is best when a problem has only one right answer.

When developing the Binet Intelligence Test, it was assumed that mentally retarded children would perform like normal children of a younger age.

Dan is at an international food fest with his fraternity brother, Abayomi. When Dan is served a dish of Mopane worm stew, Abayomi tells him reassuringly, "That's good food!" Given that Dan understands the concept of food, Dan knows that

The prototype model is used when people evaluate whether a given item reflects a certain concept.

Being receptive to other ways of looking at things is best described as

Because humans are pre-wired to acquire language, it can be learned in a social vacuum.

The bicycle talked the boy into buying a candy bar. This sentence is

Compare and contrast the human brain with a computer.

You have to study four chapters of information for your next test. If you decide to use the problem solving strategy of using subgoals, you must

Cognitive psychologists are interested in examining all of the following except