Question 1

Which of the following statements best captures the relationship among mental representations, images, and propositions?

Accepted Answer

A)  Propositions and images are symbolic, whereas representations are analog. 
B)  Propositions and representations are types of images. 
C)  Images and representations are types of propositions. 
D)  Images and propositions are types of representations.

Question 2

What does it mean to say that people are "loss averse"?

Accepted Answer

A)  People will risk losing only those things that they feel are unimportant. 
B)  People are unwilling to risk losing what they already have, even for the possibility of greater gains. 
C)  People are unwilling to gamble when a problem is framed in terms of losses. 
D)  People will stop gambling only when they find themselves on a losing streak.

Question 3

Which of the following is the term for "shortcut" judgment strategies?

Accepted Answer

A)  syllogisms 
B)  heuristics 
C)  System II thinking 
D)  insights

Question 4

Any time we try to solve a problem, judge the truth of an assertion, or weigh the costs and benefits of an important decision, we are engaging in __________.

Accepted Answer

A)  directed thinking 
B)  analogical representation 
C)  automaticity 
D)  mental rotation

Question 5

Participants are asked to judge whether a string of letters forms a word in English. The first string they receive is the word violin. On a subsequent list of words, results show that the participants are substantially faster at answering "Yes" to the word piano than to the word toilet or basket. What does this result exemplify?

Accepted Answer

A)  episodic memory 
B)  mental set 
C)  automatization 
D)  semantic priming

Question 6

"Your goals should be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, and Realistic, with a Timeline," advises a text used in a freshman seminar text used at your college. The objective of this advice is BEST described as helping students to __________.

Accepted Answer

A)  turn ill-defined problems into well-defined ones 
B)  develop positive mental sets 
C)  restructure well-defined problems 
D)  develop problem-solving expertise

Question 7

Solving an algebra problem is to improving one's marriage as __________ is to __________.

Accepted Answer

A)  means-end analysis; restructuring 
B)  ill-defined problem; well-defined problem 
C)  restructuring; means-end analysis 
D)  well-defined problem; ill-defined problem

Question 8

It has been a long day and Lana is tired. At this point, she will probably rely on __________ thinking in making judgments.

Accepted Answer

A)  System I 
B)  System II 
C)  rule-driven 
D)  central

Question 9

Say you meet a woman who opposes the death penalty, then decide that, generally, women are more likely to oppose the death penalty than are men. That is, you assume that the individual case is representative of its category. Here you have fallen prey to __________.

Accepted Answer

A)  affective forecasting 
B)  the representativeness heuristic 
C)  the availability heuristic 
D)  the confirmation bias

Question 10

When people are asked which is more common, death by homicide or death by stroke, they often choose the former (homicide) because they simply hear more about it than they do the latter (stroke). This means they are being led astray in their judgment by __________.

Accepted Answer

A)  the representativeness heuristic 
B)  a mental set 
C)  the confirmation bias 
D)  the availability heuristic

Question 11

In one version of the selection task, participants are told to turn over cards to verify the rule "If there is a vowel on one side of the card, there must be an even number on the other." One-third of the participants turn over only the card showing a vowel. This error may be seen as exemplifying __________.

Accepted Answer

A)  the confirmation bias 
B)  the representativeness heuristic 
C)  the availability heuristic 
D)  pragmatic reasoning

Question 12

Which of the following phenomena is NOT an obstacle to high-quality decision making?

Accepted Answer

A)  satisficing 
B)  framing effects 
C)  poor affective forecasting 
D)  having too many options

Question 13

With which concept is the Stroop effect most commonly associated?

Accepted Answer

A)  automatization 
B)  chunking 
C)  the feeling of knowing 
D)  selective forgetting

Question 14

Your text reports a study by Gilbert in which participants could choose a photograph to keep. Some participants had the option of revising their choice; others did not. What did the researchers find in this study?

Accepted Answer

A)  People disliked having the option to revise their choice, but were more satisfied with their choice in the end than were participants who could not change their mind. 
B)  People disliked having the option to revise their choice, and were less satisfied with their choice in the end than were participants who could not change their mind. 
C)  People liked having the option to revise their choice, and were more satisfied with their choice in the end than were participants who could not change their mind. 
D)  People liked having the option to revise their choice, but were less satisfied with their choice in the end than were participants who could not change their mind.

Question 15

Dr. Terwilliger asks a sample of undergraduates how they think they would feel after receiving a low grade on a test or assignment and how they think they would feel after receiving a high grade on a test or assignment. She then has the students record the nature and intensity of their feelings each time they receive a test or assignment grade for the remainder of the semester. Based on your text's discussion of affective forecasting, which pattern of results should Dr, Terwilliger find?

Accepted Answer

A)  The students accurately predicted that they would feel bad after a low grade and good after a high one, but they overestimated how bad or good they would feel. 
B)  The students accurately predicted that they would feel bad after a low grade and good after a high one, but they underestimated how bad or good they would feel. 
C)  The students accurately predicted that they would feel bad after a low grade and good after a high one, and they accurately predicted how bad or good they would feel. 
D)  The students inaccurately predicted both the nature and intensity of their feelings after either low or high grades.

Question 16

Which of the following individuals is CORRECTLY matched with the type of thinking he or she is demonstrating?

Accepted Answer

A)  Clay is determining which of several used cars is least likely to present a maintenance headache, based on his friend's testimonials. He is problem solving. 
B)  Darla is concluding that a particular model of used car is a poor investment over the longer term, based on her ideas regarding the resale values of different types of cars. She is making a decision. 
C)  Emilio is "thinking outside the box," trying to come up with a novel way to earn the cash for a new used car. He is demonstrating creativity. 
D)  Frankie is planning to pick up some extra shifts so he can buy a used car he has his eye on. He is reasoning.

Question 17

As compared to System I thinking, System II thinking is __________.

Accepted Answer

A)  faster but less accurate 
B)  faster and more accurate 
C)  slower and less accurate 
D)  slower but more accurate

Question 18

In a lexical decision task in which subjects must judge whether or not a string of letters forms a word in English, subjects are first shown the string BANANA. According to research on spreading activation, which of the subsequent strings will take the least time to be judged to be a real word?

Accepted Answer

A)  APPLE 
B)  ANANAB 
C)  MAVEN 
D)  BANDANA

Question 19

Which of the following individuals is engaged in reasoning, as your text defines the term?

Accepted Answer

A)  Clay, who is determining which of several of used cars is least likely to present a maintenance headache. 
B)  Darla, who is concluding that a particular model of used car is a poor investment over the longer term, based on her ideas regarding the resale values of different types of cars. 
C)  Emilio, who is "thinking outside the box," trying to come up with a novel way to earn the cash for a new used car. 
D)  Frankie, who is planning to pick up some extra shifts so he can buy a used car he has his eye on.

Question 20

"All A are B. All B are C. Therefore all A are C." This is an example of a(n) __________.

Accepted Answer

A)  associative link 
B)  heuristic 
C)  invalid statement 
D)  syllogism

Exam 9: Thinking