The sudden discovery of the correct solution following incorrect attempts based primarily on trial and error is called
insight
Functional fixedness refers to
not seeing a new function for a familiar object
Claudia wants to send a fragile vase to her parents for their anniversary, but she can’t find any appropriate packing material in her house. She decides to pop some popcorn and use that to pack around the vase. In this case, Claudia has,
overcome functional fixedness in solving her problem
Eva just upgraded her software package. However even though the updated version contains a number of more efficient methods for working with files, Eva continued to work with files the way she did before the upgrade. In this case, Eva is showing evidence of
mental set
Lance is trying to solve a complex anagram puzzle. He systematically tries every potential solution by testing each possible combination of the letters provided. In this case, Lance is
using an algorithm to solve the anagram
Salvador hates to work through the problems on his calculus assignments step-by-step and he often tries shortcuts that might save him some time. It appears that Salvador prefers to use
heuristics rather than algorithms in solving calculus problems
The availability heuristic implies that people will _____ the frequency of events that are easy to remember and _____ the frequency of events that are hard to remember.
overestimate; underestimate
Zackary’s friend asks how well Zackary gets along with his younger brother. Zackary thinks about how irritating his brother was yesterday, and the big fight they had as a result, and tells his friend he doesn’t get along with his brother at all. in this instance, Zackary’s response is consistent with
the availability heuristic
The representativeness heuristic refers to our tendency to
estimate the probability of an event based on how similar it is to the typical prototype of that event
Malcolm has been watching a roulette type game at a local charity bazaar. The game has only 10 numbers on the wheel, and every number except 8 has come up as a winner during the last 15 minutes. Malcolm decides to bet $10 on number eight, because it has come up eventually. in this case, Malcolm is showing evidence of
the gambler’s fallacy
The conjunction fallacy is a tendency to
believe that the odds of two uncertain events happening together are greater than the odds of either event happening alone
Mr. and Mrs. Jones have five daughters. Hoping for a son, they decide to have a sixth child, reasoning that a boy is long overdue. Is their reasoning correct, and why?
No – the probability of a sun is unaffected by the sex of the previous children
Mirabel is on a jury and she is already convinced that the defendant in the case is not guilty. She listens very attentively to everything the defense attorneys have to say, but she tends to pay less attention when the prosecution is presenting evidence. In this instance, Maribel is showing evidence of
a conformational bias
Overestimating the accuracy of your answer illustrates
The overconfidence effect
Researchers presented two groups of physicians with information regarding a surgical procedure. Half the physicians were told that on average 15 out of 100 people die as a result of the surgery; the remaining physicians were told that on average 85 out of 100 people survived the surgery. Based on the framing effect you should expect
The second group of physicians would be more likely to recommend the surgical procedure to their patients
Cognition refers to
The mental processes involved in acquiring and using knowledge
You have a pair of pliers and a bag of nuts in the shell. You are lamenting the fact that you can’t shell the nuts because you do not have a nutcracker. Your inability to perceive the pliers as a makeshift nutcracker demonstrates _____ on your part.
functional fixedness
A methodical step-by-step procedure for trying all possible alternatives in searching for a solution to a problem is
an algorithm
Vivian is making a quiche for the very first time. She carefully follows the step-by-step directions provided in her cookbook in this case Vivian is using
an algorithm to help her prepare the quiche
A mental “rule of thumb” for problem-solving is referred to as
a heuristic
Basing the estimated probability of an event on the ease with which instances come to mind is called the
Availability heuristic
You can’t think of a single instance when cathy helped you out and so you decide that cathy must be an ungenerous person. Your judgment is based on
the availability heuristic
When people overestimate the frequency of violent crimes because these events generate a great deal of media coverage, they are using
The availability heuristic
Juliana used to enjoy eating chicken, but since she has seen all the headlines about people becoming ill from eating chicken, she has decided she will never eat chicken again. In this case, Juliana’s decision to stop eating chicken may have been influenced by
The availability heuristic
The representativeness heuristic refers to our tendency to
estimate the probability of an event based on how similar it is to the typical prototype of that event
After seeing your new neighbor walking very stiffly and primly by your house wearing horn-rimmed glasses on a chain, a cardigan sweater, and her hair in a bun, you decide she must be a librarian. Your judgment is based on
The representativeness heuristic
Byron has been watching his new neighbor for a week. She drives a sporty car, carries cell phone, and wears nothing but blue suits. Byron decides his new neighbor must be a lawyer. In this case, Byron must seem to have an opinion about his new neighbors occupation based on
The representativeness heuristic
When Dave started driving, he had to use a navigation system to get around his city. Over time, Dave could drive through his city without the navigation system because he knew the names of all the roads and had a visual image in his mind of where they are. Dave has most likely developed a _____ of his city.
Cognitive map
Bob and Marcus packed everything they thought they would need for a camping trip. When it rained and they realized they had not brought rain gear, Bob said "I knew we should have packed raincoats." Bob's thinking illustrates which of the following concepts?
Hindsight bias
Molly wants to change her college major but decided not to because she is close to finishing. She believes that the time she has spent in her current program will be wasted if she changes now. Molly is experiencing
the sunk-cost fallacy
Metacognition refers to
thinking about thinking
Most tests using the deviation IQ set mean at _____ and the standard deviation at _____.
100; 15
In comparison to most other types of psychological tests, IQ tests tend to be
exceptionally reliable
In which of the following cases is the correlation between IQ scores the lowest?
siblings reared apart
The fact that the correlation in IQ scores between identical twins reared apart is lower than that between identical twins reared together suggests that
environmental factors can have an influence on intellectual development
The consensus among researchers is that _____ percent of one's intelligence is inherited.
around 50%
Which of the following would constitute the strongest evidence for environmental influence in intelligence?
similarity in IQ between adopted children and their foster parents
Which of the following appears to be the most responsible for ethnic differences in IQ?
the cultural disadvantages associated with a lower-class upbringing
When compared to children from middle- and upper-class backgrounds, lower-class children tend to
all of these factors
Which of the following is not one of the seven types of intelligence proposed by Gardner?
emotional
Creativity involves the generation of ideas that are
original, novel, and useful
The test you are now taking is an example of
an achievement test
If 80% of those who provided the basis for the test norms for a test earned scores below your score, you would be at the
80th percentile
In a normal distribution of information, most persons will be found
in the center of the distribution
Any psychological test should be seen as
a sample of a person's behavior
An elementary school child is given a test designed to determine whether or not she should be placed in a class of "gifted" children. The test is probably
an intelligence test
An achievement test measures
a person's mastery and knowledge of a subject
At the end of her calculus course, Mary takes a test to determine how well she has mastered the material. Her calculus test is primarily
an achievement test
Interested in learning how to fly airplanes, Roger has just taken a test designed to predict how well he is likely to do in a pilot training program. Roger has taken a(n)
aptitude test
Exams given at the end of a course to determine how much you have learned in the course are most appropriately called
achievement tests
The fact that two people taking the same test in two different places will receive the same instructions, the same questions, and the same time limits means that the test has been
standardized
If a psychological test is to tell you how you score relative to other people, the following must be developed
test norms
If 30 percent of a reference group scored higher than you on a test, your score would be at the
70th percentile
An individual's percentile score is the percentage of people who
score at or below his or her score
If a test yields nearly identical scores when it is retaken after a 2-month interval, the test is said to be
reliable
Test-retest procedures are used to determine a test's
reliability
Which of the following represents the strongest test-retest reliability for a test?
.90
If a test accurately measures what it was designed to measure, we would say that the test is
valid
The degree to which the items on a test are representative of the "domain" it is supposed to cover is referred to as
content validity
If you wanted to be able to predict how successful you would be at being an engineer, you would take a test that measured your potential for this profession. It is hoped that the test would be high in
criterion-related validity
The correlation between a group's scores on an industrial aptitude test and actual performance on the industrial job would describe the test's
criterion-related validity
When tested on the Stanford-Binet, Ada is found to have a mental age of 8. This means that
her performance was as good as that of an average 8-year-old child
If a child's chronological age matches his or her mental age, then the child's IQ would be approximately
100
Jerome is 8 years old and has been determined to have a mental age of 10. What is Jerome's IQ?
125
Maranda tells you that her 12-year-old cousin recently completed an intelligence test that translated raw scores into deviation IQ scores. Maranda knows that her cousin's score was 75, but she is not sure what this means. You should tell her that her cousin
scored below the mean for 12-year-olds
Since IQ scores are assumed to be normally distributed, an IQ score of 100 would put you
at the center of the normal curve
In convergent thinking one attempts to
narrow down a list of alternatives to solve a problem
The letters of IQ stand for
intelligence quotient
In analyzing factors in intelligence, Charles Speaman emphasized a general intelligence factor known as
g
Lanette is arguing with her professor that questions on her last test were not covered during lectures or in the textbook. Lanette is basically arguing that the test was not
content valid
If a child's chronological age matches his or her mental age, then the child's IQ would be approximately
100
Howard Gardner has tried to expand our thinking on intelligence, contending that traditional IQ tests are too narrowly focused on verbal and mathematical skills. In addition to these, his list of human intelligence includes
spatial, musical, and interpersonal skills
Your group has been considering various ideas for a group project for the past three weeks. You currently have 16 different ideas, but you're required to hand in your final topic selection in class tomorrow morning. This task will be easiest to complete if most of your group members are skilled in which of the following?
convergent thinking