AP Psychology Thinking 2

  Dr. Mendoza is studying the mental strategies people use when solving problems. Dr. Mendoza is clearly a(n): 

• Cognitive psychologist
• Experimental psychologist
• Organizational psychologist
• Developmental psychologist

A mental grouping of similar things, events or people is called a(n):

• Prototype
• Concept
• Algorithm
• Heuristic

Confirmation bias refers to the tendency to:

• Allow preexisting beliefs to distort logical reasoning
• Cling to one’s initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited
• Search randomly through alternative solutions when problem solving
• Look for information that is consistent with one’s beliefs

Mental sets and functional fixedness are types of:

• Algorithms
• Heuristics
• Fixation
• Insight

A strategy in which the likelihood of an event is estimated on the basis of how easily other instances of the event are available in memory is called the:

• Availability heuristic
• Availability algorithm
• Representativeness heuristic
• Representativeness algorithm

The term used to describe the mental activities involved in acquiring, retaining, and using knowledge is:

• Cognition
• Learning
• Perception
• Sensation

When Janice forgot to pack a pillow for her camping trip she used her down-jacket as a substitute pillow. In this situation Janice:

• Was not constrained by functional fixedness
• Was constrained by a mental set
• Was constrained by functional fixedness
• Used an algorithm to solve her problem

A dessert recipe that gives you the ingredients, their amounts and the steps to follow is an example of a(n):

• Prototype
• Algorithm
• Heuristic
• Mental set

Which of the following is an example of the use of heuristics?

• Trying every possible combination of letters when unscrambling a word
• Considering each possible move when playing chess
• Using the formula “area=length x width” to find the area of a rectangle
• Playing chess using a defensive strategy that has often been successful for you

A prototype is a:

• Step-by-step procedure for solving problems
• Mental grouping of similar objects, events or people
• Best example of a particular category
• Simple thinking strategy for solving problems efficiently