Cognition

Pablo vainly searches for a screwdriver while failing to recognize that a readily available coin in his pocket would turn the screw. His oversight best illustrates: 

• functional fixedness.
• the availability heuristic.
• belief perseverance.
• the representativeness heuristic.

A defense attorney emphasizes to a jury that her client works full-time, supports his family, and enjoys leisure-time hobbies. Although none of this information is relevant to the trial, it is designed to make the defendant appear to be a typical member of the local community. The lawyer is most clearly attempting to take advantage 

• confirmation bias.
• functional fixedness.
• belief perseverance.
• the representativeness heuristic.

Which of the following is TRUE?

• People underestimate the accuracy of their judgments.
• People pay closest attention to information that disconfirms what they believe.
• It is difficult for most people to explain away their failures.
• People are overconfident about how they will perform on various tasks.

Advertisers know that a thirty-three percent discount sounds like a better deal than a discount of one third.  This best illustrates:

• framing.
• belief bias.
• representativeness heuristics.
• confirmation bias.

Maintaining one's conceptions even after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited is known as: 

• the representativeness heuristic.
• belief perseverance.
• confirmation bias.
• functional fixedness.

In English, it is appropriate to refer to “a pretty bird,” but not to “a bird pretty.”  This best illustrates the importance of:

• syntax.
• semantics.
• morphemes.
• phonemes.

Using different words for two very similar objects enables people to recognize conceptual distinctions between the objects. This illustrates: 

• telegraphic speech.
• linguistic determinism.
• functional fixedness.
• the representativeness heuristic.

Which language theorist would have been most likely to emphasize that children master the rule for forming the past tense of regular verbs like "push" before they learn common past tense constructions of irregular verbs like "go"? 

• B. F. Skinner
• Benjamin Lee Whorf
• Noam Chomsky
• Hermann Ebbinghaus

Problem solving is one type of cognitive activity in which we all engage.  Which of the following cognitive tendencies is seen to be an obstacle to problem solving?

• availability heuristic
• insight
• prototype confusion
• confirmation bias

Noam Chomsky’s theory of language acquisition holds that people have an inborn universal grammar that makes learning of language easy for children.  Which of the following statements is used as support for this theory?

• Children repeat words that they hear frequently.
• Regardless of the language learned, children tend to make similar errors of grammar when they first begin to learn language.
• Chimpanzees and other apes can easily learn language.
• Some children’s vocabularies are extensive, despite the fact that they may live in poor environments