Chapter 8 Thinking, Language, and Intelligence

Which term refers to all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating?

• algorithm

• heuristic

• cognition

• mental set

A chess-playing computer program that routinely calculates all possible outcomes of all possible game moves best illustrates problem solving by means of

• the availability heuristic.

• belief perseverance.

• an algorithm.

• framing.

Simple thinking strategies that allow us to solve problems and make judgments efficiently are called

• fixations

• heuristics

• prototypes

• algorithms

The use of heuristics rather than algorithms is most likely to

• save time in solving problems.

• yield more accurate solutions to problems.

• minimize the overconfidence phenomenon.

• involve greater reliance on convergent thinking.

The confirmation bias refers to the tendency to

• search for information that supports our preconceptions.

• judge the likelihood of events on the basis of how easily we can remember examples of them.

• overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgments.

• make judgments in a very inefficient, time-consuming fashion.

Because she believes that boys are naughtier than girls, Mrs. Zumpano, a second-grade teacher, watches boys more closely than she watches girls for any signs of misbehavior. Mrs. Zumpano’s surveillance strategy best illustrates

• the availability heuristic.

• confirmation bias.

• framing.

• belief perseverance.

Some people are unable to arrange six matchsticks to form four equilateral triangles because they fail to consider a three-dimensional arrangement. This best illustrates the effects of ________ on problem solving.

• fixation

• heuristics

• framing

• overconfidence

Wording a question or presenting an issue in such a way that it evokes a desired judgment is called

• framing

• confirmation bias

• belief perseverance

• an algorithm

Consumers respond more positively to ground beef advertised as “75 percent lean” than to ground beef described as “25 percent fat.” This illustrates that consumer reactions are influenced by

• belief perseverance

• confirmation bias

• the availability heuristic

• framing

Experts would most likely agree that intelligence is a(n)

• inborn ability to perform well on standard intelligence tests.

• mental ability to learn from experience.

• general trait that underlies success on nearly any task.

• multiple array of completely independent adaptive traits.