Question 1

Think of 10 animal names that begin with the letter R. This problem would probably be solved using a ______ technique.

•             A. means-end analysis

•             B. reasoning-by-analogy

•             C. gestalt restructuring

•            D. generate-and-test

•             E. productive-thinking

Question 2

The problem-solving technique of ______ involves comparing the goal with the starting point, thinking of possible ways to overcome the distance between them, and choosing the best one.

•             A. generate-and-test

•             B. means-end analysis

•             C. reasoning by analogy

•             D. mental set

•             E. introspection

 

Question 3

When one recalls the solution to an old problem and uses it to solve a new, similarly structured problem, one has reasoned by:

•             A. introspection

•             B. analysis

•             C. analogy

•             D. backtracking

•             E. working memory

 

Question 4

When you adopt a certain framework or strategy for solving a series of problems, you may fail to see other, more efficient ways of solving some of the problems. This is referred to as:

•             A. functional fixedness

•             B. procrastination

•             C. a heuristic

•             D. mental set

•             E. reasoning by analogy

 

Question 5

Study of chess masters indicate that masters:

•             A. consider more possible moves than novices do

•             B. choose the best move only after lengthy consideration

•             C. extract more information from a brief exposure to a chess board

•             D. are better at planning future moves than novices are

•             E. consider more possible “reply” moves by their opponents

 

Question 6

When you walk away from a difficult problem and do something else for a while, then come back and solve the problem successfully, you have experienced the

•             A. incubation effect

•             B. mental-set effect

•             C. unconscious-processing effect

•             D. problem-space effect

•             E. functional-fixedness effect

Question 7

Which type of reasoning results in conclusions that contain new information?

•             A. inductive reasoning

•             B. deductive reasoning

•             C. invalid reasoning

•             D. both inductive and deductive reasoning

•             E. neither inductive nor deductive reasoning

Question 8

Some members of the Jones family are tall. Some tall people play basketball. Which of the following is true?

•             A. Logically, some members of the Jones family play basketball

•             B. Logically, no members of the Jones family play basketball

•             C. Most people assume that some members of the Jones family play basketball

•             D. Most people assume that all members of the Jones family play basketball

•             E. Most people assume that no members of the Jones family play basketball

 

Question 9

Which of the following is a difference between everyday reasoning and formal reasoning?

•             A. In everyday reasoning, all premises are usually supplied

•             B. In everyday reasoning, there is typically one correct answer

•             C. In everyday reasoning, problems are solved as a means of achieving other goals

•             D. In formal reasoning, problems are not self-contained

•             E. In formal reasoning, the content of the problem typically has potential personal relevance

Question 10

The tendency to seek out information that supports our current beliefs is called:

•             A. a believability effect

•             B. a content effect

•             C. a confirmation bias

•             D. syllogistic reasoning

•             E. false induction

Question 11

According to psychologists, human decision making often falls short of optimality because:

•             A. there is not enough information available to make a rational decision

•             B. one cannot be rational under conditions of uncertainty

•             C. the information available overwhelms the cognitive processes

•             D. rationality assumes a higher degree of intelligence than most people have

•             E. true rationality can only be achieved by a computer

Question 12

Which of the following is NOT one of the five phases of decision making, according to Galotti?

•             A. goal setting

•             B. information gathering

•             C. planning

•             D. random choice

•             E. decision structuring

Question 13

When we assess probability by judging the ease with which relevant examples come to mind, we are using the heuristic of:

•             A. representativeness

•             B. availability

•             C. framing

•             D. hindsight

•             E. the law of small numbers

Question 14

Because of the representativeness heuristic, we are likely to erroneously assume that which of the following sequences of coin flips is more probable?

•             A. heads–heads–heads–heads–heads

•             B. heads–tails–heads–tails–heads

•             C. heads–heads–tails–tails–tails

•             D. tails–tails–tails–tails–heads

•             E. heads–tails–heads–tails–tails

Question 15

According to research on the anchoring phenomenon,

•             A. even when given additional information, people refuse to depart from their original “anchors.”

•             B. people ignore rational anchors that should influence their subsequent estimates

•             C. even when the anchor is arbitrary, people are unwilling to adjust upward or downward from that anchor by large amounts

•             D. anchoring can result in serious overestimation of quantities such as 1 x 2 x 3 x 4 x 5 x 6 x 7 x 8

•             E. people should never use anchors in judgment

Question 16

Past events seem “inevitable” due to the action of the:

•             A. framing effect

•             B. hindsight bias

•             C. gambler’s fallacy

•             D. availability heuristic

•             E. illusory correlation

Question 17

Patients with prefrontal cortex damage tend to show deficits in their:

•             A. intelligence

•             B. semantic memory

•             C. working memory

•             D. inductive reasoning

•             E. deductive reasoning

Question 18

Field-independent people:

•             A. find it easy to identify embedded figures in a larger picture

•             B. find it difficult to identify embedded figures in a larger picture

•             C. rely primarily on external referents in processing information

•             D. rely upon others in ambiguous social situations

•             E. rely upon both external referents and others in processing information

 

Question 19

Research has suggested that experts are more likely than novices to:

•             A. perceive subtle distinctions between stimuli

•             B. categorize stimuli based on perceptual similarities

•             C. chunk information into meaningful configurations

•             D. perceive subtle distinctions and chunk information into meaningful configurations

•             E. perceive subtle distinctions, categorize based on perceptual similarities, and chunk information into meaningful configurations

Question 20

Research on ways of knowing has established that:

•             A. connected knowing is consistently more prominent in women than men

•             B. a person’s “way of knowing” can shift with the context in which a person is interacting

•             C. ways of knowing are stable characteristics

•             D. ways of knowing predict different kinds of performance on cognitive tasks

•             E. socioeconomic status, level of education, and cultural heritage do not interact with gender in determining ways of knowing

Question 21

Susceptibility to certain kinds of visual illusions may depend on:

•             A. schooling

•             B. visual acuity

•             C. literacy

•             D. experience in certain environments

•             E. religious beliefs

Question 22

Studies of the Kpelle children of Libya (regarding clustering in a memory recall task) suggest that:

•             A. people in some cultures do not have long-term memory

•             B. long-term memory processes vary dramatically across cultures

•             C. the Kpelle are incapable of using clustering to aid recall

•             D. the Kpelle are capable of learning to use clustering, but never get the amount of benefit from the technique that American children do

•             E. more sophisticated participants spontaneously engage in organizational strategies to aid recall, while less sophisticated participants are not likely to engage in such behaviors without explicit instruction to do so

Question 23

Cross-cultural studies of categorization have shown all of the following EXCEPT:

•             A. As children grow older, they become more likely to sort objects by function rather than by perceptual characteristics (color or size)

•             B. As children grow older, they increase their abilities to sort systematically by any criteria (function, color, size, etc.)

•             C. Education seems to play little role in categorization ability

•             D. Categorization of familiar materials is easier than categorization of unfamiliar materials

•             E. Mayan first-graders were almost completely unable to re-sort a set of stimuli that had previously been sorted by another dimension

Question 24

Studies comparing Mano farmers and American undergraduates on sorting cards and bowls of rice indicate that:

•             A. different cultures’ exposure to stimuli affects how people in those cultures sort objects

•             B. schooling affects how people sort objects

•             C. intelligence varies across culture

•             D. different cultures’ attitudes affect how people in those cultures sort objects

•             E. innate perceptual abilities play a strong role in sorting tasks

Question 25

Studies of logical reasoning among nonliterate cultures show that:

•             A. the ability to accept initial premises that contradict one’s own experience is culturally universal

•             B. nonliterate participants treat general premises as descriptions particular to one person’s experience only

•             C. both literate and nonliterate participants have no trouble seeing premises as interdependent parts of a single problem

•             D. literate participants show a greater tendency than nonliterate participants to introduce new premises into a logical reasoning task

•             E. nonliterate participants show accurate recall of individual premises of a reasoning task, although they cannot come to a reasonable conclusion from those premises

Question 26

Content effects in formal reasoning tasks are:

•             A. greater for Americans than for Koreans

•             B. equal for Americans and Koreans

•             C. greater for Koreans than Americans

•             D. never found at all in Koreans

•             E. never found at all in Americans

Question 27

Different cultures develop different counting systems. The Oksapmin children of New Guinea learn to count using a system based on:

•             A. branches of trees

•             B. petals on flowers

•             C. body parts

•             D. types of animals

•             E. types of fruit

Question 28

Which of the following is NOT a way in which culture affects cognition, according to Vygotsky?

•             A. Cultures arrange for the occurrence of non-occurrence of particular problems

•             B. Cultures determine the frequency with which problems occur

•             C. Cultures determine which events go together

•             D. Cultures regulate the level of difficulty of tasks

•             E. Cultures regulate the value attached to certain abilities

Question 29

Scribner and Cole did discover some literacy effects among the Vai people, most having to do with:

•             A. logical reasoning

•             B. spatial cognition

•             C. knowledge of language

•             D. arithmetic skill

•             E. confidence in problem solving

Question 30

Research on situated cognition suggests that:

•             A. practical thinking is less flexible than formal, classroom thinking

•             B. practical thinking employs methods that are more likely to be inaccurate

•             C. practical thinking is tailored to specific contexts, whereas classroom thinking is more abstract

•             D. practical thinking is only found in classrooms

•             E. classroom thinking is more socially oriented than practical thinking

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS

Discussion Questions (DQ)

• Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, including a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
• Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
• One or two-sentence responses, simple statements of agreement, or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
• I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.

Weekly Participation

• Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
• In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
• Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
• Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.

APA Format and Writing Quality

• Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
• Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
• I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.

Use of Direct Quotes

• I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’s level and deduct points accordingly.
• As Masters’s level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
• It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.

 

LopesWrite Policy

• For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
• Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
• Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
• Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.

Late Policy

• The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
• Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
• If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
• I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
• As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.

Communication

• Communication i