1. Thinking may be best defined as
A. the manipulation of mental entities.
B. the process of identifying problems.
C. an effortful process
D. communication of information.
ans: A
weight: 1

2. A mental category that groups objects, relations, activities, abstractions, or qualities having common properties is called a/an:
A. Mental set
B. Stereotype
C. Concept
D. Prototype
ans: C
weight: 1

3. According to the availability heuristic, the tendency to judge the probability of an event depends on:
A. the need to be right which makes it hard to listen to the available information with an open mind.
B. statistical consideration of the frequency with which the event occurs in everyday life.
C. the burden of doubt people feel about their abilities to determine probability from available information.
D. whether or not the event is more available mentally than other types of events.
ans: D
weight: 1

4. Confirmation bias refers to the tendency to:
A. allow preexisting beliefs to distort logical reasoning.
B. cling to one's initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited.
C. search randomly through alternative solutions when problem solving.
D. look for information that is consistent with one's beliefs.
ans: D
weight: 1

5. Failing to solve a problem that requires using an object in an unusual way illustrates the phenomenon of:
A. representativeness heuristic.
B. Mental set.
C. hindsight bias.
D. cognitive dissonance.
ans: B
weight: 1

6. Which of the following is an example of the use of heuristics?
A. trying every possible letter ordering when unscrambling a word
B. considering each possible move when playing chess
C. using the formula "area = length x width" to find the area of a rectangle
D. playing chess using a defensive strategy that has often been successful for you
ans: D
weight: 1

7. An algorithm is a:
A. rule-of-thumb strategy for solving problems quickly and efficiently.
B. rigorously methodical step-by-step procedure for solving problems.
C. best example of a particular category.
D. method of hypothesis testing involving trial and error.
ans: B
weight: 1

8. The tendency to believe that a certain sequence of 4 coin flips (e.g., HTHT) is more likely than another sequence (e.g., TTTT) is an example of:
A. the  representativeness heuristic.
B. the availability heuristic.
C. Mental Set.
D. effortful processing.
ans: A
weight: 1

9. According to textbook and lecture , the automatic or mindless processing of information:
A. usually leads to negative behaviors, both mishaps and serious errors.
B. usually leads to positive behaviors because we get a lot done on "automatic pilot".
C. has little effect on behavior because the processing goes on outside of awareness.
D. has benefits, but also can lead to mishaps and serious errors.
ans: D
weight: 1

10. Whereas formal problems can often be solved with a/an ___________, informal problems often call for a/an __________.
A. inductive strategy; deductive strategy
B. heuristic; deductive strategy
C. cognitive schema; algorithm
D. algorithm; heuristic
ans: D
weight: 1