Ch. 8.1 - Appoaches To Solving Problems

Question 1

trial and error

Answer 1

trying possible solutions and discarding those that don’t work until finding one that does

Question 2

algorithms

Answer 2

problem-solving strategies based on a series of rules (anagram: IHCRA)

Question 3

heuristics

Answer 3

problem-solving strategies that stem from prior experience and provide ‘mental shortcuts’

Question 4

mental set

Answer 4

cognitive obstacle that occurs when an individual attempts to apply a routine solution to what’s actually a new problem

Question 5

functional fixedness

Answer 5

when an individual identifies a potential operator, but can only think of its most obvious function

Question 6

conjunction fallacy

Answer 6

mistaken belief that finding a specific member in two overlapping categories is more likely than finding any member of one of the larger, general categories

Question 7

representativeness heuristic (2)

Answer 7

• making judgements of likelihood based on how well an example represents a specific category
• gambler’s fallacy: law of small numbers

Question 8

availability heuristic (2)

Answer 8

• entails estimating the frequency of an event based on how easily examples of it come to mind
• distorted media coverage

Question 9

anchoring effect

Answer 9

tendency to rely too heavily on the 1st piece of into offered (the anchor) when making decisions

Question 10

decision making influenced by how problem is framed (2)

Answer 10

• political ‘spin’ and opinion polls

- vaccine example

Question 11

belief perseverance

Answer 11

individual believes they have the solution to the problem or the correct answer for a question, and accepts only evidence that will confirm those beliefs

Question 12

confirmation bias

Answer 12

individual searches only for evidence that will confirm his or her beliefs instead of evidence that might disconfirm them