Chapter 10 - Solving Problems: Reasoning and Intelligence

Question 1

analogy

Answer 1

In problem solving, a similarity in behavior, function, or relationship between entities or situations that are in other respects, such as in their physical makeup.

Question 2

availability bias

Answer 2

Tendency, in reasoning, to rely too much on information that is readily available to us and to ignore information that is less available.

Question 3

crystallized intelligence

Answer 3

In Catell’s theory, the variety of intelligence that derives directly from previous experience. It includes one’s accumulated knowledge and verbal skills.

Question 4

deductive reasoning

Answer 4

Logic reasoning from the general to the specific; the reasoner begins by accepting the truth of one or more general premises or axioms and uses them to assert whether a specific conclusion is true, false, or indeterminate.

Question 5

fluid intelligence

Answer 5

In Catell’s theory, the variety of intelligence that enables one to perceive relationships independent of previous specific practice or instruction concerning those relationships.

Question 6

Flynn effect

Answer 6

The systematic increase in IQ scores (about 3 points per decade) observed over the twentieth century.

Question 7

functional fixedness

Answer 7

The failure to see an object as having a function other than its usual one.

Question 8

general intelligence (g)

Answer 8

In Spearman’s theory of intelligence (and other theories based on Spearman’s), the underlying mental ability that affects performance on a wide variety of mental tests and accounts for the statistical correlation among scores on such tests.

Question 9

inductive reasoning (AKA ‘hypothesis construction’)

Answer 9

Logical reasoning from the specific to the general; the reasoner begins with a set of specific observations or facts and uses them to infer a more general rule to account for those observations or facts.

Question 9

heritability

Answer 9

The proportion of the variability in a particular characteristic, in a particular group of individuals, that is due to genetic rather than environmental differences among the individuals.

Question 10

insight problems

Answer 10

A problem that is hard to solve until it is viewed in a new way, involving a different mental set from that originally taken.

Question 11

intelligence

Answer 11

The variable mental capacity that underlies individual differences in reasoning, solving problems, and acquiring new knowledge.

Question 12

IQ

Answer 12

Abbreviation for ‘intelligence quotient’, defined as a score on a test of intelligence that is standardized in such a way that the average score for the population is 100 and the distribution of scores around that average matches a normal distribution.

Question 13

nature-nurture debate

Answer 13

The long-standing controversy as to whether the differences among people are principally due to their genetic differences (nature) or differences in their past and present environment (nurture).

Question 14

predictable-world bias

Answer 14

Tendency to believe that events are more predictable than they actually are.

Question 15

stereotype threat

Answer 15

The threatened feeling that occurs, during the taking of a test, when a person is reminded of the fact that he or she belongs to a group that, according to a culturally prominent stereotype, is expected to perform poorly on the test.

Question 16

mental set

Answer 16

A habit of perception or thought, stemming from previous experience, that can either help or hinder a person in solving a new problem.

Question 17

confirmation bias

Answer 17

Tendency of people to seek evidence that confirms, rather than disconfirms, their current hypotheses.