Chapter 2

Question 1

Some possible ways to decide what’s

true…

Answer 1

• Experience
• Intuition
• Authorities
• Empirical research

Question 2

Even with comparison groups, it is unwise to draw conclusions about the effectiveness
of studying upside down. Why?

Answer 2

Because experience (real life, the world) is full of
confounds, which are alternative explanations for an observed result or outcome.

Question 3

For the study on mozart’s music in children, what was not taken into account?

Answer 3

Only the upbeat music improved spatial intelligence performance. So it wasn’t music itself, but rather its effect on arousal/mood. Thus, mental arousal is a confound that was not taken into account by the original researchers

Question 4

The availability heuristic is a bias

wherein

Answer 4

the things that come to mind more easily tend to dominate and guide our thinking and reasoning.

Question 5

present/present bias

Answer 5

the failure to consider what is absent or what we cannot see, mainly in terms of comparison groups.

Question 6

confirmation bias

Answer 6

wherein we favour information that fits our beliefs/hypothesis and ignore other information.

Question 7

bias blind spot

Answer 7

we underestimate the degree to which we personally exhibit biases