Cognition

Question 1

A child who suggests cutting a pizza into a greater number of slices so that he can eat more pizza is most likely in which of Piaget’s stages of cognitive development?

Answer 1

Preoperational. The tendency to focus on a single trait of an object (in this case, the number of slices) at the exclusion of other traits (the size of each slice) is a hallmark of the preoperational stage.

Question 2

A child recognizes that two glasses that are shaped differently can hold the same amount of liquid. Which stage of development could this child be in?

Answer 2

A child in the concrete or formal operational stage would recognize that the volumes would be the same.

Question 3

Seeking out information that matches a preexisting notion

Answer 3

Confirmation Bias

Question 4

Oversimplifying the predictability of events

Answer 4

Hindsight Bias

Question 5

Assuming the necessary link between correlative events

Answer 5

Causation bias

Question 6

A programmer who uses her general knowledge of computer science to identify and solve a coding error has used what type of problem solving?

Answer 6

Deductive reasoning which is a top-down approach, applying generalized principles to a specific situation, as the programmer does here.

Question 7

A bottom-up approach, deriving general principles from successive observations.

Answer 7

Inductive Reasoning

Question 8

True or false: Trial and error is most effective as a problem-solving approach when a conceptual understanding of the problem is lacking.

Answer 8

This statement is true. Trial and error is most viable when a problem-solver has an abundance of time and resources and lacks the conceptual understanding of the problem that would potentially allow for a more sophisticated solution.

Question 9

Incorrectly estimating the probability of an event because of the availability of knowledge of the event, such as being afraid of a flood after hearing of one in a different state.

Answer 9

The availability heuristic

Question 10

The tendency to arrest people who fit what a police officer considers the typical “profile” of a criminal is an example of…

Answer 10

Comparing people or groups to a prototypical example is the definition of the representativeness heuristic.

Question 11

This involves the use of previously-learned knowledge, skills, and experience. In this example, the accountant uses his accounting knowledge to perform tasks quickly.

Answer 11

Crystallized intelligence

Question 12

What are the stages of Piaget’s theory of development in order?

Answer 12

Sensorimotor, Preoperational, Concrete operational, formal operational

Question 13

Stage which extends from birth until about 2 years old, the point at which a child really starts to acquire language in earnest.

Answer 13

Sensorimotor

Question 14

Stage from about age 2 to age 7, children represent objects symbolically, using words and images, and often take part in very vivid imaginative play based on those representations, but can only engage in very minimal logical thinking.

Answer 14

Preoperational

Question 15

Stage that lasts from the ages of about 7 to about 11, during which children make dramatic steps forward in abstract reasoning, but only as applied to concrete objects

Answer 15

Concrete operational

Question 16

The stage which starts at about age 11 and goes until age 16 – and then persists into adulthood – is where the ability to fully engage in abstract logic is developed.

Answer 16

Formal Operational

Question 17

Dude who proposed the multiple intelligences theory

Answer 17

Howard Gardner

Question 18

Gardener’s Multiple Intelligences

Answer 18

bodily-kinesthetic, 
visual-spatial,
 inter- and intrapersonal, naturalistic,
 logical-mathematical, musical-rhythmic,
 and verbal-linguistic intelligence.

Question 19

Who proposed IQ?

Answer 19

Alfred Binet

Question 20

True or false: Intelligence is likely to be meaningfully hereditary.

Answer 20

True

Question 21

Problem Solving where you apply a fixed set of steps

Answer 21

Algorithm

Question 22

Problem Solving where a new problem is solved in the same way as an old one

Answer 22

Analogy

Question 23

Applying general principles to a specific situation

Answer 23

deductive reasoning

Question 24

Using successive observations to extrapolate general principles

Answer 24

Inductive Reasoning

Question 25

Duncker’s candle problem, in which participants must attach a candle to a wall without the wax dripping, is meant to demonstrate what problem-solving phenomenon?

Answer 25

Duncker’s candle problem demonstrates the phenomenon of functional fixedness, in which people see objects as only having a certain function—usually the functions they were designed for. As a result, it does not occur to many participants to empty the tack box and place the candle in it, since that was not the original function the tack box was designed for.

Question 26

True or false: Belief perseverance refers to the tendency for beliefs to become stronger when confronted with supporting evidence.

Answer 26

This statement is false. Rather, belief perseverance is the tendency of a belief to become more ingrained when confronted with conflicting evidence, such as what is commonly seen in anti-science movements, including anti-vaccination groups and climate-change deniers.

Question 27

A patient who trusts her physician because of his professional manner and clean-cut appearance has demonstrated which psychosocial concept?

Answer 27

The representativeness heuristic which is used when we make decisions based on what we consider to be the prototypical example of a category, such as trusting a physician because he conforms to our prototypical idea of what a physician should look like or how he should act.

Question 28

If a person fears for his safety after seeing several news reports about local crime, and then seeks out additional such news reports to use to convince his family, he has made use of…

Answer 28

confirmation bias and availability heuristic

Question 29

True or false: Hindsight bias refers to our tendency to retrospectively view random or complex events as having been predictable at the time.

Answer 29

This statement is true. When looking back with a fuller, more objective view on history, it is easy to point to complex situations and say that they inevitably could have been predicted to flow in one direction or the other. This is hindsight bias, and can easily be demonstrated by looking at current events, where things are often not predictable or controllable in the way that history sometimes seems to be.

Question 30

An 8-year-old child has recently developed the ability to understand the perspectives of her family members. According to Piaget, which stage has she entered?

Answer 30

Concrete operational

Question 31

True or false: Children typically gain the ability to engage in deductive reasoning before inductive reasoning.

Answer 31

This statement is false. In the concrete operational phase, when reasoning skills begin to develop, children typically acquire the ability to engage in inductive reasoning earlier than deductive reasoning.

Question 32

Expecting to be left out of a group because you do not conform to your prototypical example of that group would be an example of…

Answer 32

Expecting to be left out of a group because you do not conform to your prototypical example of that group would be an example of the representativeness heuristic at work.

Question 33

The tendency for the news to increase people’s perceptions of their risk of being a target of crime is an example of…

Answer 33

Availability heuristic-This is a classic example of the availability heuristic, wherein the readily available examples of crime on the news come to mind when people think of crime rates, leading them to see themselves and others as being more at risk than they are.