Part of Chapter 9

Question 1

rational choice theory

Answer 1

the classical view that we make decisions by determining how likely something is to happen. Judging the value of the outcome, and then multiplying the two

Question 2

frequency

Answer 2

the number of times something will happen

Question 3

probability

Answer 3

the likelihood that something will happen

Question 4

people perform better on:

Answer 4

frequency than probability estimates

Question 5

availability bias

Answer 5

Items that are more readily available in memory are judged as having occurred more frequently

Question 6

heuristic

Answer 6

a fast and efficient strategy that may facillitate decision making but does not guaruntee that a solution will be reached

Question 7

algorithm

Answer 7

a well-defined sequence of procedure or rules that gauruntees a solution to a problem

Question 8

conjunction fallacy

Answer 8

when people think that two events are more likely to occur together than either individual event

Question 9

representativeness heuristic

Answer 9

a mental shortcut that involves making a probability judgement by comparing an object or event to a prototype of the object or event

Question 10

framing effects

Answer 10

when people give different answers to the same problem depending on how the problem is phrased (or framed)

Question 11

sunk-cost fallacy

Answer 11

a framing effect in which people make decisions about a current situation based on what they have previously invested in the situation

Question 12

prospect theory

Answer 12

the proposal that people choose to take on risk when evaluating potential losses and avoid risks when evaluating potential gains

Question 13

frequency format hypothesis

Answer 13

the proposal that our minds evolved to notice how frequently things occur, not how likely they are to occur

Question 14

means-end analysis

Answer 14

a process of searching for the means or steps to reduce differences between the current situation and the desired goal.

Question 15

steps to means-end analysis:

Answer 15

1. analyze the goal state (outcome desired)
2. analyze the current state
3. list the differences between the current state and the goal state
4. reduce the list of differences by

Question 16

ill-defined problem

Answer 16

one that does not have a clear goal or well-defined solution path

Question 17

well-defined problem

Answer 17

one with clearly specified goals and clearly defined solution paths

Question 18

analogical problem solving

Answer 18

solving a problem by finding a similar problem with a known solution and applying that solution to the current problem

(ex: entering a castle through many bridges, destroying a tumor with many small xrays)

Question 19

functional fixedness

Answer 19

the tendency to percieve the functions of objects as fixed

Question 20

reasoning

Answer 20

a mental activity that consists of organizing information or beliefs into a series of steps to reach conclusions

Question 21

practical reasoning

Answer 21

figuring out what to do, or reasoning directed toward action

Question 22

theoretical reasoning

Answer 22

reasoning directed toward arriving at a belief

Question 23

belief bias

Answer 23

people’s judgements about whether to accept conclusions depend more on how believable the conclusions are than on whether the arguments are logically valid

Question 24

syllogistic reasoning

Answer 24

determining whether a conclusion follows from two statements that are assumed to be true