Problem Solving

Question 1

Algorithms

Answer 1

problem solving strategies based on a series of rules

• logical, follow set of preordered steps
  i. e. lost phone, think of all the places you’ve been in 24 hours

Question 2

Heuristics

Answer 2

problem solving strategies that stem from prior experiences and provide an educated guess to the most likely solution
i.e. lost phone, thinking about previous times you’ve lost your phone and using experience to guide search (I always leave my phone at Dan’s house)

Question 3

Mental Set

Answer 3

cognitive obstacle that occurs when an individual attempt to apply a routine solution to what is actually a new type of problem

Question 4

Functional Fixedness

Answer 4

individuals identifies an object or technique that could potentially solve a problem, but can only think of its most obvious function
i.e. Sitting down beside bricks because you’re frustrated that you don’t have a hammer

Question 5

Representativeness Heuristic

Answer 5

making judgements of likelihood based on how well an example represents a specific category

Question 6

Conjunction Fallacy

Answer 6

type of representativeness heuristic based on belief that finding a specific member in two overlapping categories is more likely than finding any member of a larger, general category

Question 7

Availability Heuristic

Answer 7

estimating the frequency of an event based on how easily examples of it come to mind
i.e. choosing to drive rather than fly after 9/11 even though driving is statistically more dangerous than flying

Question 8

Anchoring Effects

Answer 8

Individual attempts to solve a problem involving numbers and uses previous knowledge to keep the response within a limited range
i.e. Is the percentage of countries in UN are from Africa over 10% (will keep answer closer to 10%, i.e. 25% rather than 45%)

Question 9

Framing Effects

Answer 9

decision making can be influenced by how a problem is worded

Question 10

Belief Perseverance

Answer 10

individual believes they have the solution to the problem and accepts only evidence that will confirm those beliefs
i.e. Counting number of cards in deck, 1st time 51, 2nd time 52, doesn’t recount

Question 11

Confirmation Bias

Answer 11

individual searches only for evidence that confirms their beliefs instead of evidence that might disconfirm them