Unit 05: Thought and Intelligence

Question 1

A _______ is a mental representation of an average member of a category.

a) similarity principle
b) subordinate-level category
c) prototype
d) network

Answer 1

c)

Question 2

Rule-based categorization approaches sometimes cannot account for ________, a property of categorization that makes some items better category members than others.

a) priming
b) graded membership
c) prototyping
d) basic-level categorization

Answer 2

b)

Question 3

The idea that our language influences how we understand the world is referred to as ________.

a) sentence verification
b) priming
c) the Whorfian hypothesis
d) the context specificity hypothesis

Answer 3

c)

Question 4

Janice, a medical school student, looked at her grandmother’s hospital chart. Although her grandmother appeared to have problems with her intestines, Janice thought the pattern of the lab results resembled those of a patient with lupus whom Janice had seen in the clinic earlier that week. Janice is showing an example of

a) how we rely on a set of rules to categorize objects.
b) how we are able to quickly categorize examples from specific categories.
c) how people rely on prototypes to categorize objects and events.
d) how memory for a previous example can influence categorization decisions.

Answer 4

d)

Question 5

Research on linguistic relativity suggests that

a) language has no effect on categorization.
b) language can have some effects on categorization, but the effects are limited.
c) language has complete control over how people categorize the world.
d) researchers have not addressed this question.

Answer 5

b)

Question 6

________ are problem-solving strategies that provide a reasonable guess for the solution.

a) Heuristics
b) Operators
c) Algorithms
d) Subgoals

Answer 6

a)

Question 7

Jennifer was trying to put together her new bookshelf in her bedroom. Unfortunately, she didn’t have a hammer. Frustrated, she went outside and sat down beside some bricks that were leftover from a gardening project. Her inability to see that the bricks could be used to hammer in nails is an example of a(n) ________.

a) functional fixedness
b) subgoal
c) heuristic
d) algorithm

Answer 7

a)

Question 8

The confirmation bias happens when individuals

a) only look for evidence that agrees with their belief.
b) attempt to maximize positive feelings.
c) develop untestable hypotheses.
d) rely on algorithms to justify their beliefs.

Answer 8

a)

Question 9

Why do psychologists assert that heuristics are beneficial for problem solving?

a) Heuristics decrease our chances of errors dramatically.
b) Heuristics are considered the most logical thought pattern for problem solving.
c) Heuristics increase the amount of time we spend arriving at good solutions to problems.
d) Heuristics help us make decisions efficiently.

Answer 9

d)

Question 10

The fact that humans so often rely on heuristics is evidence that

a) humans will always succumb to the confirmation bias.
b) it is impossible for humans to use algorithms.
c) it is impossible for humans to think logically.
d) humans are not always rational thinkers.

Answer 10

d)

Question 11

Galton developed anthropometrics as a means to measure intelligence based on ________.

a) brain convolution
b) creativity
c) perceptual abilities
d) physical size and body type

Answer 11

c)

Question 12

In an attempt to be culturally unbiased, Raven’s Progressive Matrices relies upon what types of questions?

a) practical problems that are encountered in every culture
b) spatial calculations
c) visual patterns
d) verbal analogies

Answer 12

c)

Question 13

People who believe that intelligence is relatively fixed are said to advocate a(n) ________ theory of intelligence.

a) entity
b) incremental
c) sexist
d) hereditary

Answer 13

a)

Question 14

Eugenics was a movement that promoted

a) the use of genetic engineering technologies to improve the human gene pool.
b) the assimilation of one culture into another, often as part of colonialism.
c) preventing people from reproducing if they were deemed to be genetically inferior, so as to improve the human gene pool.
d) using measures of physical capabilities (e.g., visual acuity) as estimates of a person’s intelligence.

Answer 14

c)

Question 15

As a major exam approaches, a teacher who is hoping to reduce stereotype threat and promote an incremental theory of intelligence would most likely

a) remind test takers that males tend to do poorly on the problems.
b) remind students that they inherited their IQ from their parents.
c) let students know that hard work is the best way to prepare for the exam.
d) cite research of a recent study showing that a particular gene is linked to IQ.

Answer 15

c)

Question 16

Spearman believed that

a) some people’s brains are more “powerful” than others, thus giving them more “mental energy.”
b) intelligence scores for math and history courses should not be correlated.
c) statistics cannot help researchers understand how different types of intelligence are related to each other.
d) people have multiple types of intelligence.

Answer 16

a)

Question 17

What is factor analysis?

a) a method of ranking individuals by their intelligence
b) a statistical procedure that is used to identify which sets of psychological measures are highly correlated with each other
c) the technique for testing for a single, general intelligence
d) the technique for testing the difference between two means

Answer 17

d)

Question 18

Which of the following did Gardner include in his approach to multiple intelligences?

a) kinesthetic
b) creative
c) gustatory
d) practical

Answer 18

a)

Question 19

The ability to adapt to new situations and solve new problems reflects ________ intelligence(s), whereas the ability to draw on one’s experiences and knowledge reflects ________ intelligence(s).

a) fluid; crystallized
b) general; multiple
c) multiple; general
d) crystallized; fluid

Answer 19

a)

Question 20

Research on gender differences in intelligence leads to the general conclusion that

a) it has been impossible, thus far, to tell which gender is more intelligent.
b) males and females are equal in overall intelligence.
c) males are more intelligent than females.
d) females are more intelligent than males.

Answer 20

b)

Question 21

________ refer to mental representations of objects, events, or ideas.

a) Networks
b) Concepts
c) Categories
d) Primings

Answer 21

b)

Question 22

If you wanted to show an interconnected set of concepts and the links that join them to form the category plant, you would draw a(n) _______.

a) algorithm
b) prototype
c) graded membership
d) semantic network

Answer 22

d)

Question 23

A neurologist noticed that a patient with temporal-lobe damage seemed to have problems naming specific categories of objects. Based upon what you read in this chapter, which classes of objects are most likely to be affected by this damage?

a) related items such as animals and hunting weapons
b) small groups of categories related to human survival
c) fruits and vegetables
d) household objects that he would use quite frequently

Answer 23

b)

Question 24

Javier was attempting to teach his daughter how to tie her shoes. The strategy that would prove most effective in this situation would be a(n) ________.

a) mental set
b) heuristic
c) algorithm
d) obstacle

Answer 24

c)

Question 25

When an individual makes judgments based on how easily things come to mind, he or she is employing the ________ heuristic.

a) availability
b) belief perseverance
c) confirmation
d) representativeness

Answer 25

a)

Question 26

What is fast mapping?

a) the rapid rate at which chimpanzees learn sign language
b) a major difficulty that people face when affected by Broca’s aphasia
c) the ability of children to map concepts to words with only a single example
d) the very short period of time that language input can be useful for language development

Answer 26

c)

Question 27

The deviation IQ is calculated by comparing an individual’s test score

a) to the average score for other people who are the same age.
b) to that same person’s test score from a different IQ test; the “deviation” between the tests is a measure of whether either test is inaccurate.
c) to that same individual’s school grades.
d) at one point in time to that same person’s test score at a different point in time.

Answer 27

a)

Question 28

If someone’s mental age is double her chronological age, what would her IQ be?

a) 50
b) 200
c) 100
d) cannot be determined with this information

Answer 28

b)

Question 29

________ is the situation in which, when people are aware of stereotypes about their social group, and their social group membership is brought to their minds, they may experience a reduction in their performance on a stereotype-relevant task.

a) Intelligence discrimination
b) Stereotype threat
c) Hereditary intelligence
d) Incremental intelligence

Answer 29

b)

Question 30

According to the discussion of the race and IQ controversy,

a) the use of Raven’s Progressive Matrices has shown that there are in fact no differences in IQ between the “races”; any such group differences must be due to cultural biases built into the tests.
b) even if culturally unbiased tests are constructed, the testing process itself may still favour some cultures over others.
c) there are clear IQ differences between people of different ethnicities, and these probably have a genetic basis.
d) many scholars believe that the ethnic differences in IQ are so large that one could argue that a person’s race should be considered a relevant factor in important decisions, such as who to let into medical school or who to hire for a specific job.

Answer 30

b)

Question 31

Which of the following research findings has been used to support Spearman’s notion of g?

a) People with low g are better able to do some tasks than people with high g.
b) grades in different school subjects
c) The brains of people with low g conduct impulses more quickly.
d) People with high g tend to earn about the same income as people with low g.

Answer 31

b)

Question 32

________ proposed that there are eight different forms of intelligence, each independent from the others.

a) Raymond Cattell
b) Robert Sternberg
c) L. L. Thurstone
d) Howard Gardner

Answer 32

d)

Question 33

The hierarchical model of intelligence describes that

a) scores on intelligence tests are affected by different levels of factors, ranging from lower-level factors such as physical health, to higher-level factors such as a person’s motivation for doing well on a test.
b) intelligence is broken down into two factors, a higher-level factor called g, and a lower-level factor called s.
c) intelligence is comprised of three levels of factors, which are roughly similar to Spearman’s g, Thurstone’s primary mental abilities, and Spearman’s s.
d) some types of intelligence are more powerful and desirable than others.

Answer 33

c)

Question 34

Men tend to outperform women on tasks requiring __________, whereas women outperform men on tasks requiring __________.

a) memory; creativity
b) practical intelligence; interpersonal intelligence
c) spatial abilities; the ability to read people’s emotions
d) logic; intuition

Answer 34

c)

Question 35

Take several concepts and bundle them together. What have you created?

a) a prototype
b) a mental set
c) a superconcept
d) a category

Answer 35

d)

Question 36

Which of the following is most likely to be a basic level category?

a) retriever
b) dog
c) animal
d) collie

Answer 36

b)

Question 37

Which of the following is the most accurate description of how most people categorize concepts?

a) by rule-based categorization, not prototypes
b) by neither rule-based categorization nor prototypes
c) by both rule-based categorization and prototypes
d) by prototypes, not rule-based categorization

Answer 37

c)

Question 38

Which of the following most accurately depicts the difference between the conceptual strategies of North American and Japanese individuals?

a) North Americans tend to use basic level categories, whereas the Japanese do not.
b) North Americans consider cows to be livestock, whereas the Japanese do not.
c) North Americans tend to focus on a single feature, whereas Japanese people tend to view objects in relation to their environment.
d) North Americans tend to use rule-based categorization, whereas the Japanese use prototypes.

Answer 38

c)

Question 39

Most people take longer to identify a bicycle as a vehicle than they do to identify a car as a vehicle. This is likely because a car is closer to most people’s _______________ for the concept of vehicles.

a) basic concept
b) prototype
c) algorithm
d) mental set

Answer 39

b)

Question 40

If the Whorfian hypothesis is a valid depiction of the relationship between language and thought, which of the following is the most accurate statement?

a) People from Alberta and New England think very differently.
b) People from China and Alberta think very similarly.
c) People from Nova Scotia and England think very differently.
d) People from China and Nova Scotia think very differently.

Answer 40

d)

Question 41

According to the linguistic relativity hypothesis, the words we use affect the way we think. Which of the following would be an example of culture affecting the concepts that a person would hold?

a) A woman from a traditional hunter–gatherer society categorizes plants as edible, inedible, or medicinal, instead of as flower, root, berry, and so on.
b) A farmer sees a picture of a chicken sandwich in a magazine and decides to make himself one for lunch.
c) A five-year-old child calls a dolphin a “fish.”
d) A Japanese man takes off his shoes before entering a house.

Answer 41

a)

Question 42

The _______________ occurs when an individual believes the probability of finding a specific member in two overlapping categories is more likely than finding any member of one of the larger, general categories.

a) availability heuristic
b) means-end strategy
c) combinatorial approach
d) conjunction fallacy

Answer 42

d)

Question 43

________________ is the search for evidence that only supports a pre-existing belief, whereas ______________ involves accepting pre-existing evidence only if it confirms a belief.

a) Confirmation bias; belief perseverance
b) The representativeness heuristic; confirmation bias
c) Confirmation bias; the representativeness heuristic
d) Anchoring; priming

Answer 43

a)

Question 44

In making decisions, some people tend to be maximizers while others tend to be satisficers. Which group, on average, is happier with their decisions, and why?

a) Maximizers tend to be happier because they tend to maximize the benefits from their decisions.
b) Satisficers tend to be happier because they tend to invest less time in the decision process and so their “cost” of making a decision is lower.
c) Satisficers tend to be happier because they don’t sacrifice quality.
d) Maximizers tend to be happier because they consider the widest variety of choices.

Answer 44

b)

Question 45

In good scientific research, one of the hallmarks of peer-review is to have an external party look at the study design, results, and conclusions. It is also preferable to put the highest value on results that have been confirmed by independent research labs. Why is this?

a) Because even the most honest scientists may inadvertently emphasize results that are consistent with their expectations.
b) Because researchers often use prototypes for categorization and may not be as objective as they are supposed to be.
c) Because research often involves satisficing, and it is important to ensure that the best balance was obtained.
d) Because research is inherently a “poorly defined problem” and therefore difficult to evaluate.

Answer 45

a)

Question 46

Dr. Soong was treating a cardiac victim in the hospital emergency room and followed all the preset rules for treatment; however, when the patient’s condition worsened, he decided to initiate alternative treatment based on his experience. Dr. Soong went from using _____________ to using __________________.

a) algorithms; a mental set
b) algorithms; heuristics
c) heuristics; algorithms
d) availability heuristic; representativeness heuristic

Answer 46

b)

Question 47

Haley survived a skiing accident, but she suffered some head trauma and now has difficulty finding the meaning of words and understanding the words she hears. Her injury likely affected _________ area.

a) Wernicke’s
b) Wendell’s
c) Broca’s
d) Bleuler’s

Answer 47

a)

Question 48

Haley survived a skiing accident, but she suffered some head trauma and now has difficulty finding the meaning of words and understanding the words she hears. Her injury likely affected _________ area.

a) Wernicke’s
b) Wendell’s
c) Broca’s
d) Bleuler’s

Answer 48

a)

Question 49

When Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon constructed their earliest intelligence test to assess schoolchildren, which concept was central to their new instrument?

a) mental set
b) mental age
c) divergent thinking
d) creativity

Answer 49

a)

Question 50

Three friends are given intelligence tests on the same day. Morris gets a score of 85, Baxter gets a score of 100, and Bernie gets a score of 115. Given these results, Baxter’s score would be best described as being

a) extremely below average.
b) above average.
c) average.
d) slightly below average.

Answer 50

c)

Question 51

Because the WAIS contains several subtests of both verbal and perceptual skills, which of the following would be most accurate to assume about two students (Sam and Ivana) who earned similar overall scores on the entire test?

a) If Sam scored high in comprehension, then Ivana scored high in comprehension.
b) Sam and Ivana should have the same scores on all the subtests.
c) If Sam scored high in math, then Ivana scored high in math.
d) Sam could have higher verbal scores than Ivana, despite having similar overall scores.

Answer 51

d)

Question 52

The belief that intelligence testing could be used to help improve the human gene pool led to the ______ movement.

a) deviation
b) eugenics
c) social Darwinism
d) Terman

Answer 52

b)

Question 53

Based on research by Dweck and colleagues, we would expect that most “underachieving” students demonstrate a(n) ___________ of intelligence.

a) stereotype threat
b) non-functional view
c) entity theory
d) incremental theory

Answer 53

c)

Question 54

Tasha is taking an IQ test but is finding it hard to focus on her answers because she knows many others don’t expect her to do well. What is Tasha is experiencing?

a) stereotype threat
b) eugenics
c) savant syndrome
d) cultural bias

Answer 54

a)

Question 55

Raul and his parents recently immigrated to Canada. His parents are concerned that he may have learning problems. Raul does not speak much English yet. What test would be most appropriate for assessing Raul?

a) Raven’s Progressive Matrices
b) WAIS
c) WISC
d) Stanford-Binet

Answer 55

a)

Question 56

In the classic movie Rain Man, Dustin Hoffman plays a man with autism who has an amazing memory. His specific area of incredible ability would indicate that his character is a

a) savant.
b) crystallized thinker.
c) kinetic learner.
d) fluid thinker.

Answer 56

a)

Question 57

No matter what life throws at him, Rob never seems to get tired. He works a 70-hour week, volunteers on the weekend, and is part of a community theatre group. Assuming that he is not using any substances to improve his energy, what would describe Rob’s behaviour?

a) He successfully taps into multiple facets of intelligence.
b) He has a great deal of fluid ability.
c) He has a high level of g.
d) He is a savant.

Answer 57

c)

Question 58

How would you best compare the intelligence theory of Robert Sternberg with that of Howard Gardner?

a) Both theories propose that intelligence is entirely genetic in nature, but Sternberg suggests that there is only a single type of intelligence while Gardner suggests that there are three different types of intelligence.
b) Both theories propose multiple types of intelligence, but Sternberg’s theory suggests that there are nine different intelligences, while Gardner’s theory suggests that there are three different intelligences.
c) Both theories propose multiple types of intelligence, but Sternberg’s theory suggests that there are three different intelligences, while Gardner’s theory suggests that there are nine different intelligences.
d) Both theories propose that intelligence is entirely genetic in nature, but Gardner suggests that there is only a single type of intelligence while Sternberg suggests that there are three different types of intelligence.

Answer 58

c)

Question 59

As a female, Shanti can be expected to perform better on tasks involving _______ than her boyfriend, Mark.

a) visuospatial skills
b) memory
c) mental rotation
d) verbal ability

Answer 59

d)

Question 60

As a female, Shanti can be expected to perform better on tasks involving _______ than her boyfriend, Mark.

a) visuospatial skills
b) memory
c) mental rotation
d) verbal ability

Answer 60

d)

Question 61

The greatest amount of variability in intellectual ability is most likely to be found in

a) a boys’ football team.
b) a girls’ dance troupe.
c) an inner-city neighbourhood.
d) a university classroom.

Answer 61

a)

Question 62

When solving problems that require pre-existing knowledge, you rely on your

a) crystallized intelligence.
b) kinesthetic intelligence.
c) fluid intelligence.
d) conceptual intelligence.

Answer 62

a)

Question 63

The heritability of intelligence is

a) dependent on the particular sample.
b) approximately 10%.
c) approximately 40%.
d) approximately 70%.

Answer 63

a)