Deck 8: Cognition and Intelligence

Question 1

Bilingualism is associated with all of the following EXCEPT ​

A)enhanced processing speed.
B)reduced risk of dementia.
C)higher abstract reasoning scores.
D)increased working memory capacity.

Answer 1

enhanced processing speed.

Question 2

The linguistic relativity hypothesis predicts that ​

A)people should have difficulty thinking about things they cannot describe in words.
B)language and thought should develop independently.
C)people in all cultures should think alike, despite their language differences.
D)language development should consistently lag behind cognitive development.

Answer 2

people should have difficulty thinking about things they cannot describe in words.

Question 3

Which of the following types of theory BEST accounts for the apparent rapidity and ease of language acquisition in early childhood?

A)Behaviorist theory
B)Nativist theory
C)Cognitive theory
D)Social communication theory

Answer 3

Nativist theory

Question 4

You are having a conversation with your psychology professor and he proposes that people have an inborn predisposition to develop language. Which of the following theorists would MOST likely agree with his assertions?

A)David Premack
B)B. F. Skinner
C)Steven Pinker
D)Noam Chomsky

Question 5

The hypothesis that one's language determines the nature of one's thought is the _____ hypothesis.

A)linguistic relativity
B)interactionist
C)nativist
D)metalinguistic awareness

Question 6

Which of the following is NOT an item of evidence Chomsky would use to support the idea of an inborn language learning mechanism?

A)Children learn language very quickly and effortlessly.
B)Language learning in young children is different across cultures.
C)The errors in children's speech are common and indicate lawfulness.
D)The general rate of language learning is similar for kids from diverse backgrounds.

Question 7

Noam Chomsky contended that ​

A)language is almost wholly a matter of social learning.
B)biological factors play a relatively minor role in language development.
C)there is an inborn biological propensity that guides language learning.
D)reinforcement is the main factor in language learning.

Question 8

According to Skinner, children learn a language ​

A)because they possess an innate language acquisition device.
B)through imitation, reinforcement, and shaping.
C)as the quality of their thought improves with age.
D)only when they have reached a certain level of brain maturation.

Question 9

Dr. Grath believes that both an innate predisposition and a supportive environment contribute to language development. Dr. Grath's views are MOST consistent with those of _____ theories.

A)behavioral
B)nativist
C)Whorfian
D)interactionist

Question 10

Which of the following is a criticism of Skinner's model of language acquisition? ​

A)Its concepts are extremely vague. ​
B)Children don't seem to learn transformational rules as Skinner said they should.
C)It is unreasonable to expect children to learn an infinite number of sentences by imitation.
D)Children don't respond to positive reinforcement until they are in preschool, after language is already established.

Question 11

Mrs. Bondle seldom corrects her 4-year-old's grammatical errors, such as "Her drinked my milk." However, she is careful to correct factual errors, such as "Tiger ate his milk." Assuming Mrs. Bondle's child develops normal language skills, her pattern of feedback would be inconsistent with ​

A)the behavioral view of language development.
B)the nativist view of language development.
C)all major theories of language development.
D)the transformational theory of language development.

Question 12

The hypothesized "language acquisition device" is associated with the _____ theory of language.

A)nativist
B)learning
C)generativity
D)stage

Question 13

Approximately _____ of the world's population grows up bilingual.

A)10%
B)25%
C)50%
D)75%

Question 14

You are having a conversation with your psychology professor and she proposes that children acquire language the same way they learn everything else, through reinforcement and other established principles of conditioning. Which of the following theorists would MOST likely agree with her assertions?

A)David Premack
B)B. F. Skinner
C)Steven Pinker
D)Noam Chomsky

Question 15

According to behaviorist theory, children's vocabularies increase and their pronunciation improves as

A)parents insist on closer and closer approximations of the correct word before they provide reinforcement.
B)the quality of their problem-solving ability improves.
C)the brain matures with age.
D)transformational rules are mastered.

Question 16

Dr. Sciorro believes that because the majority of children acquire language without any effort, there must be a biological mechanism that facilitates language learning. Dr. Sciorro's views of language development MOST closely mirror those of

A)Noam Chomsky.
B)Herbert Simon.
C)B. F. Skinner.
D)Benjamin Whorf.

Question 17

During the first half of the 20th century, the study of cognition was discouraged because ​

A)earlier studies using the method of introspection had reliably mapped the structure of consciousness.
B)of the theoretical dominance of behaviorism.
C)cognition was not considered to be a psychological function.
D)language acquisition was viewed as an innate process that could not be studied empirically.

Question 18

Joe is a bilingual elementary school student.  Relative to his monolingual peers, Joe is likely to excel on tasks requiring ​

A)working memory.
B)processing speed.
C)social intelligence.
D)vocabulary.

Question 19

The primary disadvantage that bilingual learners have relative to monolingual learners is in the domain of

A)working memory.
B)processing speed.
C)abstract reasoning.
D)problem solving.

Question 20

You are having a conversation with your psychology professor and he proposes that your language determines the nature of your thought. Which of the following theorists would MOST likely agree with his assertions?

A)Benjamin Whorf
B)B. F. Skinner
C)Steven Pinker
D)Noam Chomsky

Question 21

The linguistic relativity hypothesis has

A)yet to be tested experimentally.
B)been tested experimentally and soundly rejected.
C)received support in recent experimental studies.
D)been tested experimentally and wholeheartedly endorsed.

Question 22

If you tend to persist in using the same problem-solving strategy time after time, you are evidencing a(n)

A)delusion.
B)illusion.
C)mental set.
D)generic insight.

Question 23

Eva just upgraded her software package. However, even though the updated version contains a number of more efficient methods for working with files, Eva continues to work with files the way she did before the upgrade. In this case, Eva is showing evidence of ​

A)mental set.
B)belief perseverance.
C)priming.
D)the availability heuristic.

Question 24

Series-completion problems are examples of which of the following of Greeno's (1978) categories?

A)Inducing structure
B)Arrangement
C)Transformation
D)Recategorization

Question 25

In which of the following classes of problems is it necessary to carry out a sequence of actions in order to solve the problem?

A)Inducing structure
B)Probability
C)Transformation
D)Arrangement

Question 26

Imagine that anthropologists found a culture that had over 80 different words for rice. If researchers also found that the people in this culture thought about rice in different and more elaborate ways than people who have only one word for rice, it would

A)provide evidence that the linguistic relativity hypothesis is incorrect.
B)support social communication theory.
C)support the linguistic relativity hypothesis.
D)provide evidence that the social communication theory is incorrect.

Question 27

People often find it difficult to solve a problem by using a familiar object in a novel way because of ​

A)a mental set.
B)unnecessary constraints.
C)irrelevant information.
D)functional fixedness.

Question 28

Which of the following classes of problems involves discovering the relations among the parts of the problem?

A)Transformation
B)Probability
C)Inducing structure
D)Arrangement

Question 29

Greeno referred to problems where individuals need to carry out a sequence of changes in order to reach a specific goal as an example of a problem of ​

A)arrangement.
B)transformation.
C)inducing structure.
D)cognition.

Question 30

Since one of the main goals of playing Scrabble is to use your letters to form long words (the longer the word, the more points you score), Scrabble can BEST be described as a game that involves a problem of ​

A)arrangement.
B)transformation.
C)functional fixedness.
D)inducing structure.

Question 31

Especially when solving problems containing numerical information, ​

A)it is safe to assume that all of the information will be needed to solve the problem.
B)it is a good idea to start by trying to figure out how to use the numerical information.
C)you should start by figuring out which information is relevant to the problem.
D)insight will typically produce the fastest, most accurate solution to the problem.

Question 32

The entrance exam that Jaclyn is taking for graduate school has a number of questions, such as glove is to hand as sock is to . Questions of this type are considered to be ​

A)problems of arrangement.
B)problems of transformation.
C)problems of inducing structure.
D)ill-defined problems.

Question 33

You have a pair of pliers and a bag of nuts in the shell. You believe you can't shell the nuts because you do not have a nutcracker. Your inability to perceive the pliers as a makeshift nutcracker demonstrates _____ on your part.

A)functional fixedness
B)mental set
C)insight insufficiency
D)heuristic reasoning

Question 34

Rylee's algebra teacher is amazed at the creativity Rylee shows in solving homework problems. He seldom uses the same method on two consecutive problems, even when the problems are very similar in content and structure. Although Rylee makes lots of mistakes in algebra, he is unlikely to experience

A)overregularization in his problem solving.
B)mental set in his problem solving.
C)functional fixedness in his problem solving.
D)noncompensatory problem solving.

Question 35

People often assume that it is necessary to use all the numerical information provided in a problem in order to solve the problem. In reality, numerical information sometimes makes it more difficult to solve a problem because the information ​

A)results in a mental set.
B)puts unnecessary constraints on the problem solver.
C)may be irrelevant.
D)encourages functional fixedness.

Question 36

Claudia wants to send a fragile vase to her parents for their anniversary, but she can't find any appropriate packing material in her house. She decides to pop some popcorn and use that to pack around the vase. In this case, Claudia has ​

A)demonstrated functional fixedness in solving her problem. ​
B)effectively utilized the availability heuristic in solving her problem.
C)overcome functional fixedness in solving her problem.
D)utilized an elimination-by-aspects strategy to solve her problem.

Question 37

Functional fixedness refers to

A)continued use of problem-solving strategies that have worked in the past.
B)arriving at a particularly insightful solution to a problem.
C)focusing on information that is irrelevant to the solution of the problem.
D)the tendency to see an item only in terms of its most common use.

Question 38

Analogy problems such as "Mickey Mouse is to Minnie Mouse as Donald Duck is to " are problems of

A)inducing structure.
B)transformation.
C)mental set.
D)arrangement.

Question 39

Marie received a puzzle that has three pegs as a present for her birthday. To solve the puzzle, a person is required to move nine disks from the center peg to one of the outside pegs. However, only one disk can be moved at a time, and a larger disk can never be placed on top of a smaller disk. Marie's puzzle is an example of a(n)

A)problem of transformation.
B)problem of arrangement.
C)problem of inducing structure.
D)ill-defined problem.

Question 40

Reorganizing the letters "OSHUE" to form an English word is an example of an anagram, which constitutes a problem of ​

A)inducing structure. ​
B)lexical analysis.
C)transformation.
D)arrangement.

Question 41

Individuals from Eastern Asian cultures tend to focus on context and the relationships among elements in a field. This is referred to as a(n) _____ cognitive style.

A)analytic
B)additive
C)subtractive
D)holistic

Question 42

Nisbett and colleagues suggest that a holistic style of thinking is one that focuses on ​

A)objects and their properties, rather than overall context.
B)following step-by-step procedures rather than using mental shortcuts.
C)context and relationships among the elements in a field.
D)external frames of reference and takes the environment as a given.

Question 43

The process that involves evaluating alternatives and making choices among them is known as

A)insight.
B)problem solving.
C)decision making.
D)bounded rationality.

Question 44

When Graham prints copies from the computer in the computer classroom, the paper keeps jamming in the machine. He takes the paper out of the paper tray, fans it, and then flips it over, so the other side of the paper feeds first. This is the way he solves similar problems on the photocopy machine at the office where he works. In this case, Graham's method of solving the problem is consistent with the problem-solving heuristic known as

A)means-end analysis.
B)working backward.
C)trial and error.
D)searching for analogies.

Question 45

Joan was placed in charge of planning her sorority's spring formal dance. If she thought she should hire the same band that played at last year's dance because of how much everyone enjoyed the band, Joan could be encountering the _____ barrier to effective problem solving.

A)subgoal
B)unnecessary constraints
C)irrelevant information
D)functional fixedness

Question 46

The _____ effect occurs when solutions emerge for a problem after a period of not consciously thinking about the problem.

A)incubation
B)analytical
C)sleeper
D)reprocessing

Question 47

Seventeen-year-old Ashley is driving her brother's car when she has her first-ever flat tire. She realizes that she needs to find where the spare tire, the jack, and other tools are stored in the car, remove the flat tire, and install the spare tire. Ashley is approaching the problem by ​

A)forming subgoals.
B)changing the representation of the problem.
C)working backward.
D)searching for analogies.

Question 48

When your initial attempts to solve a problem are unsuccessful, it is a good strategy to ​

A)remove unnecessary constraints.
B)reevaluate your subgoals.
C)represent the problem in a different way.
D)switch to the trial-and-error approach.

Question 49

The incubation effect is thought to occur because ​

A)the brain absorbs new problem-solving strategies during sleep.
B)people become more logical over time.
C)newborn babies are excellent problem solvers.
D)people work on problems at an unconscious level.

Question 50

Esmeralda wants to use her roommate's computer to work on her term paper. However, the roommate has password protection on the computer's boot sequence. Rather than starting at "a" and systematically testing every possible word in the English language, Esmeralda makes some educated guesses about the password, based on what she knows about her roommate. In this case, Esmeralda is using ​

A)a heuristic to get past the password protection.
B)an algorithm to get past the password protection.
C)reframing to get past the password protection.
D)representativeness to get past the password protection.

Question 51

Which of the following is NOT a common heuristic for problem solving?

A)Changing the representation of the problem
B)Forming subgoals
C)Trial and error
D)Searching for analogies

Question 52

The trial-and-error approach to problem solving is MOST effective when

A)there is a relatively large number of possible solutions.
B)there is a relatively small number of possible solutions.
C)there are no time constraints on solving the problem.
D)a solution to the problem must be found quickly.

Question 53

Darla was struggling to solve a difficult problem, so she took a break to have lunch. As she ate, the solution to the problem suddenly occurred to her when she was not even consciously thinking about it. Darla experienced the _____ effect.

A)transitional
B)reevaluation
C)incubation
D)sublimation

Question 54

Observing the similarities between a new problem to be solved and one you've successfully solved in the past is called ​

A)an algorithm.
B)searching for analogies.
C)shaping.
D)the alternative outcomes effect.

Question 55

According to Nisbett and colleagues, an analytic cognitive style is one that focuses on ​

A)objects and their properties, rather than overall context.
B)following step-by-step procedures rather than using mental shortcuts.
C)context and relationships among the elements in a field.
D)external frames of reference and takes the environment as a given.

Question 56

When Alaina is working on her bicycle, she brings her entire tool kit out on the driveway and starts pulling wrenches from it at random, trying them until she finds one that fits. Alaina's approach to working on her bicycle could be BEST described as

A)alternate outcomes analysis.
B)working backward.
C)trial and error.
D)forming subgoals.

Question 57

A mental "rule of thumb" for problem solving is referred to as a(n)

A)algorithm.
B)heuristic.
C)mental set.
D)syllogism.

Question 58

Michiko lives in Japan, and Krystal, Michiko's pen pal, lives in the United States. Based on the research by Nisbett and colleagues into cultural differences in cognitive styles, you should predict that when these two friends are solving problems, Michiko will tend to use _____ cognitive style, while Krystal will tend to use _____ cognitive style.

A)an analytic; a holistic
B)an algorithmic; a heuristic
C)a holistic; an analytic
D)a heuristic; an algorithmic

Question 59

Imagine you have a problem to solve that has some similarities to problems you have previously solved. If focusing on the similarities leads you relatively quickly to a solution, you would be benefiting from the _____ heuristic; on the other hand, if focusing on the similarities prevents or slows your finding a solution, you would be hindered by the _____ barrier to problem solving.

A)changing the representation of the problem; functional fixedness
B)changing the representation of the problem; mental set
C)searching for analogies; functional fixedness
D)searching for analogies; mental set

Question 60

According to Simon's theory of bounded rationality, people tend to use

A)simple strategies in decision making that focus on only a few facets of available options and often result in irrational decisions that are less than optimal.
B)complex strategies in decision making that focus on multiple facets of available options and often result in irrational decisions that are less than optimal.
C)simple strategies in decision making that focus on multiple facets of available options and often result in rational decisions that are optimal.
D)complex strategies in decision making that do not focus clearly on enough facets of available options and often result in irrational decisions that are less than optimal.

Question 61

Research shows that when consumers have a very high number of products to choose from, they are likely to purchase _____ items.

A)more
B)fewer
C)no
D)higher-quality

Question 62

Many people mistakenly believe their chances of dying in an airplane crash are greater than their chances of dying in an automobile crash. This belief reflects the operation of ​

A)confirmation bias.
B)the belief in the law of small numbers.
C)the availability heuristic.
D)the conjunction fallacy.

Question 63

After seeing your new neighbor walking very stiffly and primly by your house wearing horn-rimmed glasses on a chain, a cardigan sweater, and her hair in a bun, you decide she must be a librarian. Your judgment is based on ​

A)subjective probability.
B)subjective utility.
C)the availability heuristic.
D)the representativeness heuristic.

Question 64

Arguing from an evolutionary perspective, Gigerenzer suggests that humans' reasoning largely depends on _____ heuristics.

A)inferential
B)complex
C)rational
D)fast and frugal

Question 65

The availability heuristic implies that people will _____ the frequency of events that are easy to remember and _____ the frequency of events that are hard to remember.

A)overestimate; underestimate
B)underestimate; overestimate
C)overestimate; overestimate
D)underestimate; underestimate

Question 66

Elisa is entering survey data from adult males in a research study. One respondent has listed his height as 6 feet 5 inches, but the occupation is hard to decipher. Elisa thinks it might be basketball player or bank president. She decides to enter basketball player as the occupation. In this case, Elisa ​

A)demonstrated the conjunction fallacy in making her decision.
B)probably relied on the representativeness heuristic to make her decision.
C)demonstrated overextension in making her decision.
D)probably relied on the availability heuristic to make her decision.

Question 67

You can't think of a single instance when Cathy helped you out, so you decide that Cathy must be an ungenerous person. Your judgment is based on ​

A)subjective utility.
B)the representativeness heuristic.
C)the availability heuristic.
D)expected value.

Question 68

Basing the estimated probability of an event on the ease with which instances come to mind is called the ​

A)law of small numbers.
B)representativeness heuristic.
C)conjunction fallacy.
D)availability heuristic.

Question 69

When people overestimate the frequency of violent crimes because these events generate a great deal of media coverage, they are using

A)the availability heuristic.
B)the representativeness heuristic.
C)a holistic decision model.
D)the elimination-by-aspects strategy.

Question 70

Evolutionary psychologists suggest that when people have to make quick decisions, they tend to ​

A)gather information, calculate probabilities, and make statistically optimal decisions.
B)use relatively simple heuristics.
C)use relatively complicated heuristics.
D)make irrational decisions.

Question 71

Claude and Marie are excited because they just bought a restaurant. The last seven restaurants that have been operated at that location have gone bankrupt within a year of their openings, but Claude and Marie are certain their restaurant will be successful because they plan on working hard. In this case, the new business partners are

A)showing belief perseverance.
B)showing evidence of the gambler's fallacy.
C)showing the confirmation bias.
D)apparently ignoring base rates.

Question 72

Hiram is not really a sports fan, but he signs up for a fantasy baseball tournament that is being sponsored by his company. In selecting his team, he picks the 10 players that he recognizes from 200 that are listed. He is pleasantly surprised when his fantasy team finishes near the top. In this instance, Hiram made his selections using ​

A)belief perseverance.
B)the representativeness heuristic.
C)mental set.
D)the recognition heuristic.

Question 73

According to research, conscious deliberation about a decision leads to greater satisfaction only when decisions are ​

A)simple. ​
B)complex.
C)personally relevant.
D)heuristically based.

Question 74

The representativeness heuristic should cause people to think that families with four children are more likely to have ​

A)four children of the same sex.
B)two boys and two girls.
C)three boys and one girl.
D)three girls and one boy.

Question 75

Before Simon's work, most economic theorists believed that people made _____ economic choices.

A)rational
B)irrational
C)simplistic
D)complex

Question 76

Basing the estimated probability of an event on how similar it is to the prototype of that event is termed the _____ heuristic.

A)conjunction
B)availability
C)representativeness
D)gambler's

Question 77

When people must choose between two alternatives, and they recognize one alternative but not the other, they often infer that the alternative they recognize has the higher value. This decision-making heuristic is called the _____ heuristic.

A)representativeness
B)recognition
C)framing
D)conjunction

Question 78

Even though he knows only a small percentage of high school athletes go on to professional careers, Charlie believes that he will receive a scholarship to play football in college and then will have a career in the NFL. Charlie is

A)not applying base rates to himself.
B)applying base rates to himself.
C)ignoring the conjunction fallacy.
D)applying the conjunction fallacy.

Question 79

Incorrectly estimating that the odds of two uncertain events happening together are greater than the odds of either event happening alone is known as the ​

A)conjunction fallacy.
B)alternative outcome effect.
C)gambler's fallacy.
D)base rate fallacy.

Question 80

The representativeness heuristic refers to our tendency to ​

A)ignore subjective probabilities when making decisions.
B)estimate the probability of an event by judging the ease with which relevant instances come to mind.
C)estimate the probability of an event based on how similar it is to the typical prototype of that event.
D)ignore common stereotypes when estimating probabilities.