Deck 4: The Nature of Critical Thinking

Question 1

The saying "what you don't know can't hurt you" best exemplifies which of the following?

A) Blissful ignorance
B) Naïve realism
C) Monkey see, monkey do phenomenon
D) Illusory superiority
E) Wishful thinking

Answer 1

A

Question 2

A person who knows a good deal about the game of golf may know very little about the game of chess. Not knowing much about a specific game, sport, or hobby illustrates:

A) Automaticity
B) Hubris
C) Illusory superiority
D) Functional cognitive deficits
E) Conscious ignorance

Answer 2

D

Question 3

The average person tends to think she or he is smarter than most people, has a better sense of humor than most people, and is more knowledgeable than most people. This tendency is known as:

A) Groupthink
B) Illusory superiority
C) Overachiever bias
D) Functional cognitive deficit
E) Bandwagon effect

Answer 3

B

Question 4

A little girl who picks up a wasp and gets stung is displaying her ignorance. An adult who knows better and still picks up a wasp is exhibiting:

A) Automaticity
B) Illusory superiority
C) Stupidity
D) Risky shift phenomenon
E) Groupthink

Question 5

Generally speaking, people with the lowest critical-thinking skills:

A) Believe they have poor critical-thinking skills
B) Believe they have average, or better-than-average, critical-thinking skills
C) Believe they have superior critical-thinking skills
D) Believe that critical-thinking skills are unnecessary

Question 6

A know-it-all male employee who engages in "mansplaining" with female employees is exhibiting:

A) Illusory superiority
B) White privilege
C) Blissful ignorance
D) Willful ignorance
E) Automaticity

Question 7

A person who makes the same mistake over and over, and doesn't seem to learn from past mistakes, is displaying:

A) Nonadaptive behavior
B) Functional ignorance
C) Illusory superiority
D) Mental blindness
E) The Flynn effect

Question 8

Will Rogers' quip, "Everyone is ignorant, only on different subjects," refers to which concept?

A) Functional cognitive deficits
B) Nonadaptive behavior
C) Illusory superiority
D) Crystallized intelligence
E) Individualized ignorance

Question 9

The term "mesofacts" refers to:

A) Numbers so large people that cannot comprehend them
B) Facts that can only be estimated or predicted
C) Knowledge that changes over time and can become obsolete
D) Knowledge that is fixed and unchanging
E) Knowledge that is culturally universal

Question 10

When people rely on cultural stereotypes and fail to examine the accuracy of those stereotypes, they are displaying:

A) Crystallized intelligence
B) Automaticity
C) Biased thinking
D) Nonadaptive behavior
E) Groupthink

Question 11

Which statement about critical thinking best reflects the definition offered in the text?

A) The use of logic and deduction in problem-solving and decision-making
B) Remaining critical and skeptical of all information and ideas
C) Accepting nothing as true until it is incontrovertibly proven to be true
D) Using reasoning and rationality when evaluating information and making decisions
E) Using all available information, including knowledge, emotions, instinct, experience, and beliefs when making a decision

Question 12

Critical thinking is most closely related to:

A) Analytical thinking
B) Creative thinking
C) Intelligence
D) A skill set
E) A disposition

Question 13

Some forms of reasoning, such as causal reasoning, sign reasoning, and analogical reasoning, are used in a variety of fields and disciplines. This reflects a __________ view of critical thinking.

A) Generalist
B) Crystallized
C) Specifist
D) Generic
E) Compartmentalized

Question 14

The results of one study found that:

A) The more adolescents texted, the better their knowledge of grammar.
B) The more adolescents texted, the worse their knowledge of grammar.
C) The amount that adolescents texted had no effect on their grammar.
D) The more emojis students that used, the better their use of grammar.
E) The fewer emojis that students used, the worse their use of grammar.

Question 15

Neuroscientists studying multitasking found that:

A) The human brain is well-suited for multitasking.
B) The human brain is poorly-suited to multitasking.
C) Multitasking has a positive effect on learning.
D) Multitasking has a positive effect on reading comprehension.

Question 16

With respect to laptop use in the classroom, a study on classroom learning revealed that:

A) Students who used laptops in class had better comprehension than students who took notes by hand.
B) Students who used laptops in class had better retention than students who took notes by hand.
C) Students who used laptops in class performed better on tests than students who took notes by hand.
D) Students sitting nearby laptop users learned less than students not sitting nearby laptop users.

Question 17

An advantage of text-speak compared to normal language use is:

A) Acronyms and abbreviations can overcome language barriers
B) Meaning is subtler and more nuanced
C) More in-depth emotions can be revealed
D) Abbreviations and emojis are clearer indicators of emotion than words

Question 18

Which of the following statements about critical thinking is most accurate?

A) Critical thinking is both a skill set and a disposition.
B) Critical thinking is synonymous with creative thinking.
C) Critical thinking is synonymous with intelligence.
D) Critical thinking is not synonymous with cynical thinking.
E) Critical thinking is always subject-specific and situation-specific.

Question 19

Critical thinking is most closely associated with which concept from the elaboration likelihood model (ELM)?

A) Intelligence
B) Crystalized intelligence
C) Creativity
D) Central processing
E) Automaticity

Question 20

When groups engage in problem-solving and decision-making, they sometimes overestimate their abilities and assume an air of infallibility. This phenomenon is known as:

A) Invalid validation
B) Automaticity
C) Illusory superiority
D) Groupthink
E) Hive mind

Question 21

Which description below best reflects the view of critical thinking as a disposition?

A) Yolanda enjoys reading Op-Ed pieces in the news and participating in classroom discussions about public policy issues.
B) Nate has a photographic memory and hopes to be a contestant on the TV show "Jeopardy" one day.
C) Hank tries to match his statements and behavior to the social expectations of the people with whom he is interacting.
D) Silvia does not suffer fools gladly, and she is quick to dish out insults to anyone who annoys her.
E) Tony delights in correcting others' grammar, spelling mistakes, and pointing out fallacies in their reasoning.

Question 22

When young adults take the "Tide Pod" challenge (swallowing packets of laundry detergent), the "Birdbox" challenge (driving while blindfolded), or the Kiki/"In My Feelings" challenge (stepping out of a moving car), their behavior best illustrates:

A) Ignorance
B) Stupidity (because they know better, or should know better)
C) Groupthink
D) Hubris
E) Functional cognitive deficits

Question 23

Is technology helping or hurting critical thinking? Provide a specific example of a form of technology and explain why and how it is helping or hurting the ability of people to think and reason well.

Question 24

What is the main difference between stupidity and ignorance? Provide a specific example (not taken from the text) that illustrates the distinction.

Question 25

What is the difference between blissful ignorance and willful ignorance? Offer an example to illustrate your distinction.

Question 26

Explain what nonadaptive behavior is and how it affects critical thinking.

Question 27

Sometimes the smartest people do the dumbest things. Why do highly intelligent people sometimes fail to engage in critical thinking?