Question 1

Think of a farmer. The farmer gets up early every morning, throws huge bales of hay around to feed the livestock, puts shoes on horses, and drives a tractor. If you automatically picture a man instead of a woman, you may have fallen victim to the

Accepted Answer

A) confirmation bias. 
B) anchoring heuristic. 
C) representativeness heuristic. 
D) multi-attribute hypothesis.

Question 2

In the year 2525, people are separated into groups. A standardized "Group A" IQ test has been developed, and results indicate that as a group, Group A people have an average IQ score that is 25 points higher than the Group B people. Which of the following statements is an incorrect conclusion?

Accepted Answer

A) Any individual Group A person is more intelligent than any individual Group B person. 
B) These results may be explained by differences in the socioeconomic status between Group A and Group B people. 
C) These results may be explained by motivational differences based on how much value is placed on academic achievement. 
D) While genetic differences may contribute to IQ, any person may improve his or her own score if given the "right" environmental conditions.

Question 3

Wilhelm is being raised in a bilingual environment, learning to speak both German and French before the end of the critical period. Assuming Wilhelm has equally mastered both languages, what you would most likely discover when Wilhelm is in junior high?

Accepted Answer

A) He is having difficulty switching from German to French and from French to German. 
B) He is superior to his classmates in cognitive flexibility and creativity. 
C) He is inferior to his classmates in cognitive flexibility and creativity. 
D) He has more trouble learning arithmetic than his classmates.

Question 4

During an interview, Sherlock Holmes confesses that his detective skills were based largely on principles of deduction, algorithms, and logic. In other words, Holmes relies primarily on __________ to solve his cases.

Accepted Answer

A) artificial intelligence 
B) mental models 
C) heuristics 
D) formal reasoning

Question 5

When evaluating psychological research, it is important to scrutinize whether the collected data support or refute the original hypothesis. Which of the following errors is an experimenter most likely to make?

Accepted Answer

A) Ignoring conflicting data and seeing only that which supports the hypothesis 
B) Being overly sensitive to conflicting data and refuting the hypothesis too quickly 
C) Being a sloppy researcher and missing supportive data 
D) Ignoring supportive data and seeing only that which refutes the hypothesis

Question 6

Luis is on the jury for a highly publicized murder case. After hearing the prosecution's evidence, he has decided that the defendant is guilty. The defense provides several witnesses that place the defendant at a party during the time of the murder. However, Luis ignores this evidence and continues to believe that the defendant is guilty. Which of the following obstacles to problem solving is operating?

Accepted Answer

A) Confirmation bias 
B) Mental set 
C) Multiple hypotheses 
D) Illogical reasoning

Question 7

Larry has written a computer program that monitors and makes decisions about the relative amounts of chemicals to use in the process of creating a high-quality plastic material. His program simulates the decisions experts would make if they could monitor the production of the material during every second of the process. These sorts of technological advances are part of

Accepted Answer

A) artificial intelligence. 
B) formal reasoning. 
C) option evaluation. 
D) probability estimation.

Question 8

Gayatri's friends tell her that she is very creative. She wonders if this is a reflection of her IQ. What would you tell Gayatri?

Accepted Answer

A) Her IQ has nothing to do with whether she shows creative behavior. 
B) Tests of intelligence measure divergent thinking, while measures of creativity focus on convergent thinking. 
C) The correlation between creativity and IQ is fairly low. 
D) Gayatri must be very intelligent because creativity is displayed only by people with extremely high IQ scores.

Question 9

Matthew recently obtained a research assistantship with a psychologist who studies giftedness. After an orientation session, the psychologist explained that his findings, much like those found in your textbook, reveal that high IQ guarantees

Accepted Answer

A) success in college. 
B) a satisfying job. 
C) nothing. 
D) graduation from high school.

Question 10

Your friend says, "Tell me everything you know about Australia." You respond, "Beaches. Kangaroos. Shrimp on the barbie. Crocodile Dundee. Ayers Rock. Aborigines. Sydney Opera House. Weird football." This knowledge is part of your __________ for Australia.

Accepted Answer

A) schema 
B) script 
C) mental model 
D) proposition

Question 11

Blake needs new batteries and decides to buy a package of Energizer batteries. His friend asks him why he selected Energizer, and Blake replies, "Because I constantly see those commercials with the rabbit." Blake is using the __________ heuristic.

Accepted Answer

A) representativeness 
B) availability 
C) anchoring 
D) regression

Question 12

Sumon is in the first stages of learning to speak. Both personal experience and genetic predisposition will interact to help him identify the basic dimensions of language. This idea supports the existence of

Accepted Answer

A) universal grammar. 
B) deep structures. 
C) natural concepts. 
D) telegraphic speech.

Question 13

Ebony took the Aptitude to Succeed in College (ASC)test when she was a high school senior and scored very low. She went to college anyway and graduated with an A average. For kicks, she took the ASC again during her senior year in college. Again, she scored very low on it. The ASC has good statistical __________ but poor statistical __________.

Accepted Answer

A) validity; reliability 
B) reliability; validity 
C) predictive ability; validity 
D) validity; predictive ability

Question 14

Unicorns have an average IQ score that is 10 points higher than centaurs. Given this information, what is the most accurate statement about the intelligence of a particular unicorn and a particular centaur?

Accepted Answer

A) The unicorn is smarter than the centaur. 
B) We can't make any conclusions about their intelligence. 
C) There is no difference in their intelligence. 
D) The centaur is smarter than the unicorn.

Question 15

When he puts together a jigsaw puzzle, Marvin has a very specific strategy. First he finds corner pieces, then he finds edge pieces, and then he constructs the exterior frame of the puzzle. From there, he puts pieces of similar colors into piles, and tries different combinations. Marvin's puzzle-construction approach is an example of ________.

Accepted Answer

A) the availability heuristic 
B) a means-end analysis 
C) functional fixedness 
D) algorithm

Question 16

While taking the SAT exam, Ceth must determine the age order of four siblings based on the clues given in the question. Ceth uses statements about the siblings to create a formula for arriving at the correct birth order. Ceth is using __________ to solve this problem.

Accepted Answer

A) a logarithm 
B) logic 
C) a heuristic 
D) elaborate association

Question 17

Witnesses to the sniper attacks in Maryland and Virginia described seeing a white work van in the vicinity of the incidents. As a result of this, dozens of reports of suspicious white vans were received, even though the vans were behaving in perfectly normal way. Because the snipers actually drove a dark sedan, they were able to continue their terrible deeds longer. The people trying to solve the crime were operating under

Accepted Answer

A) a mental set. 
B) formal concepts. 
C) erroneous scripts. 
D) a working backward heuristic.

Question 18

While moving into a new apartment, Titus needed to hold the door open with something heavy. It suddenly dawned on him that he could use his huge potted tree as a doorstop. Titus solved this problem by overcoming

Accepted Answer

A) multiple hypotheses. 
B) functional fixedness. 
C) confirmation bias. 
D) the probability effect.

Question 19

The theorist responsible for proposing that human beings are born with built-in grammar that allows us an innate ability to develop language skill was

Accepted Answer

A) B.F. Skinner. 
B) Benjamin Whorf. 
C) Edward Sapir. 
D) Noam Chomsky.

Question 20

According to the textbook, it is difficult to define intelligence because

Accepted Answer

A) cognitive abilities cannot be quantified. 
B) standard intelligence tests are still relatively new. 
C) the use of an IQ is not common in modern psychology. 
D) there is no universally agreed-upon definition.

Exam 7: Thought, Language, and Intelligence