Question 1

Even though he knows only a small percentage of high school athletes go on to professional careers,Charlie believes that he will be drafted by a good Junior team,play for Team Canada in the World Juniors Championship,and then have a career in the NHL.What is Charlie doing

Accepted Answer

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

Question 2

When children are raised speaking both French and English,what is the impact on their vocabulary

Accepted Answer

A)  They learn the same amount of words but at a slower rate. 
B)  The number of language milestones they reach in English is limited. 
C)  Their spatial abilities are limited and impair vocabulary. 
D)  The size of their vocabulary is similar or slightly superior to that of children learning a single language.

Question 3

If you know that a family has four children,and you are using the representativeness heuristic,which of the following configurations would you expect in that family

Accepted Answer

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

Question 4

A political party has released a new TV ad that is intended to point out the differences in finance policies between its campaign,and the campaign of the competing party.Which tactic is most likely to be used,if the ad contains semantic slanting

Accepted Answer

A)  clear statements that the two parties have very different views 
B)  overly complicated language that is intended to cause confusion 
C)  words that are chosen for their emotional impact 
D)  statements that are deceptive or contain only partial truth

Question 5

Most people estimate the negative impact of losing $1000 will be greater than the positive impact of winning $1000.In reality,people overestimate the negative emotions they expect to experience after such as loss What is the name for this phenomenon

Accepted Answer

A)  loss aversion 
B)  representative heuristic 
C)  unnecessary constraints 
D)  trial-and-error

Question 6

Why do cognitive psychologists focus on the mistakes that people tend to make in decision making

Accepted Answer

A)  Understanding errors allows us to understand the normal process of decision making. 
B)  It allows for a greater understanding of mental disorders. 
C)  Errors are rare, so they establish the boundaries between what is possible and what is not. 
D)  It provides evidence that we have not evolved to solve problems efficiently.

Question 7

Which class of problems is often solved with a burst of insight

Accepted Answer

A)  transformation 
B)  induced structure 
C)  probability 
D)  arrangement

Question 8

The vocabulary and style of communication used by Washoe,the chimp who was raised by researchers to use sign language,was sufficient for some basic communication with humans.Which of the following children would have a communication level that is similar to that of Washoe

Accepted Answer

A)  a one-year-old child who has spoken a few words 
B)  a two-year old child who produces telegraphic speech 
C)  a four-year-old child who shows evidence of overregularization 
D)  a six-year-old child who is learning to read

Question 9

Who suggested that language determines the nature of one's thought

Accepted Answer

A)  Carl Jung 
B)  Ivan Pavlov 
C)  Noam Chomsky 
D)  Benjamin Lee Whorf

Question 10

What is the system of rules that specifies how words can be arranged into sentences in a language

Accepted Answer

A)  semantics 
B)  symbolic structure 
C)  morpheme structure 
D)  syntax

Question 11

When Matthew is taking a multiple-choice exam,he uses the rule "When in doubt,pick C." Which of the following is illustrated by this example

Accepted Answer

A)  trial and error 
B)  forming subgoals 
C)  an analogy 
D)  a heuristic

Question 12

Stella ran a small business for years.Her business has gotten much larger now,and she finds that she is having problems using all the business strategies that worked very well for her in the past.Which of the following problems with problem solving is Stella facing

Accepted Answer

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

Question 13

How would Chomsky most likely explain a young child saying,"I runned around the house"

Accepted Answer

A)  The child imitated an ungrammatical sentence spoken by another child. 
B)  The child learned the rule for making the past tense of verbs as a result of hearing the speech of others. 
C)  The child had previously been reinforced for saying, "I run around the house." 
D)  The child imitated the ungrammatical speech of an adult.

Question 14

Arguing from an evolutionary perspective,what do Leda Cosmides and John Tooby suggest that human reasoning depends on

Accepted Answer

A)  complex heuristics based on lifelong learning 
B)  inferential heuristics 
C)  "dumb and dumber" heuristics 
D)  specialized cognitive mechanisms for natural problems

Question 15

Which barrier to effective problem solving is illustrated by the series of water-jug problems described in your text

Accepted Answer

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

Question 16

In solving problems,Newell and Simon (1972)have suggested that individuals solve problems by exploring the various pathways to a solution which may or may not lead to a solution,but which seem to be worthy of investigation by the problem solver.What is their term for the set of possible pathways problem solvers use

Accepted Answer

A)  problem pathways 
B)  algorithms 
C)  solution networks 
D)  the problem space

Question 17

Which statement represents an occurrence of overregularization

Accepted Answer

A)  Alek uses the word "cat" to only refer to his own cat. 
B)  Ben tells his mother that he "wented" to the store with Daddy. 
C)  Callum says "doggie sad" when he sees a howling dog on TV. 
D)  Dylan starts using a swear word after hearing his mother say it once.

Question 18

Erica points to the bus and calls it a car.What sort of error is this

Accepted Answer

A)  fast mapping 
B)  overregularization 
C)  underextension 
D)  overextension

Question 19

Toddlers are immersed in a language-learning environment at all times,whereas adults who are learning a second language often do so on a part-time basis.Which theory of language acquisition is weakened by this confounding variable

Accepted Answer

A)  emergentist theory 
B)  interactionist theory 
C)  nativist theory 
D)  behaviourist theory

Question 20

If you are asked to come up with one word that is typically paired with taxi,screw,and cattle (the answer is "driver"),what sort of problem are you solving

Accepted Answer

A)  problems of probability 
B)  problems of inducing structure 
C)  problems of transformation 
D)  problems of arrangement

Exam 8: B: Language and Thought