Question 1

Which one of the following examples most clearly illustrates how mental set can interfere with problem solving?

Accepted Answer

A)  A few days after an argument with her boyfriend, Abigail wants to make amends, but the boyfriend tells her that he is now dating someone else. 
B)  Bernadette needs to calculate the volume of a pyramid. She knows she learned the correct formula in class, but she can't seem to remember it now. 
C)  Corinne is working on a jigsaw puzzle. One of the pieces to the puzzle is missing. 
D)  Danielle's car won't start. It doesn't occur to her that she can take the bus to work because she has always driven her car to work before.

Question 2

When Daneesha encounters the problem "If apples are 35¢ each, how much will 7 apples cost?" she thinks, "Many items at the same price . . . hmm, this kind of situation usually calls for multiplication." Daneesha's reasoning reflects the use of:

Accepted Answer

A)  incubation 
B)  inert knowledge 
C)  a problem schema 
D)  means-ends analysis

Question 3

Francis learns that the Spanish word malo means "bad." He later learns that the French word mal also means "bad." Analyzing this situation in terms of the similarity of stimuli and responses, we can predict that Francis will:

Accepted Answer

A)  Probably have positive transfer from one language to the other 
B)  Probably have negative transfer from one language to the other 
C)  Have positive transfer from Spanish to French, but negative transfer from French to Spanish 
D)  Have positive transfer from French to Spanish, but negative transfer from Spanish to French

Question 4

Matthew's mother teaches him to measure butter for cooking by placing the butter in a measuring cup partially filled with water and seeing how high the water rises. In his science lab a few days later, Matthew realizes he can use the same procedure to measure the volume of an irregularly shaped object. Which one of the following best describes Matthew's approach to problem solving?

Accepted Answer

A)  Working backward 
B)  Visual imagery 
C)  Drawing an analogy 
D)  Brainstorming

Question 5

Sheila is a physicist who has been successfully solving physics problems for years. Tamara is a beginning physics student. Which one of the following differences between Sheila and Tamara are we most likely to see in terms of how they approach physics problems?

Accepted Answer

A)  Sheila is more likely than Tamara to make sure the problems are well-defined before she begins to solve them. 
B)  Sheila is more likely than Tamara to classify problems based on their superficial characteristics. 
C)  Sheila is apt to retrieve less information from long-term memory than Tamara retrieves. 
D)  Sheila is more likely than Tamara to have functional fixedness when she works on problems.

Question 6

Critical thinking can best be described as involving:

Accepted Answer

A)  Knowing the best course of action to take in complex situations 
B)  Using heuristics to solve problems 
C)  Keeping an open mind about controversial issues 
D)  Judging the credibility of information or arguments

Question 7

If you wanted students to learn how to critically evaluate what they read on Internet websites, you would be most likely to:

Accepted Answer

A)  Ask students to consider the motives of the people creating the websites 
B)  Suggest that students check to see how recently the information was posted on the websites 
C)  Urge students to disregard any websites that aren't sponsored by a well-respected agency or organization 
D)  Tell students that websites with eye-catching graphics are usually designed by professionals and therefore offer credible information
Essay Questions

Question 8

Which one of the following is most likely to be useful in teaching children to solve mathematical problems effectively?

Accepted Answer

A)  Teaching tricks such as "When you see altogether in a problem, you should add" 
B)  Making sure that students know why procedures work, as well as how to use them 
C)  Having students practice procedures in isolation before applying them to real-life situations 
D)  Making sure that students can think abstractly before they begin to solve problems

Question 9

Mr. Rangel asks his students to write an essay describing how they would deal with the problem of the diminishing areas in which gorillas can successfully live in the wild. Three of the following factors should influence his students' ability to describe possible solutions to the problem. Which factor will not influence students' ability to do well-either for the better or for the worse-on the essay?

Accepted Answer

A)  Students' anxiety about how well they do on the essay 
B)  How much students know about the countries in which gorillas reside 
C)  How carefully students internally monitor their ways of thinking about the problem 
D)  The number of specific algorithms students have learned for solving problems in other disciplines 
E) g., physics, mathematics)

Question 10

From the perspective of information processing theory, incubation facilitates problem solving primarily by:

Accepted Answer

A)  enhancing attentional focus on the problem to be solved 
B)  slightly expanding the capacity of working memory 
C)  enabling a more expansive search of long-term memory 
D)  increasing one's ability to engage in means-ends analysis

Question 11

People are most likely to engage in meaningful problem solving when they:

Accepted Answer

A)  Use heuristics rather than algorithms 
B)  Have large working memory capacities 
C)  Understand the logic underlying the procedures they use 
D)  Focus on only one small part of a problem at a time

Question 12

The primary advantage of using an algorithm rather than a heuristic) is that it:

Accepted Answer

A)  Always yields a correct solution if executed correctly 
B)  Is widely applicable to many different content domains 
C)  Can be easily used by the typical 6-year-old child 
D)  Never takes more than five minutes to complete

Exam 13: Transfer, Problem Solving, and Critical Thinking Exam 13 Transfer, Problem Solving, and Critical Thinking Multiple Choice Questions