Sample Quiz

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One sense of the word rational is that a person is following the rules and norms for good reasoning, such as reasoning logically. Another sense of the word discussed in the critical reading discussion concerns:

whether thinking helps create or maintain bias.

whether thinking helps maintain a person's beliefs.

how well thinking helps a person reach his or her goals. (correct)

how well thinking helps a person avoid thinking errors.

Damasio (1994) studied a man named Elliot who had damage to the orbital prefrontal region of his brain; Elliot experienced dramatic changes in his behavior after much of this area was removed. Which interpretation of Elliot's case reflects Damasio's findings?

Elliot showed angry outbursts, suggesting that this part of the prefrontal cortex regulates emotional response.

Elliot's decision making was impaired the most when he lost his temper.

Elliot's case suggests that normal emotion is needed for rational decision making. (correct)

Elliot had to relearn how to succeed in business and family life, suggesting the brain shows great plasticity.

Physiological markers measured on a polygraph (lie detector) indicate changes in stress or anxiety and, therefore, may also indicate lying. People show great differences in their physiological responses measured on polygraphs, and some people beat the machine. Taken together, this evidence suggests that:

the polygraph should still be used in criminal investigations despite its problems.

using physiological measures to detect lying is basically a good idea.

investigators are often right to administer a polygraph test to suspects.

the polygraph may not be a good way to accurately detect lying. (correct)

The process of experiencing an emotion often begins with interpretation of the situation, which is called a(n):

appraisal. Signup and view all the answers

_____ are often marked by expressive behaviors, subjective experience, motivated dispositions to behave a certain way, and physiological changes.

Emotions Signup and view all the answers

Theories maintaining that emotions are discrete assume that basic emotions, such as fear and anger, are:

distinguishable from each other and are natural. Signup and view all the answers

The text discusses a UFO cult and its leader, Dorothy Martin. Even though Martin's prophecy about aliens did not come to pass, she told her followers that she maintained contact with the aliens. Martin's response provides a good example of which thinking error?

Belief perseverance Signup and view all the answers

Confirmation bias and belief perseverance are both examples of:

thinking errors related to motivated reasoning. Signup and view all the answers

The tendency for people to lack accurate knowledge of their own biases is MOST related to a deficiency in which aspect of critical thinking?

Metacognitive reflection Signup and view all the answers

The tendency for people to lack accurate knowledge or awareness of their own biases is called:

the bias blind spot. Signup and view all the answers

The fundamental attribution error and the better-than-average effect are both related to the _____ as a tendency to evaluate oneself favorably

self-serving bias Signup and view all the answers

Aliyah's critical thinking instructor was talking about the importance of being fair-minded in considering the sides of an argument. Aliyah said to herself, "I think I am more fair-minded than most of the students I have met." If Aliyah's self-evaluation reveals that she is showing a thinking error, it is MOST likely

the better-than-average effect. Signup and view all the answers

Eliza said that the reason she was unable to get a job during the recession was because employers were not hiring in her field, but as soon as they began to hire again she got a job because she is a hard worker. According to Eliza, many other unemployed people did not get jobs because they are simply lazy. What is the thinking error she seems to be making?

Fundamental attribution error Signup and view all the answers

The research by Tetlock and Kim (1987) on motivated reasoning found that when participants made predictions about how other people would respond on a personality test, the participants considered more alternative interpretations if they:

were told they would be accountable for justifying their judgments. Signup and view all the answers

The BEST interpretation of the reaction shown by people who were affected by the 1938 radio play broadcast of The War of the Worlds suggests that:

the emotion of fear may sweep rapidly through people and lead to perceptual errors. Signup and view all the answers

Arousing and directing a behavior towards a goal is a common definition of:

motivation. Signup and view all the answers

People often lack awareness of their own biases and tend to underestimate their own bias, an effect known as the:

bias blind spot. Signup and view all the answers

Which statement is generally true about individuals' level of confidence in their judgments?

People are typically overconfident in many of the judgments they make. Signup and view all the answers

Being affected by vivid examples and recent experiences is MOST related to:

the availability heuristic. Signup and view all the answers

If someone estimates that more people die from tornadoes than from asthma each year because that person has seen a lot of media coverage of people killed by tornadoes, then that person is:

probably making an inaccurate estimate based on availability. Signup and view all the answers

The judgment errors of the gambler's fallacy and the illusion of the "hot hand" have in common that both:

are errors in estimating randomness related to representativeness. Signup and view all the answers

Married for 12 years, Maria and Jose have six girls and no sons. Jose said, "I think we should try again because this next time we are bound to have a boy." Which kind of thinking error is Jose committing?

Gambler's fallacy Signup and view all the answers

Which assumes that "like goes with like"?

The representativeness heuristic Signup and view all the answers

In the terminology of the dual process theory of thinking, which combination of terms goes together?

Type 1 thinking using heuristics, intuition, familiarity, and experience Signup and view all the answers

According to the dual process theory of cognition, people generally engage in Type 1 thinking when they:

need to make a rapid judgment. Signup and view all the answers

When people reason under uncertainty and judge the probability of events, they often use rules of thumb that allow them to take cognitive shortcuts in making judgments. The BEST description of this approach is that people are using:

heuristics that sometimes lead to errors in judgment. Signup and view all the answers

Describing people as cognitive misers refers to the idea that people tend to:

conserve their cognitive resources. Signup and view all the answers

People have limited cognitive resources and limited time to perform optimally on challenging decision and judgment tasks, such as estimating probabilities. In this regard, Simon (1990) described people as displaying:

bounded rationality. Signup and view all the answers

The law of large numbers maintains or implies that:

larger random samples will be more representative than smaller samples. Signup and view all the answers

What is the probability of getting heads on the fifth toss of a fair coin when the four previous tosses were all tails?

p = .50 Signup and view all the answers

Suppose you guessed and correctly answered a multiple-choice question that had four options as possible answers, with each option equally likely and only one correct answer. What is the probability of your guessing the answer CORRECTLY?

p = .25 Signup and view all the answers

Successful nudges, such as requiring people to opt out of volunteering to be an organ donor, often take advantage of the status quo bias, which is people's:

tendency to not change their initial response. Signup and view all the answers

Reviewing and revising most specifically involve:

critical reading and metacognition. Signup and view all the answers

Which statement is TRUE about language and thinking?

Language helps to express thoughts or externalize thinking. Signup and view all the answers

The childhood story that begins, "This is the house that Jack built," is a chapter example to illustrate the concept that language is:

recursive. Signup and view all the answers

The fact that advertisers spend $1.5 trillion per year on their messages to get consumers to buy their products illustrates an everyday example of a kind of

persuasion. Signup and view all the answers

According to Myers (2013), a message that induces a change in beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors is considered:

persuasion. Signup and view all the answers

Propaganda is a kind of

persuasive communication. Signup and view all the answers

A persuasive message from a government or political entity is less likely to be considered propaganda if it:

is educational and provides information that people agree with. Signup and view all the answers

From the perspective of the critical thinking goal of making well-reasoned arguments, the strategy of attacking a person is a problem because it:

deflects the evaluation away from the argument and onto the person. Signup and view all the answers

An environmental activist said, "The ocean is becoming a cesspool where people throw their garbage, medical waste, and plastic refuse. But you can help clean it up by contributing to the 'Save Our Oceans' campaign." Which persuasive strategy is the activist using?

Emotive language Signup and view all the answers

A television station advertised that its news program, "Channel 2 Eyewitness News," is the number one news broadcast in the region. Which misuse of language is MOST likely occurring in the ad?

Making an inadequate comparison Signup and view all the answers

To impress a girl he had just met, Joel told her that he was practically finished with college. The girl thought that he was probably in his last semester. Later she learned that he was just entering his senior year. Because she had studied impediments to clear thinking and communication, she recognized that Joel was using:

a weasel word Signup and view all the answers

Ambiguity and vagueness of language are MOSTLY a problem related to:

clarity. Signup and view all the answers

Taking notes and writing an essay are cognitively very demanding because they both:

make heavy demands on working memory. Signup and view all the answers

Writing a draft of a paper is MOST related to which component of the writing process?

Translating ideas into text Signup and view all the answers

An essay question asks a student to judge two therapies and then to decide which therapy is best. This writing prompt is MOST specifically a(an) _ question requiring _.

evaluation; critical thinking Signup and view all the answers

The prompt to write an essay question asks, "Integrate lessons learned in freshmen composition courses with information presented in this chapter to identify a good way for organizing thoughts before writing a critical thinking essay." This prompt is MOST specifically asking for:

synthesis. Signup and view all the answers

Suppose students were asked in an essay question to use what they know about persuasion to advise a student on how write an advertisement for a new computer. Which kind of specific essay question is being prompted?

Application Signup and view all the answers

Which is a main difference between a critical thinking essay and a persuasive essay?

Persuasive essays tend to be more one-sided. Signup and view all the answers

Which is NOT one of the four common forms of plagiarism listed by Beins and Beins (2012) and identified in the text?

"You do not cite someone's else's most recent publication describing an idea of theirs that you are using." Signup and view all the answers

Which kind of plagiarism is displayed by the author in the following brief summary of the two routes of persuasion?

According to an article in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, persuasion has two routes: the central route and the peripheral route. People who are able and willing to reason about an issue will tend to take the central route and examine the arguments made, relying on Type 2 thinking. In contrast, when people are not motivated to reason, are distracted, or are busy, they are more likely to take the peripheral route to persuasion and not think deeply about an issue, relying on Type 1 thinking.

Correct answer: The author of this passage fails to cite whoever came up with the idea of two routes of persuasion. Signup and view all the answers

When ideas are coherent in a written passage, they are:

logically connected in a way that the reader can follow. Signup and view all the answers

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Questions and Answers

One sense of the word rational is that a person is following the rules and norms for good reasoning, such as reasoning logically. Another sense of the word discussed in the critical reading discussion concerns:

Damasio (1994) studied a man named Elliot who had damage to the orbital prefrontal region of his brain; Elliot experienced dramatic changes in his behavior after much of this area was removed. Which interpretation of Elliot's case reflects Damasio's findings?

The process of experiencing an emotion often begins with interpretation of the situation, which is called a(n):

_____ are often marked by expressive behaviors, subjective experience, motivated dispositions to behave a certain way, and physiological changes.

Theories maintaining that emotions are discrete assume that basic emotions, such as fear and anger, are:

The text discusses a UFO cult and its leader, Dorothy Martin. Even though Martin's prophecy about aliens did not come to pass, she told her followers that she maintained contact with the aliens. Martin's response provides a good example of which thinking error?

Confirmation bias and belief perseverance are both examples of:

The tendency for people to lack accurate knowledge of their own biases is MOST related to a deficiency in which aspect of critical thinking?

The tendency for people to lack accurate knowledge or awareness of their own biases is called:

The fundamental attribution error and the better-than-average effect are both related to the _____ as a tendency to evaluate oneself favorably

The research by Tetlock and Kim (1987) on motivated reasoning found that when participants made predictions about how other people would respond on a personality test, the participants considered more alternative interpretations if they:

The BEST interpretation of the reaction shown by people who were affected by the 1938 radio play broadcast of The War of the Worlds suggests that:

Arousing and directing a behavior towards a goal is a common definition of:

People often lack awareness of their own biases and tend to underestimate their own bias, an effect known as the:

Which statement is generally true about individuals' level of confidence in their judgments?

Being affected by vivid examples and recent experiences is MOST related to:

If someone estimates that more people die from tornadoes than from asthma each year because that person has seen a lot of media coverage of people killed by tornadoes, then that person is:

The judgment errors of the gambler's fallacy and the illusion of the "hot hand" have in common that both:

Married for 12 years, Maria and Jose have six girls and no sons. Jose said, "I think we should try again because this next time we are bound to have a boy." Which kind of thinking error is Jose committing?

Which assumes that "like goes with like"?

In the terminology of the dual process theory of thinking, which combination of terms goes together?

According to the dual process theory of cognition, people generally engage in Type 1 thinking when they:

When people reason under uncertainty and judge the probability of events, they often use rules of thumb that allow them to take cognitive shortcuts in making judgments. The BEST description of this approach is that people are using:

Describing people as cognitive misers refers to the idea that people tend to:

People have limited cognitive resources and limited time to perform optimally on challenging decision and judgment tasks, such as estimating probabilities. In this regard, Simon (1990) described people as displaying:

The law of large numbers maintains or implies that:

What is the probability of getting heads on the fifth toss of a fair coin when the four previous tosses were all tails?

Suppose you guessed and correctly answered a multiple-choice question that had four options as possible answers, with each option equally likely and only one correct answer. What is the probability of your guessing the answer CORRECTLY?

Successful nudges, such as requiring people to opt out of volunteering to be an organ donor, often take advantage of the status quo bias, which is people's:

Reviewing and revising most specifically involve:

Which statement is TRUE about language and thinking?

The childhood story that begins, "This is the house that Jack built," is a chapter example to illustrate the concept that language is:

The fact that advertisers spend $1.5 trillion per year on their messages to get consumers to buy their products illustrates an everyday example of a kind of

According to Myers (2013), a message that induces a change in beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors is considered:

Propaganda is a kind of

A persuasive message from a government or political entity is less likely to be considered propaganda if it:

From the perspective of the critical thinking goal of making well-reasoned arguments, the strategy of attacking a person is a problem because it:

An environmental activist said, "The ocean is becoming a cesspool where people throw their garbage, medical waste, and plastic refuse. But you can help clean it up by contributing to the 'Save Our Oceans' campaign." Which persuasive strategy is the activist using?

A television station advertised that its news program, "Channel 2 Eyewitness News," is the number one news broadcast in the region. Which misuse of language is MOST likely occurring in the ad?

Ambiguity and vagueness of language are MOSTLY a problem related to:

Taking notes and writing an essay are cognitively very demanding because they both:

Writing a draft of a paper is MOST related to which component of the writing process?

An essay question asks a student to judge two therapies and then to decide which therapy is best. This writing prompt is MOST specifically a(an) _____ question requiring _____.

The prompt to write an essay question asks, "Integrate lessons learned in freshmen composition courses with information presented in this chapter to identify a good way for organizing thoughts before writing a critical thinking essay." This prompt is MOST specifically asking for:

Suppose students were asked in an essay question to use what they know about persuasion to advise a student on how write an advertisement for a new computer. Which kind of specific essay question is being prompted?

Which is a main difference between a critical thinking essay and a persuasive essay?

Which is NOT one of the four common forms of plagiarism listed by Beins and Beins (2012) and identified in the text?

When ideas are coherent in a written passage, they are:

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