Deck 4: Cognitive Biases

Question 1

A cognitive bias is psychological barrier to critical thinking.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

A cognitive bias is philosophical barrier to critical thinking.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Intellectual blindness is one of the cognitive biases identified in the book.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

A good critical thinker is someone who has eliminated all cognitive biases.

Question 5

According to the text, Socrates had no cognitive biases.

Question 6

Cognitive biases can all be completely eliminated if one tries.

Question 7

Belief bias is one of the cognitive biases.

Question 8

Confirmation bias is the same as the availability bias.

Question 9

According to the text, everyone has cognitive biases.

Question 10

Cognitive biases can be counteracted but are not entirely eliminable.

Question 11

The text argues that cognitive biases prove that reason cannot be trusted.

Question 12

The science of cognitive biases began in ancient Greece.

Question 13

Socrates is the founder of the modern science of cognitive biases.

Question 14

Confirmation bias causes people to look harder for confirming than for disconfirming evidence.

Question 15

Belief bias causes people to judge the logical strength of an argument simply on the basis of whether they agree or do not agree with the conclusion.

Question 16

The text compares cognitive biases to deadheads floating a few feet below the surface of a lake.

Question 17

An affect is a positive or negative feeling toward something.

Question 18

The negativity bias causes people to complain and be bitter.

Question 19

Selective attention bias works like a filter in your mind.

Question 20

Bandwagon bias is also called "conformism bias."

Question 21

The bandwagon bias is a tendency to bum rides off friends.

Question 22

Ethnocentrism bias has caused a great deal of human suffering over the centuries.

Question 23

Stereotyping is closely related to ethnocentrism bias.

Question 24

A stereotype acts like a filter in our minds, restricting our vision.

Question 25

According to the text, everyone is egocentric to some degree.

Question 26

The availability bias causes us to not be available when our friends need us.

Question 27

Substitution bias causes us to substitute an easier question for a harder one when answering a hard question.

Question 28

Anchoring bias affects sailors and people at sea.

Question 29

Tulipomania was a hysteria that occurred in Holland in the seventeenth century.

Question 30

It is not possible that there exists both confirming and disconfirming evidence for a single view or belief.

Question 31

In many cases, there exists both confirming and disconfirming evidence for a belief.

Question 32

Self-interest bias can cause us to believe something solely because acceptance of the view benefits us, without regard to the truth of the matter or the evidence.

Question 33

The mere fact that a view benefits you is not proof the view is true.

Question 34

Strong expectations can cause us to see things that are not really there.

Question 35

One problem with being too resistant to criticism is that you pass up opportunities for self-improvement.

Question 36

One problem with always blaming others for your shortcomings is that it may cause you to overlook the real source of the problem.

Question 37

Confirmation bias is…

A) the tendency to judge an argument on the basis of whether we already agree with its conclusion, rather than on the evidence.
B) the tendency to decide an issue on the basis of emotions.
C) the tendency to look harder for evidence that supports our view than for evidence that counts against our view.
D) the tendency to notice evidence that supports our view while not even noticing evidence that goes against it.

Question 38

The availability bias is…

A) the tendency to form a conclusion on the basis of all the evidence that exists on an issue.
B) the tendency to form a conclusion on the basis of only the evidence easily at hand, rather than on the basis of all the evidence.
C) the tendency to be available to only those from one point of view.
D) the tendency to overlook easily available evidence.

Question 39

The belief bias is…

A) the tendency to believe only what you believe.
B) the tendency to rate the strength of an argument on the basis of whether you already agree with the conclusion.
C) the tendency to look at evidence only for what you already believe.
D) the tendency to believe on the basis of no evidence at all.

Question 40

The bandwagon bias is...

A) getting legislation passed by forming a supermajority.
B) the tendency to adopt beliefs because everyone around you holds them.
C) convincing people to agree with you by making your view look popular.
D) the tendency to favor your own group over other groups.

Question 41

Ethnocentrism is…

A) an unjustified belief in the superiority of one's own culture or ethnic group.
B) the belief that one's own ethnic group forms the center of the universe.
C) the tendency to discriminate against people who are different than you.
D) the belief that you are superior to all other kinds of people.

Question 42

The negativity bias is the tendency to…

A) be against everything you here.
B) attach more weight to negative evidence than to positive evidence.
C) say negative things about other people.
D) attach more weight to positive things than to negative things.
E) attach more weight to negative events than to positive events.