Deck 1: Introduction to Critical Thinking

Question 1

Critical thinking is marked by _____.

A) consistency
B) completeness
C) clarity
D) All of the answers are correct

Answer 1

All of the answers are correct

Question 2

_____ is the view that what is morally right and good for an individual is whatever that person believes is morally right and good.

A) Moral anti-realism
B) Preferentialism
C) Conventionalism
D) Moral subjectivism

Answer 2

Moral subjectivism

Question 3

Relativism _____.

A) makes it impossible for us to correctly criticize our own societies' customs and values
B) All of the answers are correct
C) makes it impossible for us to correctly criticize other cultures' customs and values
D) can lead to conflicting moral duties

Answer 3

All of the answers are correct

Question 4

Thinking is "fair" when it is open-minded, impartial, and free of distorting biases and preconceptions.

Question 5

Self-interested thinking is a form of _____.

A) sociocentrism
B) short-term thinking
C) emotive thinking
D) egocentrism

Question 6

Subjectivism is the view that truth is a matter of social or cultural opinion.

Question 7

Logical correctness is a matter of drawing well-founded conclusions from a set of beliefs.

Question 8

Egocentrism is group-centered thinking.

Question 9

A person is guilty of practical inconsistency when he or she is hypocritical or fails to practice what he or she preaches.

Question 10

Wishful thinking is the tendency to accept and defend beliefs that accord with one's own self-interest.

Question 11

Uncritical thinkers tend to _____.

A) base beliefs on mere personal preference or self-interest
B) think illogically and draw unsupported conclusions from evidence and data
C) All of the answers are correct
D) be closed-minded and resist criticisms of beliefs and assumptions

Question 12

Stereotypes are generalizations about a group of people in which identical characteristics are assigned to all or virtually all members of the group, often without regard to whether such attributions are accurate.

Question 13

According to Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman, the availability heuristic describes the common tendency to make an estimate based on an initial starting point and then fail to adjust sufficiently from that starting point.

Question 14

Self-interested thinking is the tendency to see one's own group (nation, tribe, sect, peer group, etc.) as being inherently better than others.

Question 15

Which of the following critical thinking hindrances is not discussed in detail in this chapter?

A) prejudice
B) sociocentrism
C) wishful thinking
D) egocentrism

Question 16

Unwarranted assumptions are things we take for granted without good reason.

Question 17

One important critical thinking disposition is intellectual humility.

Question 18

Conformism is a form of _____.

A) provincialism
B) rationalization
C) short-term thinking
D) sociocentrism

Question 19

The fact that there is deep disagreement about ethical issues shows that _____.

A) ethics is just a matter of opinion
B) None of the answers are correct
C) there is no objective truth in ethics
D) there is no right or wrong

Question 20

Believing something because it makes one feel good, not because there is good reason for believing that it is true, is referred to as _____.

A) divergent thinking
B) practical inconsistency
C) wishful thinking
D) egocentrism

Question 21

_____ is the tendency to conform, often unthinkingly, to authority or to group standards of conduct and belief.

A) The lemming instinct
B) Sociocentrism
C) Conformism
D) Authoritarianism

Question 22

One form of egocentrism is the superiority bias.

Question 23

Relativism can lead to conflicting moral duties.

Question 24

Which of the following is true of tribalism?

A) The emotion is usually pronounced during periods of stress or perceived threat.
B) It is considered to be a form of superiority bias.
C) Extreme tribalism is easy to recognize as it is usually a conscious and voluntary emotion.
D) It refers to individuals dissociating themselves from their social group.

Question 25

Clarity is the same thing as precision.

Question 26

One common form of sociocentrism is group bias.

Question 27

_____ is the tendency to overrate oneself.

A) Vanity
B) Superiority bias
C) Egocentrism
D) Sociocentrism

Question 28

Superiority bias is the tendency to overrate oneself, which means to see oneself as better in some respect than one actually is.

Question 29

Conformism is the tendency to see one's culture or group as being better than others.

Question 30

When we use the word "critical" in reference to critical thinking, we mean "negative and fault-finding."

Question 31

_____ is the view that truth is a matter of individual opinion.

A) Emotivism
B) Subjectivism
C) Relativism
D) Individualism

Question 32

Relativistic thinking is based on the idea that there is no objective or absolute truth because truth is simply a matter of opinion.

Question 33

Relativism rules out the idea of moral progress.

Question 34

A course in critical thinking can improve students' ability to _____.

A) All of the answers are correct
B) argue effectively for their own views on course topics
C) critically evaluate course materials
D) understand course materials

Question 35

Precision is an important critical thinking standard.

Question 36

The researcher who used electrical shocks to demonstrate the power of conformism was _____.

A) Stanley Milgram
B) Jean Piaget
C) Solomon Asch
D) Abraham Maslow

Question 37

Amber notices that a few currency notes are missing from her purse kept on her coffee table. She immediately holds Lily, the housemaid, accountable for it because the previous housemaid who was from the same village as Lily had stolen money from Amber's house. In this case, Amber's thought process reflects _____.

A) superiority bias
B) hasty generalization
C) narcissism
D) relativistic thinking

Question 38

The classic 1950s experiment in which students were asked to match a standard line with three comparison lines in order to test the power of peer pressure was conducted by _____.

A) Stanley Milgram
B) Sigmund Freud
C) B. F. Skinner
D) Solomon Asch

Question 39

Egocentrism is the tendency to see reality as centered on oneself.

Question 40

An assumption is something we take for granted, something we accept as true without any proof or conclusive evidence.

Question 41

_____ is the general term given to a wide range of cognitive skills and intellectual dispositions needed to effectively identify, analyze, and evaluate arguments and truth claims; to discover and overcome personal preconceptions and biases; to formulate and present convincing reasons in support of conclusions; and to make reasonable, intelligent decisions about what to believe and what to do.

A) Rationality
B) Logic
C) Intelligence
D) Critical thinking

Question 42

Logical inconsistency involves saying or believing two or more things that cannot all be true.

Question 43

College tends to emphasize higher-order thinking.

Question 44

Which of the following reflects group-centered thinking?

A) group bias
B) egocentrism
C) the herd instinct
D) sociocentrism

Question 45

Group bias is a form of egocentrism.

Question 46

Which of the following barriers to critical thinking is highlighted in Chapter 1?

A) selective memory
B) provincialism
C) wishful thinking
D) the availability bias

Question 47

Aleesa, who wants to have two biological children, is extremely happy with the government's decision to relax the one-child policy in her country. Her country is struggling with the problem of overpopulation, but Aleesa does not want the government to recall this decision. This scenario illustrates _____.

A) conformism
B) elitism
C) a self-fulfilling prophecy
D) self-interested thinking

Question 48

The following statement is an example of _____. "This generous pension package benefits me; therefore, it's good."

A) sociocentric thinking
B) self-interested thinking
C) superiority bias
D) group bias