Question 1

In one study, Subramaniam and her colleagues found that participants who watched a comedy film performed better on an insight puzzle than did participants who watched dull or frightening films. The type of film participants watched is a(n) _____ variable in this study.

Accepted Answer

The type of film participants watched is being manipulated by the researchers, making it the independent variable.

Question 2

Making several minor household repairs, Alyssa uses a shoe as a hammer and a butter knife as a screwdriver. Which of the following statements BEST characterizes Alyssa's problem solving?

Accepted Answer

Functional fixedness refers to the tendency to only see familiar uses for given objects. In this scenario, Alyssa is not constrained by functional fixedness as she is using items that are not typical tools for their intended purpose. Instead, she is utilizing the concept of divergent thinking and generating uncommon solutions to solve her problem.

Question 3

Which problem-solving approach is correctly matched with its definition?

Accepted Answer

Trial and error involves making a series of attempts and eliminating those that do not succeed, which matches the provided definition.

Question 4

Joanne will not go out at night because she hears from her local news station about the large number of muggings and robberies that occur in her city. However, crime in Joanne's city has actually gone down in the past few years. To which bias is Joanne falling victim?

Accepted Answer

Joanne is using the availability heuristic, which is when people judge the likelihood of an event based on how easily instances of it come to mind. In this case, the news reports of crime are easily available to Joanne and are influencing her perception of the actual crime rate in her city.

Question 5

Last week, Mike heard about five separate airplane crashes on the news. Even though, overall, motorcycle accidents account for more accidents than plane crashes do, Mike decides to ride his motorcycle from Philadelphia to Atlanta instead of flying. Which bias is reflected in Mike's decision?

Accepted Answer

The availability heuristic is at play when Mike chooses to ride his motorcycle instead of flying because he is relying on the information that is most readily available to him (the news of the five airplane crashes) rather than overall statistics about the safety of the two modes of transportation.

Question 6

"You always clam up when I ask you what's wrong," Iris tells her boyfriend. Iris is probably making this frequency judgment because she can remember a few times that her boyfriend wouldn't tell her what was bothering him. Iris is using the _______ heuristic.

Accepted Answer

Iris is using the availability heuristic - she is basing her judgment on the ease with which she can recall instances where her boyfriend didn't tell her what's wrong.

Question 7

Zelma is asked to think of all the words she can, beginning with the letters "squ," as in "squeak." Later she is given a fill-in-the-blank task on which one of the items is "s _ _ o n g." Zelma keeps trying to make "squong" a word, and has trouble thinking of the common word "strong." Zelma's ability to solve this problem has been hampered by:

Accepted Answer

Zelma's inability to think of the word "strong" and her insistence on making "squong" a word suggests that she has a mental set. A mental set is a tendency to approach problems and situations with a particular mindset or strategy, often based on past experiences or habits. In this case, Zelma had previously focused on words starting with "squ" and had trouble thinking outside of that set when presented with a new problem.

Question 8

A decision-making strategy in which one uses the ease with which examples come to mind as the basis for judging how common events really are is called the _____ heuristic.

Accepted Answer

The availability heuristic refers to the tendency to make judgments based on how easily examples come to mind. This can lead to overestimating the likelihood of events that are more salient or memorable, and underestimating the likelihood of events that are less vivid or easily recalled.

Question 9

A jeweler is unable to fix a particular mounting in a ring because she can imagine only the conventional uses for her tools. This situation demonstrates:

Accepted Answer

The inability of the jeweler to think creatively and use her tools for unconventional purposes is an example of functional fixedness, which refers to cognitive bias that limits a person's ability to see an object outside of its typical use or function.

Question 10

Which impediment to effective problem solving is correctly matched with its definition?

Accepted Answer

Functional fixedness is correctly defined as the tendency to think of an object only in terms of its customary use, while mental set refers to the tendency for old patterns of problem solving to persist. Therefore, both definitions provided in the options are incorrect.

Question 11

The text's discussion of insight suggests that its key characteristic is its:

Accepted Answer

The text's discussion of insight suggests that its key characteristic is its suddenness, as it often occurs unexpectedly, in a flash of understanding or realization. While insights can have complexity or uniqueness, these are not necessarily their defining features. Brevity is also not a consistent characteristic of insights, as some may lead to long-term changes or ongoing processes of transformation.

Question 12

Henry's dog, Sparky, has been rolling in the mud. Henry must bathe Sparky before the dog gets mud all over the carpet. However, Henry is unable to find the plug for the tub. Sitting on the counter right beside the tub is a fifty-cent piece. In his frustration, Henry fails to see that the coin could be used as an emergency plug for the tub. What happened to Henry?

Accepted Answer

Henry suffered from functional fixedness, which is the inability to think creatively about the use of an object beyond its typical function. He only saw the coin as a form of currency and didn't consider the possibility of its alternative use as a temporary plug for the tub. The other options are not applicable in this scenario.

Question 13

_____ is defined as a sudden understanding of a problem's solution.

Accepted Answer

Insight is the sudden understanding of a problem's solution. Convergent thinking is the process of narrowing down possibilities to find a single correct answer, while divergent thinking involves generating multiple ideas or solutions. Creativity is the ability to come up with new and original ideas.

Question 14

Stereotypes spring to mind easily. Therefore, people sometimes use them to judge the frequency of certain events, such as crimes in a given neighborhood. This example BEST describes the use of the _____ heuristic.

Accepted Answer

The availability heuristic is used when people estimate the probability of an event based on how easily examples come to mind. In this case, stereotypes about crimes in a neighborhood are easily recalled, influencing judgments about the frequency of such events.

Question 15

When one tries to solve a problem, one brings to the situation all sorts of assumptions, habits of mind, and pre-existing knowledge and expectations. All these elements together make up one's usual problem-solving strategy, which is called a(n):

Accepted Answer

A mental set is a pre-existing strategy or habit of mind that one brings to problem-solving situations. This can sometimes make it difficult to see alternative solutions or think outside the box.

Question 16

The study of insight is associated with the German psychologist ____; he studied problem solving among _____.

Accepted Answer

The study of insight is associated with German psychologist Wolfgang Kohler, who conducted famous experiments on problem-solving among chimpanzees.

Question 17

"Eureka! I've got it!" That sudden awareness of the path toward a problem's solution is called:

Accepted Answer

While all of the options relate to problem-solving and thinking, the specific phrase "Eureka! I've got it!" is commonly associated with the experience of insight. This refers to the sudden realization or "aha" moment when a person understands a problem in a new way and the solution becomes clear. Therefore, the best choice is C) insight.

Question 18

Katie is weighing several job offers. She gives each job a score on several criteria, then sums the scores. Katie is using the _____ approach to make her decision.

Accepted Answer

The additive model approach involves giving each option a score on several criteria and then summing those scores to make a decision. This is exactly what Katie is doing, so the best answer is A. The other options (single feature, framing, and representativeness) do not accurately describe the approach Katie is using.

Question 19

Which of the following statements is False?

Accepted Answer

Research does not support the claim that Americans are the world's most "action-oriented" problem solvers. This statement is a cultural stereotype and oversimplification, as problem solving strategies may vary within cultures and also depend on the specific situation.

Question 20

When people are asked which is more common, death by homicide or death by stroke, they often choose homicide because they hear about more murders than they do about strokes. In this instance, people are led astray in their judgments by:

Accepted Answer

The availability heuristic is the tendency to judge the likelihood of an event based on how easily it comes to mind. In this case, the availability of information about homicides in the media leads people to overestimate their frequency compared to strokes, which receive less coverage.

Quiz 7: Memory