Deck 11: Thinking and Problem Solving

Question 1

A(n)______ problem has a clear goal,a small set of starting information,and rules about how to attain the goal.

A)classic
B)laboratory
C)well-defined
D)introspective

Answer 1

well-defined

Question 2

The detailed,concurrent,and nonjudgmental observation of the contents of your consciousness is called ______.

A)thinking
B)daydreaming
C)problem solving
D)introspection

Answer 2

introspection

Question 3

The strategy of working backward is most effective when ______.

A)there are many possible paths to a solution
B)the optimal path leads you temporarily away from your goal
C)the backward path is unique
D)there are clear sub-goals before the final goal

Answer 3

the backward path is unique

Question 4

______ is defined as "going beyond the information given."

A)Problem-solving
B)Reasoning
C)Decision making
D)Thinking

Question 5

You encounter the following problem during next term's registration.One of the classes you planned to take is full,with no chance of your getting in.You need another class,and the only constraint it has to meet is that it must meet at either 10:00 or 11:00.So,you read systematically through the catalog,writing down the titles of any courses that sound interesting.When your list is complete,you look up meeting times,and cross out any courses that do not meet at 10:00 or 11:00.Next,you go to the registrar's office and find that one of the remaining courses has open spaces,so you sign up for it.You can correctly be described as having used ______.

A)generate-and-test
B)means-end analysis
C)reasoning by analogy
D)productive thinking

Question 6

Gick and Holyoak's work on reasoning by analogy showed that ______.

A)subjects were unable to reason from analogy,even if told to do so
B)most subjects could use the "general" story to solve the tumor problem,but only if they were explicitly told to use it
C)subjects could reason from analogy without being explicitly told to do so if they saw two analogous problems to the tumor problem
D)subjects could reason from analogy after either (1)being explicitly told to do so,or (2)having seen two analogous problems,but otherwise they did not spontaneously reason from analogy

Question 7

Introspection is the ______ observation of your consciousness.

A)detailed
B)remembered
C)judgmental
D)analyzed

Question 8

The tumor problem and the story of the general were used in research on ______.

A)working backward
B)reasoning by analogy
C)means-end analysis
D)backtracking

Question 9

Which of the following is the best example of a well-defined problem?

A)creating a guest list for a party
B)finding a detour around a traffic problem
C)constructing a proof in algebra
D)writing a paper for your cognition class

Question 10

Earning a degree in psychology can be described as an exercise in problem solving.To finish your degree,you need to complete a number of upper-level courses.To enroll in those courses,you must have successfully completed a course in Research Methods.But before you can take Research Methods,you need to have passed Statistics.Your progress through this series of sub-goals can be accomplished through ______.

A)generate-and-test
B)means-end analysis
C)reasoning by analogy
D)mental set

Question 11

Which of the following is an example of an ill-defined problem?

A)solving Rubik's Cube puzzle
B)putting together your schedule of classes for next semester
C)solving an algebra problem
D)solving the Tower of Hanoi problem

Question 12

The General Problem Solver is a computer program that solves problems in crypt arithmetic and logic using ______.

A)means-end analysis
B)generate-and-test
C)reasoning by analogy
D)introspection

Question 13

In working a logic problem,you often need to make certain provisional assumptions,but sometimes they turn out to be wrong and need to be "unmade." The process of keeping track of assumptions so that you can back up to point of choice is called ______.

A)working backward
B)backtracking
C)introspection
D)reasoning by analogy

Question 14

Think of 10 animal names that begin with the letter R.This problem would probably be solved using a ______ technique.

A)means-end analysis
B)reasoning-by-analogy
C)productive-thinking
D)generate-and-test

Question 15

______ thinking begins with a clear starting point and has a specific goal.

A)Focused
B)Unfocused
C)Intelligent
D)Puzzled

Question 16

Psychologists focus on well-defined problems because they ______.

A)are easy to present
B)often take weeks or months to solve
C)can be complicated to score
D)accurately mirror real-world problems

Question 17

______ is a very important technique for solving the Towers of Hanoi problem.

A)Means-end analysis
B)Generate-and-test
C)Working backward
D)Reasoning by analogy

Question 18

When one recalls the solution to an old problem and uses it to solve a new,similarly structured problem,one has reasoned by______.

A)introspection
B)analysis
C)analogy
D)backtracking

Question 19

The problem-solving technique of ______ involves comparing the goal with the starting point,thinking of possible ways to overcome the distance between them,and choosing the best one.

A)generate-and-test
B)means-end analysis
C)reasoning by analogy
D)mental set

Question 20

You are attempting to find the home of a friend whom you have not visited in many years.When you arrive in her town,you remember to drive south on Main Street and turn left on Elm.Once on Elm,however,you become less certain.Driving farther,you reach the intersection of Elm and Sycamore.You remember this intersection,but you cannot remember whether you should turn here or go on a little farther.You temporarily assume that you should go on.However,about a block farther on,you reach a dead end.Retracing your route,you realize now that the correct option would have been to turn on Sycamore.You have used the technique of ______.

A)generate-and-test
B)means-end analysis
C)reasoning by analogy
D)backtracking

Question 21

______ involves appropriate novelty in generating solutions.

A)Intelligence
B)Genius
C)Creativity
D)Mental disorder

Question 22

Expert systems typically contain all of the following EXCEPT ______.

A)a knowledge base
B)a set of inference rules
C)an answer key
D)a means of interacting with a human user

Question 23

The string problem often generates ______ when participants do not think to use the screwdriver as a pendulum.

A)functional fixedness
B)mental set
C)incomplete representations
D)reasoning by analogy

Question 24

According to Perkins,good critical thinking requires ______.

A)a large knowledge base
B)raising objections to one's own ideas
C)persistence at working with one mental scenario
D)a large knowledge base and a willingness to raise objections to one's own ideas

Question 25

Learning how to find the area of a parallelogram will be most effective when it involves ______.

A)rote memorization of a formula
B)lots of practice with using the formula
C)grasping the essential structure of the problem
D)using a calculator

Question 26

Muckraker is an expert system designed to give advice to ______.

A)psychiatrists
B)surgeons
C)computer programmers
D)journalists

Question 27

Mental set ______.

A)can only be induced by large amounts of practice
B)can lead us to make unwarranted assumptions about a problem
C)involves the use of analogy to solve a problem
D)aids problem solving because it supplies an efficient problem representation

Question 28

Critical thinking involves all of the following EXCEPT ______.

A)actively evaluating one's solutions to a problem
B)criticizing the ideas of other people
C)examining the implications of an idea
D)reflecting on the quality of one's ideas

Question 29

Adoption of a rigid mental set toward an object is called ______.

A)well-defined thinking
B)ill-defined thinking
C)functional fixedness
D)object set

Question 30

In research on mental search of a "problem space," a "path" is ______.

A)any connection between two nodes
B)a sequence of moves beginning at the initial state and ending at the final goal state
C)the single solution to a problem
D)the most efficient solution to a problem

Question 31

The domino and checkerboard problem is a good example of ______.

A)an ill-defined problem
B)functional fixedness
C)mental set
D)incomplete representation

Question 32

Patient P.F. ,an architect who suffered stroke damage to his right prefrontal cortex,was later unable to ______.

A)communicate through spoken language
B)understand instructions
C)access his knowledge base
D)move from problem structuring to a developed and detailed design

Question 33

The problem space hypothesis helps us to understand how problem solving can be blocked by ______.

A)incomplete representations
B)means-end analysis
C)working backward
D)mental set

Question 34

Research on the incubation effect has shown that ______.

A)most empirical studies support the positive effects of incubation
B)incubation effects are only found with very long incubation intervals
C)incubation actually has a negative effect on performance
D)participants who take physical and mental breaks rarely show increased ability to solve problems

Question 35

When you adopt a certain framework or strategy for solving a series of problems,you may fail to see other,more efficient ways of solving some of the problems.This is referred to as ______.

A)functional fixedness
B)procrastination
C)a heuristic
D)mental set

Question 36

Study of chess masters indicate that masters ______.

A)consider more possible moves than novices do
B)choose the best move only after lengthy consideration
C)extract more information from a brief exposure to a chess board
D)are better at planning future moves than novices are

Question 37

Experts in solving physics problems tend to ______.

A)represent information more superficially than novices do
B)organize problems in terms of physics principles
C)organize problems in terms of objects mentioned in the problem
D)spend less time analyzing a problem than novices do

Question 38

When you walk away from a difficult problem and do something else for a while,then come back and solve the problem successfully,you have experienced the ______ effect.

A)incubation
B)mental-set
C)unconscious-processing
D)problem-space

Question 39

A tendency to adopt a certain framework,strategy,or procedure,which can become an obstacle to successful problem solving,is called ______.

A)mental set
B)functional fixedness
C)well-defined thinking
D)ill-defined thinking

Question 40

Gobet and Simon's study of the chess-playing abilities of champion Gary Kasparov indicated that ______.

A)Kasparov's superiority was limited to single games;he could not play three or four games simultaneously
B)Kasparov plays almost as well playing eight games simultaneously as he does playing a single game
C)Kasparov's superiority declined when forced to play very quickly
D)Kasparov's mastery stems from his ability to think ahead and plan future moves

Question 41

______ are programs designed to model the judgments of experts in a particular field.

A)Expert systems
B)Expert algorithms
C)Expert operations
D)Expert heuristics

Question 42

According to Perkins (1981),which of the following is most tied to our "Eureka!" moment during the creative process?

A)directed remembering
B)unintentional forgetting
C)contrary recognition
D)noticing

Question 43

Which of the following is a problem when studying incubation effects?

A)It is difficult to create an experimental design where participants take a break.
B)It is difficult to ensure that participants do not think about the problem during the incubation period.
C)It is difficult to create a problem which may benefit from incubation.
D)It is difficult to get participants to respond to a problem after an incubation period.

Question 44

An efficient path through the problem space would most likely include ______ between the initial and end states.

A)paths that are short and direct
B)paths that test all possible nodes
C)quickly detected paths
D)paths that have no starting goal

Question 45

Which of the following is true of "flashes of insight" that are part of the creative process?

A)Only "creative people" experience flashes of insight.
B)Flashes of insight may be part of a normal problem solving process.
C)Noncreative people experience flashes of insight much slower than creative people.
D)Flashes of insight always require the generation of new knowledge or strategies.

Question 46

Expert systems involve which of the following?

A)models of expert judgments in a given field
B)a series of relevant facts for a given field
C)inference rules to search the field's knowledge base
D)all of these

Question 47

If you are using means-end analysis to try to solve a problem,you would be most likely to ______.

A)systematically test all possible solutions until you arrive at the correct answer
B)continue to randomly choose hypotheses to test until you finally arrived at the correct answer
C)use intuitive or informed principles to guide your hypothesis choices
D)try to take incremental steps to slowly work your way toward achieving the solution

Question 48

If you are using algorithms to try to solve a problem,you would be most likely to ______.

A)systematically test all possible solutions until you arrive at the correct answer
B)continue to randomly choose hypotheses to test until you finally arrived at the correct answer
C)use intuitive or informed principles to guide your hypothesis choices
D)try to take incremental steps to slowly work your way toward achieving the solution

Question 49

In the generate-and-test problem solving strategy,you would be most likely to ______.

A)systematically test all possible solutions until you arrive at the correct answer
B)continue to randomly choose hypotheses to test until you finally arrived at the correct answer
C)use intuitive or informed principles to guide your hypothesis choices
D)try to take incremental steps to slowly work your way toward achieving the solution

Question 50

When you adopt a certain framework or strategy for solving a series of problems such as the water jar problems,you may fail to see other,more efficient ways of solving some of the problems.This is referred to as ______.

A)functional fixedness
B)procrastination
C)a heuristic
D)mental set

Question 51

Contrary recognition is a form of ______ thinking.

A)analogical
B)metaphorical
C)featural
D)persuasive

Question 52

Although at times inconclusive,research on contrary recognition and incubation suggest that creativity can be defined as ______.

A)the creator's value for original results
B)the creator's ability to withstand lots of failure
C)the creator's ability to plan and carry out that plan
D)all of these

Question 53

Inference rules normally take the form of ______.

A)"If X is true,then only X is true."
B)"If X is true,then all X's are true."
C)"If X is true,then Y is true."
D)"If X is true,then Y is false."

Question 54

When attempting to solve a problem,all possible outcomes (and the means to complete them)comprise a mental graph called the ______ space.

A)problem
B)mental
C)configuration
D)solution

Question 55

You are trying to recall all words you know that end in in -ink to complete a rhyme for a new poem.Searching through your memory for these words is an example of ______ remembering.

A)goal-driven
B)multi-level
C)directed
D)informative

Question 56

According to Perkins (1981),creativity or creative thinking is ______.

A)limited to a small set of "creative people"
B)limited to a small set of completely "noncreative people"
C)a phenomenon that very few people ever experience
D)similar among both "creative" and "noncreative" people

Question 57

Chi,Feltovich,and Glaser (1981)showed that experts in solving physics problems would be most likely to tend to ______.

A)represent information more superficially than novices do
B)organize problems in terms of physics principles
C)organize problems in terms of objects mentioned in the problem
D)spend less time analyzing a problem than novices do

Question 58

If you are using heuristics to try to solve a problem,you would be most likely to ______.

A)systematically test all possible solutions until you arrive at the correct answer
B)continue to randomly choose hypotheses to test until you finally arrived at the correct answer
C)use intuitive or informed principles to guide your hypothesis choices
D)try to take incremental steps to slowly work your way toward achieving the solution

Question 59

When you look in the sky and see a cloud,you suddenly realize that it reminds you of a rabbit.You have just engaged in which creative process?

A)directed remembering
B)unintentional forgetting
C)contrary recognition
D)noticing

Question 60

______ remembering is the ability to call to mind information that is constrained by some parameter or goal.

A)Goal-driven
B)Multi-level
C)Directed
D)Informative

Question 61

______ involves being unable to swap problem solving strategies,while ______ refers to being unable to consider novel uses for objects.

A)Analogical inconsistency;mental set
B)Functional fixedness;analogical inconsistency
C)Mental set;functional fixedness
D)Analogical inconsistency;functional fixedness

Question 62

The ______ problem is a classic problem-solving experiment in which participants must use working backward in order to find the most efficient problem-solving strategy.

A)Towers of Hanoi
B)General in the Jungle
C)Physics Rotation
D)Tumor Intervention

Question 63

People do not usually reason from a single analogy without being explicitly told to do so.

Question 64

The cognitive processes used in solving well-defined and ill-defined problems have been proven to be very different.

Question 65

Patient P.F.suffered from grand maul epileptic seizures which damaged his ______,resulting in an inability to apply his architectural expertise to ill-defined problems.

A)amygdala
B)prefrontal cortex
C)cerebellum
D)sensorimotor cortex

Question 66

According to Huber and Kuncel (2016),during college years,students show a(n)______ in critical thinking skills and a(n)______ in critical thinking dispositions.

A)decrease;decrease
B)decrease;increase
C)increase;decrease
D)increase;increase

Question 67

The ______ is to mental set as the ______ is to functional fixedness.

A)water jar problem;tumor problem
B)tumor problem;string problem
C)string problem;general problem
D)water jar problem;string problem

Question 68

"Insight" might best be described as ______.

A)a change in frame of reference when interpreting or organizing parts of a problem
B)an ability to repeatedly apply the same problem-solving strategy over and over again
C)coming up with a novel idea that does not address an existing problem
D)a mundane solution to an existing problem

Question 69

If I were to solve an anagram such as SPLOYOCHGY by mapping out the problem space of all the different permutations of letters in different orders until I reached a conclusion,I'd most likely be using which kind of problem solving method?

A)generate-and-test
B)heuristic
C)open-ended
D)algorithmic

Question 70

According to Dewey (1933),______ is defined as "active,persistent,and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of the grounds that support it and the further conclusions to which it tends."

A)critical thinking
B)deliberative thinking
C)active thinking
D)universal thinking

Question 71

Means-ends analysis can guarantee a solution to any problem.

Question 72

Experts tend to approach problems in their field at a ______ level,while novices tend to approach problems at a ______ level.

A)shallow;shallow
B)shallow;deep
C)deep;shallow
D)deep;deep

Question 73

A(n)______ problem does not have a clear goal,adequate starting information,or accessible set of steps.

A)classic
B)well-defined
C)ill-defined
D)fixation

Question 74

Working backward is a useful approach to solving the Towers of Hanoi problem.

Question 75

According to Wertheimer (1945),a learner would be most successful when taught through ______.

A)mechanically repetitive means
B)essential structures
C)rote means
D)metaphorical structures

Question 76

Creativity is ideally both novel and ______.

A)abstract
B)appropriate
C)accessible
D)actualized

Question 77

According to Huber and Kuncel (2016),critical thinking ______ include willingness to engage in critical thinking while critical thinking ______ include being able to examine one's assumptions and conclusions.

A)skills;dispositions
B)motivation;incubation
C)dispositions;skills
D)incubation;motivation

Question 78

Patient P.F.was tasked with designing a new lab space.His inability to actually generate a new architectural lab design for over two hours after being presented with the problem suggests that his right-hemisphere lesion to the prefrontal cortex affected his ability to engage with ______.

A)ill-defined problems
B)well-defined problems
C)expert systems
D)critical thinking

Question 79

The popular number game Sudoku involves using given information to make guesses about where certain numbers should fall within a large grid.As you begin to fill in numbers,you become more certain of which numbers can go in other cells.This demonstrates which problem-solving strategy?

A)working backward
B)backtracking
C)means-end
D)generate-and-test

Question 80

Mental set in problem solving is similar to perceptual set in pattern recognition.