Question 1

Which of the following is not a reason why people make mistakes in syllogistic
Reasoning?
A)errors in interpreting the premises
B)errors in remembering the premises
C)errors in considering all possible combinations of meanings
D)errors in assuming the conclusion is negative if the premises are negative

Accepted Answer

While errors in interpreting the premises, considering all possible combinations of meanings, and assuming the conclusion is negative if the premises are negative are common reasons why people make mistakes in syllogistic reasoning, errors in remembering the premises is not a primary reason.

Question 2

In syllogistic reasoning, a valid conclusion is __________ true, given that the
Premises are true.
A)sometimes
B)never
C)necessarily
D)conditionally

Accepted Answer

In syllogistic reasoning, if the premises are true and the conclusion follows logically from those premises, then the conclusion is necessarily true. It cannot be sometimes true, never true or conditionally true, but must be true in all cases.

Question 3

Which of the following contends that people make no attempt at analysis in syllogistic reasoning tasks?
A)premise conversion
B)atmosphere hypothesis
C)partial combination
D)confirmation bias

Accepted Answer

The atmosphere hypothesis suggests that people are influenced by the wording and presentation of the syllogism rather than attempting a logical analysis. This means that people may not actively engage in analysis during syllogistic reasoning tasks. Premise conversion and partial combination refer to specific strategies that people may use during syllogistic reasoning, while confirmation bias is a separate cognitive bias that involves seeking out information that confirms preexisting beliefs.

Question 4

If concealed guns are legal, then the violent crime rate will go up.One valid way to confirm this conditional statement is to:
A)show that when concealed guns are illegal, violent crime goes down
B)show that when unconcealed guns are legal, violent crime goes up
C)show that when violent crime goes down, concealed guns are illegal
D)show that when violent crime goes up, unconcealed guns are illegal

Accepted Answer

To confirm the conditional statement, you need to show the contrapositive: if the violent crime rate does not go up, then concealed guns are not legal. Option C aligns with this logic.

Question 5

College students judge that death by tornado is more frequent than death from asthma.In fact, asthma is 20 times more likely to kill.Which of the following judgment heuristics explains this result?
A)means-end
B)probability
C)representativeness
D)availability

Accepted Answer

The judgment heuristic that best explains this result is availability heuristic. This is because the students' judgments were influenced by the ease with which they could recall instances of death by tornado, whereas instances of death from asthma were less salient and therefore less easily recalled. As a result, they overestimated the frequency of death by tornado while underestimating the frequency of death from asthma.

Question 6

Which of the following is an invalid form of conditional reasoning?
A)modus ponens
B)denial of consequent
C)affirming the antecedent
D)affirming the consequent

Accepted Answer

Affirming the consequent is an invalid form of conditional reasoning, where if P then Q, Q is observed, therefore P must be true. However, there may be multiple explanations for Q, and therefore it cannot be concluded that P is true based solely on the observation of Q. Modus ponens (A) and denial of consequent (B) are valid forms of reasoning, while affirming the antecedent (C) is a valid form of reasoning only in a mathematical context.

Question 7

Jane test drove three new cars and discovered that each had different acceleration and braking features.She chose to buy the car with the fastest acceleration and the fastest braking.This best illustrates a decision ______________________.
A)under certainty
B)under risk
C)under uncertainty
D)none of the above

Accepted Answer

Jane had clear information about the acceleration and braking features of each car, allowing her to make a decision with certainty about which car met her criteria for the fastest acceleration and braking.

Question 8

Jane planned a picnic the following weekend for 25 people at a park without a covered shelter.The long-term weather report called for a slight to moderate chance of rain.This plan best illustrates a decision
A)under certainty
B)under risk
C)under uncertainty
D)none of the above

Accepted Answer

The long-term weather report called for a slight to moderate chance of rain, which means that the outcome is not certain. Therefore, this plan best illustrates a decision under uncertainty.

Question 9

Jane went to the Kentucky Derby and bet on Lucky Lady, whose odds were 10 to 1.This bet best illustrates a decision
A)under certainty
B)under risk
C)under uncertainty
D)none of the above

Accepted Answer

Betting on a horse race involves risk, as there is no way to predict the exact outcome and the odds of winning are not certain. Choosing to bet on Lucky Lady at odds of 10 to 1 demonstrates a decision made under risk, as there is some level of uncertainty involved.

Question 10

Which of the following is a valid form of conditional reasoning?
A)denial of antecedent
B)denial of the consequent
C)affirming the consequent
D)none of the above

Accepted Answer

Denial of the antecedent is a valid form of conditional reasoning because if the antecedent is false, then the conditional statement is true regardless of the truth value of the consequent.

Question 11

Which of the following is not a heuristic for problem solving or decision-making?
A)means end analysis
B)availability
C)simulation
D)maintenance rehearsal

Accepted Answer

Maintenance rehearsal is a memory strategy, rather than a heuristic for problem solving or decision-making. The other options are all heuristics commonly used in problem solving and decision-making.

Question 12

People have a strong tendency to seek evidence that upholds their beliefs.This is called
A)undirected thinking
B)confirmation bias
C)functional fixedness
D)prejudice

Accepted Answer

Confirmation bias is the tendency to search for, favor, and recall information that confirms one's preexisting beliefs or hypotheses, while neglecting or underweighting evidence that contradicts them. It is a cognitive bias that affects reasoning, decision-making, and problem-solving, and can lead to errors, misconceptions, and polarization. It is important to be aware of confirmation bias and to actively combat it by seeking diverse perspectives, challenging assumptions, and considering alternative explanations.

Question 13

Suppose you are testing the truthfulness of this statement: "If a 5-year old boy plays with guns, then he will grow up to be a murderer." Which type of evidence logically disproves the statement?
A)a 5 year old girl who plays with guns and grows up to be a murderer
B)a 5 year old boy who plays with dolls, not guns, and grows up to be a murderer
C)a 5 year old boy who plays with guns, and does not grow up to be a murderer
D)a 5 year old girl who plays with dolls, not guns, and does not grow up to be a murderer

Accepted Answer

The statement claims a causal relationship between playing with guns at age 5 and becoming a murderer in the future. To disprove this statement, we would need to provide evidence that shows a contradiction to this relationship. Choice C provides evidence that shows a 5 year old boy played with guns, but did not grow up to be a murderer, which contradicts the statement. The other choices do not disprove the statement as they do not provide evidence that directly contradict the causal relationship stated in the statement.

Question 14

Joe went to the riverboat and bet on the craps shooter hitting seven as the total of the two dice.Joe won with this bet six times in a row.He then shifted his bet against the shooter on the seventh roll.This decision was probably
A)influenced by probability theory
B)influenced by the atmosphere hypothesis
C)influenced by the gambler's fallacy
D)influenced by the shooter's luck

Accepted Answer

Joe's decision to shift his bet against the shooter on the seventh roll was probably influenced by the gambler's fallacy. The gambler's fallacy is the belief that if an event has occurred frequently in the past, it becomes less likely to occur in the future. Joe may have thought that since he won six times in a row with his bet on seven, it was less likely to happen again and therefore decided to change his bet. However, each roll of the dice is an independent event, and the probability of rolling a seven remains the same on every roll.

Question 15

_________ refers to when a person converts "All A are B" into "All B are A".
A)syllogistic reasoning
B)inductive reasoning
C)atmosphere hypothesis
D)illicit conversion

Accepted Answer

The process described in the question is known as illicit conversion. It involves reversing the subject and predicate of a categorical proposition, which can lead to logical fallacies.

Question 16

If you interpret "All A are C" to imply that "All C are A," then you are guilty of
A)partial combination
B)response bias
C)a slip of the tongue
D)premise conversion

Accepted Answer

Premise conversion is the act of reversing the order of the terms of a categorical proposition. The given interpretation is an example of premise conversion, as it reverses the order of the terms and changes the meaning of the original proposition.

Question 17

Cross-cultural work on human reasoning suggests that
A)all human beings reason deductively
B)conditional, but not deductive reasoning, is universal
C)reasoning can be based on personal knowledge, not abstract rules
D)reasoning can be based on innate rules that are based on language

Accepted Answer

Cross-cultural work on human reasoning has shown that reasoning can be based on personal knowledge and experience, rather than solely relying on abstract rules. This suggests that reasoning may be influenced by cultural and social factors, and is not necessarily universal.

Question 18

People judge this sequence of coin tosses-- heads-heads-heads-heads-heads -- as less likely than this sequence -- heads-tails-heads-heads-tails-tails-heads -- because of _______.
A)the confidence heuristic
B)the representativeness heuristic *
C)the availability heuristic
D)the expected-utility model

Accepted Answer

The representativeness heuristic refers to the tendency to judge the likelihood of an event based on how well it matches a particular prototype or stereotype. In this case, the first sequence of all heads does not match our prototype of what a typical sequence of coin tosses should look like, so people judge it as less likely than the second sequence that includes both heads and tails, which is more representative of what we expect from random coin tosses.

Question 19

If concealed guns are legal, then the violent crime rate will go up.One valid way to disconfirm this conditional statement is to
A)show that when concealed guns are illegal, violent crime goes up
B)show that when concealed guns are legal, violent crime goes down
C)show that when violent crime goes down, concealed guns are illegal
D)show that when violent crime goes up, concealed guns are illegal

Accepted Answer

To disconfirm the conditional statement, we need to provide evidence that contradicts its claim. Showing that when concealed guns are legal, violent crime actually goes down would provide evidence against the claim that legal concealed guns lead to an increase in violent crime. Options A, C, and D do not provide evidence that contradicts the statement.

Question 20

Which is true of this syllogism?
All cats are dogs.
All dogs have whiskers.
Therefore, all cats have whiskers.
A)The conclusion is valid.
B)The conclusion is invalid because the major premise is false.
C)The conclusion is false because invalid reasoning was used to derive it.The minor premise is invalid.
D)It is impossible to say whether the conclusion is valid or not.

Accepted Answer

The conclusion follows logically from the premises given, making it a valid conclusion. The truth of the premises is not relevant to the validity of the syllogistic reasoning.

Quiz 10: Reasoning and Decision Making

Which of the following is not a reason why people make mistakes in syllogistic Reasoning?

In syllogistic reasoning, a valid conclusion is __________ true, given that the Premises are true.

Which of the following contends that people make no attempt at analysis in syllogistic reasoning tasks?

If concealed guns are legal, then the violent crime rate will go up.One valid way to confirm this conditional statement is to:

College students judge that death by tornado is more frequent than death from asthma.In fact, asthma is 20 times more likely to kill.Which of the following judgment heuristics explains this result?

Which of the following is an invalid form of conditional reasoning?

Jane test drove three new cars and discovered that each had different acceleration and braking features.She chose to buy the car with the fastest acceleration and the fastest braking.This best illustrates a decision ______________________.

Jane planned a picnic the following weekend for 25 people at a park without a covered shelter.The long-term weather report called for a slight to moderate chance of rain.This plan best illustrates a decision

Jane went to the Kentucky Derby and bet on Lucky Lady, whose odds were 10 to 1.This bet best illustrates a decision

Which of the following is a valid form of conditional reasoning?

Which of the following is not a heuristic for problem solving or decision-making?

People have a strong tendency to seek evidence that upholds their beliefs.This is called

Suppose you are testing the truthfulness of this statement: "If a 5-year old boy plays with guns, then he will grow up to be a murderer." Which type of evidence logically disproves the statement?

Joe went to the riverboat and bet on the craps shooter hitting seven as the total of the two dice.Joe won with this bet six times in a row.He then shifted his bet against the shooter on the seventh roll.This decision was probably

_________ refers to when a person converts "All A are B" into "All B are A".

If you interpret "All A are C" to imply that "All C are A," then you are guilty of

Cross-cultural work on human reasoning suggests that

People judge this sequence of coin tosses-- heads-heads-heads-heads-heads -- as less likely than this sequence -- heads-tails-heads-heads-tails-tails-heads -- because of _______.

If concealed guns are legal, then the violent crime rate will go up.One valid way to disconfirm this conditional statement is to

Which is true of this syllogism? All cats are dogs. All dogs have whiskers. Therefore, all cats have whiskers.