Zelma is asked to think of all the words beginning with the letters "squ," such as squeak.She is then given a fill-in-the-blank task where one of the items is "s _ _ o n g." Zelma keeps trying to make "squong" a word,and she has trouble thinking of the common word "strong." Zelma's ability to solve this problem has been hampered by:
A)syllogistic reasoning.
B)mental set.
C)the confirmation bias.
D)the representativeness heuristic.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Zelma's difficulty in thinking of the word "strong" suggests that she is experiencing a mental set, which is a type of cognitive bias that can restrict a person's ability to think creatively or flexibly. In this case, Zelma's mental set is focused on words that begin with "squ," and she is having difficulty thinking of a word that does not fit this pattern.

Zelma Is Asked to Think of All the Words Beginning