Zelma is asked to think of all the words she can,beginning with the letters "squ," such as squeak.She is then 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:
A) syllogistic reasoning.
B) a 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 has a mental set, or a preconceived notion of what words should start with "squ." This mental set may have caused her to overlook or ignore the possibility of non-"squ" words, like "strong," that fit the pattern of the fill-in-the-blank task.

Zelma Is Asked to Think of All the Words She