Critical Thinking: Decision Making and Problem Solving

Question 1

What are the 3 forms of illogical thinking?

Answer 1

Over generalizing
Affirming the consequences
Arguing from analogy

Question 2

What are the 4 qualities of a successful decision maker?

Answer 2

1. Courage
2. Sensitivity
3. Energy
4. Creativity

Question 3

Describe the Marquis-Huston Critical Thinking Teaching Model

Answer 3

• Learning occurs best in groups

- Learners retain didactic material better if they can relate to it or personalize it

Question 4

Characteristics of the economic man

Answer 4

• Makes decisions in a rational manner
• Has complete knowledge of problem/decision
• Considers all possible alternatives. Has a complete list of all alternatives.
• Has a rational system of ordering preference of alternatives
• Selects the decision that will maximize utility function

Question 5

Characteristics of the administrative man

Answer 5

• Makes decisions that are good enough
• Because complete knowledge is not possible, knowledge is always fragmented
• Because consequences of alternatives occur in the future, they are impossible to predict accurately
• Usually chooses from among a few alternatives, not all possible ones
• The final choice is satisficing rather than maximizing

Satisficing-to act in such a way as to satisfy the minimum requirements for achieving a particular result.

Question 6

Consequence Tables

Answer 6

They demonstrate how various alternatives create different consequences. A consequence table lists the objectives for solving a problem down one side of a table and rates how each alternative would meet the desired objective