Lecture 7

Question 1

What is reasoning?

Answer 1

drawing conclusions or inferences from observations, facts, and assumptions

Question 2

What are the seven barriers to rational thinking?

Answer 2

exaggerating the improbable, the conjunction fallacy, framing effects, sunk cost fallacy, hindsight bias, confirmation bias, the need for cognitive consistency

Question 3

What is availability heuristic?

Answer 3

the tendency to judge the probability of a type of event by how easily it is to think of examples or instances

Question 4

What does availability heuristic help us do?

Answer 4

make quick decisions when not enough time/resources to investigate

Question 5

Why do catastrophes easily come to mind?

Answer 5

they stand out in memory

Question 6

What do people irrationally ignore?

Answer 6

dangers that are hard to visualize

Question 7

What is conjunction fallacy?

Answer 7

the tendency for people to think two events are more likely to occur together than either individual event

Question 8

What is the overarching theme of conjunction fallacy?

Answer 8

better chances of one condition being met than two conditions being met

Question 9

What are framing effects?

Answer 9

the tendency for people to give different answers to the same problem depending on how the problem is phrased or framed

Question 10

What is avoiding loss?

Answer 10

people try to avoid or minimize loss when making decisions

Question 11

What is an example of framing effects?

Answer 11

Option A: save 200 people
Option B: 33% chance to save all, 66% chance of all death
_______
Option A: 400 people die
Option B: 33% chance of no death, 66% all will die

Question 12

What is sunk cost fallacy?

Answer 12

the tendency of people to make decisions about current situation based on what they have previously invested in the situation

Question 13

What is hindsight bias?

Answer 13

the tendency to overestimate one’s ability to have predicted an event once the outcome is known

Question 14

What are common phrases associated with hindsight bias?

Answer 14

“I knew it all along”
“I knew they wouldn’t last”
“I knew Trump wouldn’t get re-elected”

Question 15

What is the problem with hindsight bias?

Answer 15

you are less likely to learn how to make accurate decisions in the future

Question 16

What is conformation bias?

Answer 16

the tendency to pay attention only to information that confirms one’s beliefs

Question 17

What are examples of confirmation bias?

Answer 17

politicians bragging about their high success record and the failing record of opponents, jury members quickly creating story of events and finding evidence that supports it

Question 18

What is cognitive dissonance?

Answer 18

the state of tension that occurs when a person holds two cognitions that are psychologically inconsistent or when a person’s belief is incongruent with his behavior

Question 19

What is the motive behind cognitive dissonance?

Answer 19

inconsistencies and tension is so uncomfortable, we are motivated to resolve it

Question 20

When are people more likely to reduce dissonance?

Answer 20

you need to justify a choice or decision you freely made, you need to justify a behavior that conceits with our view of ourselves, and you need to justify the effort you put into a decision or choice

Question 21

What is intelligence?

Answer 21

a mental ability that enables people to direct their thinking, adapt to their circumstances, and learn from their experiences

Question 22

What was the 1800s French effort?

Answer 22

to educate all children and determine who needed additional assistance

Question 23

Who is Alfred Binet?

Answer 23

he developed first objective testing aiming to give unbiased assessments of child’s ability to determine their “mental age”

Question 24

Who was Lewis Terman?

Answer 24

a man at Stanford who modified Binet’s test for American children (created the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale)

Question 25

Who was David Wechsler?

Answer 25

he developed tests for adults in the 19030s, then a test for kids (Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scaled and Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children)

Question 26

What does the Normal Curve of Intelligence state?

Question 27

What is a hypothetical property (g)?

Answer 27

the measure of intelligence that enables people to perform a wide variety of consequential behaviors

Question 28

What consequential behaviors?

Answer 28

job performance, leadership roles, and academic success

Question 29

What are intelligence tests?

Answer 29

an easily administered set of tasks (puzzles, vocabulary) that correlate with these behaviors

Question 30

Describe the logic of intelligence testing.

Answer 30

hypothetical property to consequential behavior (grades in school, job performance, income, health) or response (questions and tasks)

Question 31

What do intelligence tests predict?

Answer 31

school performance, occupational status, income, years of education, and job performance

Question 32

What are some of the many theories of intelligence domains?

Answer 32

memory & learning, visual perception, processing speed, fluid intelligence, and retrieval ability

Question 33

What is the correlation between intelligence and genetics testing?

Answer 33

identical twins raised apart are more similar than fraternal twins raised together

Question 34

What is the correlation between intelligence and environment testing?

Answer 34

unrelated siblings raised together are more similar than related siblings raised apart

Question 35

Is intelligence influenced by genes?

Answer 35

YES

Question 36

Why do some group of people outscore other groups on intelligence tests?

Answer 36

there are ethnic, gender, and socioeconomic status differences

Question 37

Why are there differences in IQ score among groups?

Answer 37

there are culturally biased questions, testing situational biases (stereotype threat) and socioeconomic status

Question 38

What is important about socioeconomic status?

Answer 38

it predicts IQ better than ethnicity

Question 39

Are differences within groups or differences between groups smaller?

Answer 39

differences between groups

Question 40

What are the socioeconomic variables that impact intelligence?

Answer 40

nutrition, parenting, schooling, and test-taking abilities

Question 41

What do people with poverty experience?

Answer 41

lower rated schools, higher rates of chronic illness, illiteracy, challenging work schedules

Question 42

Describe the teacher’s expectations.

Answer 42

There is a classroom full of students, where some students are more bright (“spurters”) than others. The teachers would rate the spurters as more happier, interesting, and greater potential for success. The spurters scored higher on the IQ tests because there were reinforcements and confidence.