Chapter 11: Problem Solving

Test Bank

Multiple Choice

1. A problem is ______.

a. when you do not have experience with a situation

b. when a situation is not as you expected it to be

c. a situation in which another person disagrees with your position

d. a situation in which there is a difference between a current state and a desired goal state

Learning Objective: 11-1: How often and what kind of problems do you solve every day?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Recognizing and Identifying a Problem

Difficulty Level: Easy

2. ______ is the process of developing a solution designed to change the state of affairs from the current state to the goal state.

a. Error monitoring

b. Problem solving

c. Searching

d. Cognitive tracing

Learning Objective: 11-1: How often and what kind of problems do you solve every day?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Recognizing and Identifying a Problem

Difficulty Level: Easy

3. A Sudoku puzzle is an example of a(n) ______.

a. ill-defined problem

b. well-defined problem

c. trial-and-error problem

d. functional fixedness problem

Learning Objective: 11-1: How often and what kind of problems do you solve every day?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Recognizing and Identifying a Problem

Difficulty Level: Easy

4. Which of the following is an example of a well-defined problem?

a. driving to the store

b. buying soda

c. getting dressed

d. turning your car on

Learning Objective: 11-1: How often and what kind of problems do you solve every day?

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Recognizing and Identifying a Problem

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. ______ are problems that have a clearly defined goal state and constraints, whereas ______ are problems that lack a clearly defined goal state and constraints.

a. well-defined; ill-defined

b. ill-defined; well-defined

c. concrete; abstract

d. abstract; concrete

Learning Objective: 11-1: How often and what kind of problems do you solve every day?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Recognizing and Identifying a Problem

Difficulty Level: Easy

6. Which of the following is the best example of an ill-defined problem?

a. unlocking your front door

b. dressing to impress

c. buttoning a shirt

d. turning on a computer

Learning Objective: 11-1: How often and what kind of problems do you solve every day?

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Recognizing and Identifying a Problem

Difficulty Level: Medium

7. Defining and representing a problem is the process of ______.

a. making a list of the problems you have already experienced and applying it to the current problem

b. redefining the knowledge needed to solve the problem while resolving issues with functional fixedness

c. focusing on whether the problem is ill-defined or well-defined and if it is subject to functional fixedness

d. stating the scope and goal of the problem and organizing the knowledge needed for addressing it

Learning Objective: 11-1: How often and what kind of problems do you solve every day?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Defining and Representing Problems

Difficulty Level: Easy

8. The knowledge needed for addressing a problem includes mentally representing the ______ and ______ states, the rules or constraints, and the allowable operations to solve the problem.

a. current; goal

b. future; goal

c. past; current

d. past; future

Learning Objective: 11-1: How often and what kind of problems do you solve every day?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Defining and Representing Problems

Difficulty Level: Easy

9. What brain area seems to play a large role in problem-solving?

a. temporal lobe

b. frontal lobe

c. parietal lobe

d. occipital lobe

Learning Objective: 11-1: How often and what kind of problems do you solve every day?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Recognizing and Identifying a Problem

Difficulty Level: Easy

10. Functional ______ is focusing on how things are usually used, while ignoring other potential uses.

a. stubbornness

b. fixedness

c. fixation

d. use

Learning Objective: 11-3: Why are some problems more difficult to solve than others?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Functional Fixedness

Difficulty Level: Easy

11. Consider the following scenario. You are at work, and the strap on your shoe breaks. You have to figure out a way to fix it; otherwise, you will not be able to walk properly with both shoes. You use a paperclip to hold the strap on. This example rejects the idea of ______.

a. pathological behavior

b. functional fixedness

c. improper fixedness

d. means-end strategy

Learning Objective: 11-3: Why are some problems more difficult to solve than others?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Functional Fixedness

Difficulty Level: Hard

12. ______ is a common barrier to our ability to solve problems.

a. Typicality

b. Functional fixedness

c. Analogical transfer

d. Means-end strategy

Learning Objective: 11-4: What gets in your way when trying to solve problems?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Functional Fixedness

Difficulty Level: Easy

13. To overcome the idea of functional fixedness, we develop solutions to problems based in part on ______.

a. how easily we see a workable solution

b. whether or not those problems are well-defined

c. what potential functions objects can perform

d. whether they are mental set problems

Learning Objective: 11-4: What gets in your way when trying to solve problems?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Functional Fixedness

Difficulty Level: Medium

14. How we mentally represent a problem ______ finding the solution.

a. usually helps with

b. usually hinders

c. can both help and hinder

d. has little effect on

Learning Objective: 11-4: What gets in your way when trying to solve problems?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Functional Fixedness

Difficulty Level: Easy

15. The productive processes involved in the Gestalt approach include creating ______ of information structured to achieve particular goals.

a. functional images

b. mental sets

c. mental representations

d. past associations

Learning Objective: 11-4: What gets in your way when trying to solve problems?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Gestalt Approaches

Difficulty Level: Medium

16. Researchers have found that people most often use ______ when problem-solving.

a. introspection

b. pencil and paper

c. apps

d. trial and error

Learning Objective: 11-2: How do you solve problems: through trial and error, through conscious deliberation, or do solutions just suddenly occur to you?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Developing Solutions to Problems: Approaches and Strategies

Difficulty Level: Easy

17. While baking a cake, you say the steps out loud as you are carrying them out. This is an example of ______.

a. pathology

b. functional fixedness

c. retrospection

d. introspection

Learning Objective: 11-2: How do you solve problems: through trial and error, through conscious deliberation, or do solutions just suddenly occur to you?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Developing Solutions to Problems: Approaches and Strategies

Difficulty Level: Medium

18. Early theories of problem solving focused primarily on ______.

a. functional fixedness

b. introspection

c. trial and error

d. systematic strategies

Learning Objective: 11-2: How do you solve problems: through trial and error, through conscious deliberation, or do solutions just suddenly occur to you?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Developing Solutions to Problems: Approaches and Strategies

Difficulty Level: Easy

19. Ava recently lost her job and needs to find a new one. She decides to use the same strategies that landed her the job she just lost. What kind of approach does this decision best represent?

a. Gestalt approach

b. algorithm approach

c. trial-and-error approach

d. associationist approach

Learning Objective: 11-2: How do you solve problems: through trial and error, through conscious deliberation, or do solutions just suddenly occur to you?

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Associationist Approach: Trial-and-Error Strategy

Difficulty Level: Hard

20. Trial-and-error approaches are successful when there are ______.

a. many variations on a few basic solutions

b. several risky and improbable solutions

c. relatively few possible solutions

d. many conflicting solutions

Learning Objective: 11-2: How do you solve problems: through trial and error, through conscious deliberation, or do solutions just suddenly occur to you?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Developing Solutions to Problems: Approaches and Strategies

Difficulty Level: Easy

21. Asaf is trying to make chicken soup from scratch. He has made three batches so far, but even though he varies the process each time, he cannot figure out what ingredient he is missing. Finally, on his fourth batch, his soup has come out perfectly. This example illustrates ______.

a. structuralism

b. trial and error

c. introspection

d. functional fixedness

Learning Objective: 11-2: How do you solve problems: through trial and error, through conscious deliberation, or do solutions just suddenly occur to you?

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Developing Solutions to Problems: Approaches and Strategies

Difficulty Level: Hard

22. While working in a lab, you encounter a problem with your experiment. You spend days trying to figure out what is wrong, and finally, it pops into your head that the temperature in the room is incorrect, causing fluctuations in your results. This is an example of ______.

a. trial and error

b. an insight

c. an algorithm

d. recognition

Learning Objective: 11-2: How do you solve problems: through trial and error, through conscious deliberation, or do solutions just suddenly occur to you?

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Insight

Difficulty Level: Hard

23. Imagine that you are writing a paper and are entering all your references into your bibliography manually. You complete that paper and begin a new one. You start to enter all your references manually again, even though your friend just told you about a great program that does all of that for you and allows you to reformat things within seconds. However, you insist on continuing with your old ways. This example illustrates ______.

a. functional fixedness

b. selective encoding

c. analogical transfer

d. a mental set

Learning Objective: 11-4: What gets in your way when trying to solve problems?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Mental Set

Difficulty Level: Hard

24. ______ is a tendency to use the same set of solutions to solve similar problems, whereas ______ is using the same solution for two different problems with the same underlying structure.

a. A mental set; analogical transfer

b. Functional fixedness; mental set

c. A mental set; functional fixedness

d. Analogical transfer; a mental set

Learning Objective: 11-4: What gets in your way when trying to solve problems?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Developing Solutions to Problems: Approaches and Strategies

Difficulty Level: Medium

25. Using Gick and Holyoak’s (1980) story involving a general and his army as a way to help solve the problem of a surgeon and his patient with an inoperable tumor is an example of ______.

a. analogical transfer

b. functional fixedness

c. a mental set

d. selective encoding

Learning Objective: 11-4: What gets in your way when trying to solve problems?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Analogical Transfer

Difficulty Level: Medium

26. In Gick and Holyoak’s study (1980), what was the key to having participants solve the problem of how to help the patient with the inoperable tumor?

a. They had to be told that the army story was related.

b. They had to watch a video that played out each scenario.

c. They had to read each story multiple times.

d. They had to read more about inoperable tumors.

Learning Objective: 11-4: What gets in your way when trying to solve problems?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Analogical Transfer

Difficulty Level: Easy

27. A prescribed problem-solving strategy that always leads to the correct solution in problems with a single correct solution is a(n) ______, while a problem-solving strategy that does not always lead to the correct solution is a(n) ______.

a. heuristic; algorithm

b. algorithm; insight

c. insight; heuristic

d. algorithm; heuristic

Learning Objective: 11-2: How do you solve problems: through trial and error, through conscious deliberation, or do solutions just suddenly occur to you?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Problem Solving as Problem Space Searches

Difficulty Level: Easy

28. ______ searches consider only part of the search space. Instead of considering all possible solutions, we instead mentally consider potential chains of subproblems, evaluating how each operator changes the current state.

a. Mental set

b. Problem space

c. Algorithm

d. Heuristic

Learning Objective: 11-4: What gets in your way when trying to solve problems?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Problem Solving as Problem Space Searches

Difficulty Level: Easy

29. ______ is a problem-solving strategy that involves repeated comparisons between the current state and the goal state.

a. Working-backward strategy

b. Hill-climbing strategy

c. Algorithm strategy

d. Means-ends strategy

Learning Objective: 11-2: How do you solve problems: through trial and error, through conscious deliberation, or do solutions just suddenly occur to you?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Means-End Strategy

Difficulty Level: Easy

30. Studies examining the eye movements of participants trying to solve math problems found that people ______.

a. distract themselves while working on problems

b. use insight while solving math problems

c. use introspection while working on math problems

d. fixate on things that they are thinking about

Learning Objective: 11-2: How do you solve problems: through trial and error, through conscious deliberation, or do solutions just suddenly occur to you?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Allocating Mental Resources for Solving the Problem

Difficulty Level: Medium

31. When trying to solve a problem like a complicated number puzzle, filling in values though random trial and error will likely lead to frustration. What is the reason for this result?

a. The problem space is too large.

b. Most number puzzles are too difficult.

c. The mental set needs to be changed.

d. The subgoals are not being addressed.

Learning Objective: 11-3: Why are some problems more difficult to solve than others?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Allocating Mental Resources for Solving the Problem

Difficulty Level: Medium

32. The research on expertise consistently shows that ______.

a. experts’ advantages are limited to problems within their area of expertise

b. experts are more intuitive than novices are

c. experts do not need to spend as much time analyzing things as novices do

d. experts do not notice as many details as novices do

Learning Objective: 11-5: How do expert problem solvers differ from novices?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Experts Versus Novices

Difficulty Level: Medium

33. Experts generally spend more time analyzing ______, adding relevant knowledge to their representation, and planning their ______.

a. problems; algorithms

b. solutions; algorithms

c. solutions; problems

d. problems; solutions

Learning Objective: 11-5: How do expert problem solvers differ from novices?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Experts Versus Novices

Difficulty Level: Easy

34. IDEAL framework stands for______.

a. Identify, Define, Explore, Anticipate, Look back

b. Identify, Distinguish, Explore, Anticipate, Look back

c. Identify, Define, Explore, Associate, Look back

d. Identify, Define, Explore, Anticipate, Label

Learning Objective: 11-5: How do expert problem solvers differ from novices?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Becoming a Better Problem Solver

Difficulty Level: Easy

35. In studies of the eye movements of expert and novice gymnastic coaches viewing gymnastics routines, expert coaches had ______ fixations on regions critical to the performance and ______ fixations on non-relevant areas

a. shorter; more, longer

b. longer; fewer, shorter

c. longer; fewer but even longer

d. shorter; fewer but longer

Learning Objective: 11-5: How do expert problem solvers differ from novices?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Expertise

Difficulty Level: Medium

36. Talia needs to solve a complex engineering problem. She employs a predetermined strategy to find a single correct solution. This is an example of a(n) ______.

a. heuristic

b. algorithm

c. recipe

d. mental set

Learning Objective: 11-2: How do you solve problems: through trial and error, through conscious deliberation, or do solutions just suddenly occur to you?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Problem Solving as Problem Space Searches

Difficulty Level: Medium

37. Employing the hill-climbing strategy is an example of using a(n) ______ strategy.

a. functional fixedness

b. heuristic

c. problem space

d. algorithm

Learning Objective: 11-2: How do you solve problems: through trial and error, through conscious deliberation, or do solutions just suddenly occur to you?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Hill-Climbing Strategy

Difficulty Level: Medium

Multiple Response

Select all that apply.

1. Which of the following are processes that Janet Davidson and her colleagues proposed to underlie problem solving?

a. selective encoding

b. selective introspection

c. selective combination

d. selective comparison

Learning Objective: 11-2: How do you solve problems: through trial and error, through conscious deliberation, or do solutions just suddenly occur to you?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Insight

Difficulty Level: Medium

2. Which of the following are heuristic search processes?

a. algorithm strategy

b. means-ends strategy

c. hill-climbing strategy

d. working-backward strategy

Learning Objective: 11-2: How do you solve problems: through trial and error, through conscious deliberation, or do solutions just suddenly occur to you?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Problem Solving as Problem Space Searches

Difficulty Level: Easy

3. Which of the following are explanations for differences in problem solving between experts and novices?

a. Experts have longer fixations on critical aspects of the problem they are trying to solve.

b. Experts mentally group aspects of problems together differently.

c. Experts are smarter than novices.

d. Experts use more trial-and-error techniques.

Learning Objective: 11-5: How do expert problem solvers differ from novices?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Experts Versus Novices

Difficulty Level: Easy

True/False

1. Getting dressed is an example of a well-defined problem.

Learning Objective: 11-3: Why are some problems more difficult to solve than others?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Recognizing and Identifying a Problem

Difficulty Level: Easy

2. Solving a crossword puzzle is an example of an ill-defined problem.

Learning Objective: 11-3: Why are some problems more difficult to solve than others?

Cognitive domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Recognizing and Identifying a Problem

Difficulty Level: Easy

3. Research indicates there are neuropsychological differences between well- and ill-defined problems.

Learning Objective: 11-3: Why are some problems more difficult to solve than others?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Recognizing and Identifying a Problem

Difficulty Level: Easy

4. Ill-defined problems are those that lack a clearly defined goal state and constraints.

Learning Objective: 11-3: Why are some problems more difficult to solve than others?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Recognizing and Identifying a Problem

Difficulty Level: Easy

5. All problem-solving processes are unconscious.

Learning Objective: 11-4: What gets in your way when trying to solve problems?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Developing Solutions to Problems: Approaches and Strategies

Difficulty Level: Easy

6. Mental set is similar to the functional fixedness bias.

Learning Objective: 11-4: What gets in your way when trying to solve problems?

Cognitive domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Mental Set

Difficulty Level: Easy

7. Gestalt psychologists were in favor of purely associationist theories of problem-solving.

Learning Objective: 11-1: How often and what kind of problems do you solve every day?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Gestalt Approaches

Difficulty Level: Easy

8. Our cognitive systems constrain our ability to solve problems.

Learning Objective: 11-4: What gets in your way when trying to solve problems?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Allocating Mental Resources for Solving the Problem

Difficulty Level: Easy

9. The means-ends strategy guides the search through the problem space by repeatedly ignoring the current state of the problem in favor of the goal state.

Learning Objective: 11-2: How do you solve problems: through trial and error, through conscious deliberation, or do solutions just suddenly occur to you?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Means-End Strategy

Difficulty Level: Medium

10. Novices in a field mentally group aspects of problems together differently from experts.

Learning Objective: 11-5: How do expert problem solvers differ from novices?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Experts Versus Novices

Difficulty Level: Easy

Short Answer

1. Distinguish between well- and ill-defined problems. Give three examples of each.

Learning Objective: 11-1: How often and what kind of problems do you solve every day?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Recognizing and Identify a Problem

Difficulty Level: Hard

2. Define functional fixedness, and provide three examples.

Learning Objective: 11-4: What gets in your way when trying to solve problems?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Functional Fixedness

Difficulty Level: Hard

3. Discuss the ways in which experts differ from novices in terms of problem solving. How can you become a better problem solver?

Learning Objective: 11-5: How do expert problem solvers differ from novices?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Experts Versus Novices

Difficulty Level: Hard

4. Describe the main differences between the associationist approach and Gestalt approaches.

Learning Objective: 11-2: How do you solve problems: through trial and error, through conscious deliberation, or do solutions just suddenly occur to you?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Developing Solutions to Problems: Approaches and Strategies

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. How did the General Problem Solver computer program change the way cognitive psychologists theorized about human problem solving?

Learning Objective: 11-2: How do you solve problems: through trial and error, through conscious deliberation, or do solutions just suddenly occur to you?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Problem Solving as Problem Space Searches

Difficulty Level: Medium