Obstacles To Critical Thinking Ch.3 Exam Prep

Chapter 3: Obstacles to Critical Thinking

Multiple Choice

(Correct answers are marked with an asterisk.)

1. Accepting claims for no other reason than that they help you save face is an example of…

a. Group thinking

b. Stereotyping

c. Self-interested thinking

d. Motivate thinking

2. W.K Clifford says that it’s wrong to…

a. Believe any claim

b. Believe a claim that is unpopular

c. Disbelieve for any reason

d. Believe a claim without good reasons

3. The pressure to fit in with a social group is called…

a. Popularity

b. Objective thinking

c. Tribalism

d. Groupthink

4. The fallacy of arguing that a claim must be true merely because a substantial number of people believe it is known as…

a. Appeal to pity

b. Appeal to popularity

c. Appeal to tradition

d. Appeal to common practice

5. A negative or adverse belief about others without sufficient reasons is known as…

a. Peer pressure

b. Prejudice

c. Groupthink

d. Appeal to ignorance

6. Intense partisan group commitment that operates more like racism than political difference is called…

a. Tribalism

b. Appeal to popularity

c. Stereotyping

d. Rage thinking

7. Philosopher Lawrence Blum says that inferiorization and antipathy…

a. Have little to do with racism

b. Are in everyone

c. Don’t exist in white people

d. Are at the heart of racism

8. Something that makes a statement more likely to be true is called…

a. Artifacts

b. Opinions

c. Plausibility

d. Evidence

9. The tendency to try to deny or resist evidence that flies in the face of our cherished beliefs is called…

a. Confirmation bias

b. Motivated reasoning

c. Denying the evidence

d. Availability error

10. The tendency to look for and recognize only information that confirms our existing views is known as…

a. Availability error

b. Prejudice

c. Confirmation bias

d. Wishful thinking

11. The phenomenon of being ignorant of how ignorant you are is known as…

a. Dunning-Kruger effect

b. Equivocation

c. Prejudice

d. Argument from ignorance

12. The tendency to overestimate the degree to which other people share our opinions, attitudes, and preferences is called…

a. False consensus effect

b. Illusion-of-truth effect

c. Dunning-Kruger effect

d. Mere exposure effect

13. The phenomenon in which you come to believe that a false claim is actually true simply because it is familiar is called…

a. False consensus effect

b. Mere exposure effect

c. Illusion-of-truth effect

d. The backfire effect

14. Relying on evidence not because it’s trustworthy but because it’s memorable or striking is called…

a. Familiarity effect

b. False consensus effect

c. Illusion-of-truth effect

d. The availability error

15. Reasoning for the purpose of supporting a predetermined conclusion, not to uncover the truth is called…

a. Motivated reasoning

b. Specious reasoning

c. Invalid reasoning

d. Mere exposure effect

16. The only available remedy for the problem of denying contrary evidence is.…

a. Looking for confirming evidence

b. Using motivated reasoning

c. Looking for falsifiable evidence

d. Making a conscious effort to look for opposing evidence

17. Classifying individuals into groups according to oversimplified or prejudiced attitudes or opinions is known as...

a. Appeal to popularity

b. Groupthink

c. Peer pressure

d. Stereotyping

18. Group thinking of the worst kind is called. . .

a. Motivated reasoning

b. Racism

c. Popular thinking

d. Inferiorization

19. The philosopher Bertrand Russell asserts that the passionate holding of an opinion is a sure sign of…

a. A lack of reasons to support the opinion

b. Commitment

c. Morality

d. Weakness of mind

20. A problem comes not when we appeal to emotions in our arguments, but when we…

a. Appeal to nothing but emotions

b. Appeal to reason

c. Keep things in perspective

d. Reach a conclusion

Short Answer/Short Essay

1. What is motivated reasoning and how is it often used online?

2. Explain what evidence is and what kinds of beliefs do not constitute evidence.

3. What is the tendency to deny contrary evidence and what is the only available remedy for it?

4. Explain what the Dunning-Kruger effect is and illustrate it with an example.

5. What is confirmation bias and what are some of the possible consequence of falling prey to it?