Chapter 12: Reasoning and Decision Making

Test Bank

Multiple Choice

1. ______ reasoning concerns making and evaluating arguments from general information to specific information, while ______ reasoning concerns making and evaluating arguments from specific information to general information.

a. Inductive; deductive

b. Conditional; deductive

c. Conditional; inductive

d. Deductive; inductive

Learning Objective: 12-1: How logical are the conclusions you draw?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Introduction: A Night at the Movies

Difficulty Level: Easy

2. Manuel is debating with his mother about the best way to build their new shed. Manuel is a very traditional person who likes to employ tried-and-true logic. What kind of reasoning would Manuel be most likely to use?

a. deductive reasoning

b. inductive reasoning

c. conditional reasoning

d. intuitive reasoning

Learning Objective: 12-1: How logical are the conclusions you draw?

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Introduction: A Night of the Movies

Difficulty Level: Medium

3. ______ developed the logical rules of syllogistic reasoning.

a. Plato

b. Hippocrates

c. Aristotle

d. Freud

Learning Objective: 12-1: How logical are the conclusions you draw?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Syllogistic Reasoning

Difficulty Level: Easy

4. “All dogs are mammals. All mammals have hair. All dogs have hair.” This is an example of ______.

a. heuristic reasoning

b. conducive reasoning

c. conditional reasoning

d. syllogistic reasoning

Learning Objective: 12-1: How logical are the conclusions you draw?

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Syllogistic Reasoning

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. ______ is a process by which a conclusion follows necessarily from a series of premises.

a. Conditional reasoning

b. Syllogistic reasoning

c. Heuristic reasoning

d. Causal reasoning

Learning Objective: 12-1: How logical are the conclusions you draw?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Syllogistic Reasoning

Difficulty Level: Easy

6. ______ reasoning is a process by which “if” statements lead to conclusions.

a. Deductive

b. Conditional

c. Inductive

d. Syllogistic

Learning Objective: 12-2: Why are some things harder to reason about than others?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Conditional Reasoning

Difficulty Level: Easy

7. ______ statements are those that are either true or false.

a. Syllogistic

b. Relevant

c. Propositional

d. Conditional

Learning Objective: 12-2: Why are some things harder to reason about than others?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Conditional Reasoning

Difficulty Level: Easy

8. Propositional reasoning is another name for ______.

a. relevant reasoning

b. conditional reasoning

c. syllogistic reasoning

d. heuristic reasoning

Learning Objective: 12-2: Why are some things harder to reason about than others?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Conditional Reasoning

Difficulty Level: Easy

9. “If my mother visits today, I am not going to cook dinner. She has just arrived. I am not going to cook dinner.” This is an example of ______.

a. propositional reasoning

b. a syllogism

c. counterfactual thinking

d. an unconditional statement

Learning Objective: 12-3: How and when do we make inferences about causal relations?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Conditional Reasoning

Difficulty Level: Hard

10. Philip Johnson-Laird and his colleagues proposed a theory of reasoning that proceed through three stages. The first stage in this theory is ______.

a. model conclusion formulation

b. model propositional formulation

c. model conclusion validation stage

d. model construction of the premises

Learning Objective: 12-4: What steps do we go through when we make decisions?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Representation-Explanation Approaches

Difficulty Level: Easy

11. ______ approaches propose that errors arise from general biases against making particular conclusions.

a. Surface

b. Representation explanation

c. Synaptic

d. Conclusion interpretation

Learning Objective: 12-5: Do we always make the best choices?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Conclusion Interpretation Approaches

Difficulty Level: Easy

12. ______ focus on how we represent arguments.

a. Synaptic approaches

b. Surface approaches

c. Conclusion interpretation approaches

d. Representation explanation approaches

Learning Objective: 12-4: What steps do we go through when we make decisions?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Deductive Reasoning Approaches

Difficulty Level: Easy

13. According to Johnson-Laird et al. (2010), reasoning proceeds through three stages, which are ______.

a. idea-formation, model-validation, and model construction

b. model construction, conclusion-formation, and conclusion-validation

c. model-validation, idea construction, and conclusion-formation

d. synapse-formation, conclusion-formation, and conclusion-validation

Learning Objective: 12-4: What steps do we go through when we make decisions?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Representation-Explanation Approaches

Difficulty Level: Easy

14. ______ approaches propose that reasoning relies primarily on general heuristics focused on the surface properties of the quantifiers in the argument rather than on reasoning analytically.

a. Representation explanation

b. Synaptic

c. Conclusion interpretation

d. Surface

Learning Objective: 12-2: Why are some things harder to reason about than others?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Surface Approaches

Difficulty Level: Easy

15. ______ processes are largely automatic, rapid, and unconscious as ______ processes are controlled, slow, and conscious.

a. System 1; system 2

b. System 2; system 1

c. Analytic; heuristic

d. Rational; intuitive

Learning Objective: 12-4: What steps do we go through when we make decisions?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Combining These Approaches: Dual-Process Framework Approach

Difficulty Level: Easy

16. Evans (1984, 2006) suggests that when we reason we use one system based on heuristic processes and another based on ______ processes.

a. dual-process

b. inductive

c. analytic

d. rapid-decision

Learning Objective: 12-1: How logical are the conclusions you draw?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Combining These Approaches: Dual-Process Framework Approach

Difficulty Level: Easy

17. Sometimes it feels as though we use logic to reason, while at other times we use other methods, like making a split-second decision without any time to think. This best illustrates ______.

a. rapid-decision framework

b. dual-process framework

c. multidecision framework

d. inductive reasoning

Learning Objective: 12-1: How logical are the conclusions you draw?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Combining These Approaches: Dual-Process Framework Approach

Difficulty Level: Medium

18. ______ is about absolute truth, while ______ examines the likelihood of a conclusion being true.

a. Deductive reasoning; inductive reasoning

b. Inductive reasoning; deductive reasoning

c. Heuristic reasoning; analytical reasoning

d. Heuristic reasoning; syllogistic reasoning

Learning Objective: 12-5: Do we always make the best choices?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Inductive Reasoning

Difficulty Level: Easy

19. Ming discovers that her boyfriend is dating another woman. She goes to his apartment and finds her diary, in which she has written about her interest in other men. Ming reasons that her boyfriend is cheating on her based on what he has read. What kind of reasoning is Ming using?

a. syllogistic reasoning

b. deductive reasoning

c. analytical reasoning

d. inductive reasoning

Learning Objective: 12-3: How and when do we make inferences about causal relations?

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Inductive Reasoning

Difficulty Level: Hard

20. Forrest Gump’s famous quote, “Life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you’re going to get,” is an example of ______.

a. surface approaches

b. category induction

c. causal reasoning

d. analogical reasoning

Learning Objective: 12-3: How and when do we make inferences about causal relations?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Analogical Reasoning

Difficulty Level: Medium

21. Imagine that you are taking your dog on a walk along a trail in the woods, and you see an unfamiliar animal. You immediately recognize that it is a bird due to its features, but it is one you have never seen before. Your ability to recognize it as a bird is due to ______.

a. analogical reasoning

b. causal reasoning

c. surface approaches

d. category induction

Learning Objective: 12-3: How and when do we make inferences about causal relations?

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Category Induction

Difficulty Level: Hard

22. The two factors that are important when we draw causal conclusions are ______.

a. identifying the covariation between the two events and believing there is a mechanism for the causal relationship

b. identifying the dual process involved in the two events and realizing there is no mechanism for the causal relationship

c. identifying the dual decision between the two events and believing there is a mechanism for the causal relationship

d. identifying the category induction between the two events and realizing there is no mechanism for the causal relationship

Learning Objective: 12-3: How and when do we make inferences about causal relations?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Causal Reasoning

Difficulty Level: Medium

23. To be able to do category induction, our cognitive system must be able to ______.

a. organize a set of things into as many different groups as possible

b. organize and recognize a group of things as members of the same category

c. find similarities between groups of things that are members of different categories

d. find differences between groups of things that are members of the same categories

Learning Objective: 12-1: How logical are the conclusions you draw?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Category Induction

Difficulty Level: Medium

24. Imagine that you attend a party with a group of friends, where you all eat a delicious four-course meal. However, that night, you all end up sick, and you conclude that you must have all gotten sick from the food you ate. This is an example of ______.

a. representation explanation approaches

b. causal reasoning

c. analogical reasoning

d. category induction

Learning Objective: 12-3: How and when do we make inferences about causal relations?

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Causal Reasoning

Difficulty Level: Hard

25. One of the best ways to establish causal relationships is ______.

a. thinking about it for a while

b. doing experiments that require an independent and dependent variable

c. discussing possibilities with peers

d. doing correlational experiments that rely on the use of analogies

Learning Objective: 12-3: How and when do we make inferences about causal relations?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Causal Reasoning

Difficulty Level: Medium

26. Imagine you are watching the news, and you see there was a fire at a club you were planning to go to that same night. You realize that if you had not been too tired to go out, you might have been there. This is an example of ______.

a. counterfactual thinking

b. hypothesis testing

c. verification

d. causal reasoning

Learning Objective: 12-3: How and when do we make inferences about causal relations?

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Causal Reasoning

Difficulty Level: Medium

27. One of the major differences between laboratory reasoning tasks and everyday reasoning tasks is that ______.

a. everyday reasoning tasks are solved for their own sake

b. laboratory reasoning tasks are often solved as a means of achieving other goals

c. laboratory reasoning tasks typically have specified procedures

d. everyday reasoning tasks typically have one correct answer

Learning Objective: 12-2: Why are some things harder to reason about than others?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Everyday Reasoning

Difficulty Level: Hard

28. You decide that you are going to join the air force and that you want to serve for four years and then go to college. First, you look up literature on the air force to find the information you need, and you contact your local enlistment office. You receive word that you have your choice of a few different programs. To aid in your decision of which program you should pursue, you list the pros and cons for each. Then, you sleep on it and decide the next morning. A year into your enlistment, you conclude that this was the best decision you could have made and that you cannot wait to see how this experience affects your life. This conclusion reflects what stage of decision making?

a. evaluation

b. making a final choice

c. structuring the decision

d. gathering information

Learning Objective: 12-4: What steps do we go through when we make decisions?

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Evaluation

Difficulty Level: Medium

29. The ideal model of decision making involves ______.

a. discussing options with peers

b. ranking criteria in terms of their importance

c. following your instinct

d. deciding only when the outcome is certain

Learning Objective: 12-5: Do we always make the best choices?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Ideal Decision Making: A Normative Model

Difficulty Level: Medium

30. The ideal model of decision making involves listing all the options and rating each option according to the list of criteria. What should come next?

a. discussing all options with peers

b. ranking criteria in terms of importance

c. choosing the option with the highest score

d. describing an idealized decision model

Learning Objective: 12-5: Do we always make the best choices?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Ideal Decision Making: A Normative Model

Difficulty Level: Medium

31. ______ are mental shortcuts that we use to reduce the processing burden on our cognitive systems.

a. Resources

b. Algorithms

c. Heuristics

d. Notes

Learning Objective: 12-1: How logical are the conclusions you draw?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Heuristics and Biases

Difficulty Level: Easy

32. Imagine you are out at a bar, trying to make new friends. You see a blonde woman who appears to be nice, but you think, “I don’t think I’ll approach her; blondes tend to be ditzy.” This is an example of ______ bias.

a. availability

b. framing

c. representativeness

d. comprehension

Learning Objective: 12-5: Do we always make the best choices?

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Heuristics and Biases

Difficulty Level: Medium

33. A bias in reasoning where stereotypes are relied on to make judgments and solve problems is called ______ bias.

a. representativeness

b. availability

c. heuristic

d. framing

Learning Objective: 12-5: Do we always make the best choices?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Representativeness Bias

Difficulty Level: Easy

34. The availability bias is a bias in reasoning where examples easily brought to mind are relied on to ______.

a. help overcome representativeness bias

b. make judgments and solve problems

c. help randomize your decision making

d. create a normative model of judgments

Learning Objective: 12-5: Do we always make the best choices?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Availability Bias

Difficulty Level: Easy

35. In Kahneman and Tversky’s prospect theory, they hypothesized that people tend to ______ low-probability outcomes and ______ high-probability outcomes.

a. focus on; ignore

b. ignore; focus on

c. underweight; overweight

d. overweight; underweight

Learning Objective: 12-5: Do we always make the best choices?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Prospect Theory

Difficulty Level: Medium

Multiple Response

Select all that apply.

1. Which of the following does deductive reasoning involve?

a. understanding and representing the premises

b. examining the likelihood of a conclusion being true

c. combining these representations

d. drawing a conclusion

Learning Objective: 12-4: What steps do we go through when we make decisions?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Deductive Reasoning Approaches

Difficulty Level: Medium

2. Research suggests that several factors impact how likely we are to correctly follow the rules of logic. Which of the following are included?

a. phrasing of the premises

b. the time of day we try to reason

c. the content of the arguments

d. who told us the content

Learning Objective: 12-2: Why are some things harder to reason about than others?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Syllogistic Reasoning

Difficulty Level: Medium

3. Roberts (2005) classifies deductive reasoning into three general approaches. Which of the following are included?

a. surface (or heuristic)

b. representation explanations

c. conclusion heuristic

d. conclusion interpretation

Learning Objective: 12-4: What steps do we go through when we make decisions?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Deductive-Reasoning Approaches

Difficulty Level: Easy

4. Which of the following are types of inductive reasoning?

a. analogical reasoning

b. category induction

c. representation-explanation approaches

d. causal reasoning

Learning Objective: 12-3: How and when do we make inferences about causal relations?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Inductive Reasoning

Difficulty Level: Easy

5. Wason (1960, 1972) identified three general strategies that his participants used for hypothesis testing. What are they?

a. correlation

b. verification

c. thinking about alternatives

d. falsification

Learning Objective: 12-4: What steps do we go through when we make decisions?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Hypothesis Testing

Difficulty Level: Easy

True/False

1. We are very good at logical reasoning.

Learning Objective: 12-1: How logical are the conclusions you draw?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Syllogistic Reasoning

Difficulty Level: Easy

2. Conditional reasoning is a process by which conditional statements follow from a conclusion.

Learning Objective: 12-1: How logical are the conclusions you draw?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Conditional Reasoning

Difficulty Level: Easy

3. Conclusion interpretation approaches propose that errors arise from general biases against making particular conclusions.

Learning Objective: 12-5: Do we always make the best choices?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Conclusion Interpretation Approaches

Difficulty Level: Easy

4. Correlation implies causation.

Learning Objective: 12-3: How and when do we make inferences about causal relations?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Causal Reasoning

Difficulty Level: Easy

5. There are rarely established procedures for solving a problem in a laboratory setting.

Learning Objective: 12-2: Why are some things harder to reason about than others?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Everyday Reasoning

Difficulty Level: Easy

6. Inductive reasoning involves making and evaluating arguments from general information to specific information.

Learning Objective: 12-5: Do we always make the best choices?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Inductive Reasoning

Difficulty Level: Easy

7. The probability heuristics model proposes that everyday reasoning is not based on probability but rather on logic.

Learning Objective: 12-3: How logical are the conclusions you draw?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Surface Approaches

Difficulty Level: Easy

8. The dual-process framework details the idea that cognitive tasks can be performed using two separate and distinct processes.

Learning Objective: 12-3: How logical are the conclusions you draw?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Combining These Approaches: Dual-Process Framework Approach

Difficulty Level: Easy

9. Scientific experiments rely on causal reasoning.

Learning Objective: 12-3: How logical are the conclusions you draw?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Causal Reasoning

Difficulty Level: Easy

10. The general model of decision making suggests that we spend time structuring our decision before making a final decision.

Learning Objective: 12-5: Do we always make the right choices?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: A General Model of Decision Making

Difficulty Level: Medium

Short Answer

1. Compare and contrast syllogistic and conditional reasoning. Give an example of each.

Learning Objective: 12-1: How logical are the conclusions you draw?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Deductive Reasoning

Difficulty Level: Hard

2. Discuss the five stages of Galotti’s (2002) model of general decision making. Discuss an example to illustrate all five stages.

Learning Objective: 12-5: Do we always make the right choices?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: A General Model of Decision Making

Difficulty Level: Hard

3. Discuss the different types of heuristics biases we face when making decisions, and give an example of each.

Learning Objective: 12-5: Do we always make the right choices?

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Heuristics and Biases

Difficulty Level: Hard

4. Compare and contrast deductive vs. inductive reasoning.

Learning Objective: 12-5: Do we always make the right choices?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Deductive Reasoning; Inductive Reasoning

Difficulty Level: Hard

5. Explain why everyday decisions can be more difficult to reason about than the formal arguments presented in textbooks.

Learning Objective: 12-2: Why are some things harder to reason about than others?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Everyday Reasoning

Difficulty Level: Hard