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Thoughtful Questions

These are posed to serve as a check on your understanding and recall of the material in each chapter.

Click on the tabs below to view the content for each chapter.

Chapter 1 - Thinking: An Introduction

  1. How are increases in technology linked to the need for critical thinking skills? Why is it important for critical thinking to accompany such advances?  Explain your answer.
  2. What is knowledge?  How does information become knowledge?  How is an individual’s knowledge unique?
  3. How is critical thinking defined?  What are some similarities among various definitions of critical thinking?  How does critical thinking compare to nondirected thinking?
  4. How is critical thinking defined in this chapter?  Why does the definition include the notion of likelihood?  If you can come up with a better definition for this term, write it here.
  5. Why was the author critical of the political candidate who opposed waste, fraud, pollution crime, and overpaid bureaucrats?  Shouldn’t we be concerned with these issues?
  6. List several different types of evidence that thinking can be improved with instruction. 
  7. Opponents of critical thinking instruction sometimes say that it’s not needed because everyone has a right to his or her own opinion.  How did the author respond to this comment?  What is your response?
  8. What is cognitive process instruction?  How can it be used to improve the thinking process?
  9. How does prolonged exposure to video games change the brain? Describe research findings examining this question.
  10. Explain the idea that thinking is done with images and/or verbal statements.  Give an example of each.
  11. In what important ways are humans and computers similar?  What are the important differences?
  12. What is transfer of training?  How can critical thinking instruction in schools transfer to everyday life?  How can the transfer of training of critical thinking skills be important or valuable to you?  To others?
  13. The answer to the question of whether intelligence can be improved with instruction depends on how intelligence is defined.  What are the components of intelligence, and can they be improved with appropriate learning experiences?
  14. What are some differences in the way good and poor thinkers solve reasoning problems?  What are the attitudinal characteristics of good thinkers?
  15. Explain the notion that critical thinkers are “mindful.”  What is it that they are mindful of?
  16. What is metacognition and why is it important to being a good rather than a poor thinker?
  17. Describe thinking as a biological process.  How does direct experience affect it?
  18. What is the Ultimatum Game? How does it reveal the influence of emotions on our thinking?
  19. Describe the Hollywood view of the critical thinker.  How can the pervasiveness of this stereotype affect peoples’ views of critical thinking and critical thinking instruction?  How could this stereotype be challenged?
  20. Explain the differences between System 1 and System 2.  Explain how you would use both systems in the same scenario (e.g., when on a first date or buying a jar of peanut butter).
  21. Your book gave several arguments to convince you of the need for critical thinking.  Give two examples.

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Chapter 2 - Thinking Starts Here: Memory as the Mediator of Cognitive Processes

  1. Why should a book on critical thinking skills begin with a chapter on memory?  What does memory have to do with thinking?
  2. What is the relationship among learning, retaining, and recalling?  (You should have expected this question.)
  3. Explain how the vividness of information may influence memory for that information. How may vividness relate to people’s judgments about crime rates?
  4. Explain the influence of the passage of time on learning and memory.
  5. Why are learning and memory called hypothetical constructs?  Name two other examples of hypothetical constructs.
  6. Name and explain some basic properties of attention.  Why is it an important concept in memory?
  7. Several different types of memory were discussed in your text.  Name and briefly describe motor memory, episodic memory, procedural memory, semantic memory, and automatic memory.
  8. Which of these types of memory is involved when:
    1. learning new vocabulary words?       
    2. improving your ability to dribble (in basketball)?                  
    3. attending a party?
    4. deciding how often you studied your history?          
    5. learning how to use windows on your computer?
  9. How can stereotypes and prejudices influence what we remember?  Describe an experimental study that supports this view.
  10. Describe the concepts of implicit memory and the illusion of truth.  How would these processes be related to déjà vu experiences?
  11. How do the processes of incidental learning and the illusion of truth relate to brand-name marketing?  Why would someone who has never purchased a particular product before buy the brand name?
  12. Explain how classical conditioning has been used in propaganda (e.g., by the Nazis in World War II).  How is classical conditioning sometimes used in commercials today?
  13. How can organization of information aid acquisition?  Describe a particular instance when organization enhanced your own learning.
  14. What does it mean to say, “memory is malleable?”
  15. Describe the constructive nature of memory.  How might it change one’s recollection of important historical events?
  16. Describe metamemory.  How does being “mindful” relate to ease of learning judgments? How might such judgments improve memory?
  17. How can the development of a good metamemory improve your academic performance? 
  18. What can you do to monitor your own learning?
  19. How do mnemonic devices work?  List and describe four different types of mnemonics.
  20. Which cognitive principles are used in the cognitive interview?  Describe a situation in which this technique would be useful.

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Chapter 3 - The Relationship Between Thought and Language

  1. Explain the relationship between underlying representation and surface structure.  Why has the gap between them been called the “problem” of producing and comprehending language?
  2. What is the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis of linguistic relativity?
  3. Distinguish between the strong and weak forms of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis.  What do you think about the truth of each of these forms?
  4. How are inferences involved in our thought processes?  How do the “Rules for Clear Communication” reflect the necessity of inferences in communication?  Is it possible to communicate without inference?
  5. Experimental studies were presented to demonstrate empirically how slight changes in wording can cause substantial differences in the way people think.  Describe two of these studies.
  6. What are some circumstances when it is particularly important to consider the way choice of words influence thought? 
  7. What’s wrong with interpreting the meaning of a word by reference to its origin?
  8. How do you decide which strategy to improve comprehension should be used?
  9. What general cognitive principles are common to all of the strategies for improving comprehension?
  10. Comment on the following statements.  Explain what is wrong with each, if there is something wrong.  If it seems okay, then say so.  Remember, not every communication is misleading.
    • I recently heard a discussion that went something like this: Because every society has always consisted of a vast majority of people who are heterosexual, it follows that homosexuality is not normal.
    • In the 2012 presidential debate between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, Mr. Romney said that women in the workplace need greater flexibility so they can go home earlier in the day to make dinner. 
    • Gynecologists have traditionally considered themselves as medical specialists--a title that brought increased prestige and money over that of a “generalist” physician.  Under a health plan that is being considered, “primary care physicians” (a fancy term for a generalist) would receive additional pay.  The gynecologists are now arguing that they really are primary care physicians.
    • The publisher of a sexually explicit newspaper, Alexei Kostin, was jailed in Moscow, Russia, for publishing pornography.  This arrest was in accord with a criminal code that prohibits pornography.  However, the code (Article 228) never defines pornography. (from: Mac Kenzie, J. (February 9, 1994). Magazine’s publisher jailed for pornography. The Moscow Times, p. 2.)
    • Vladimir Zhirinovsky, leader of an “ultranationalist” political party in Russia, has denied that he is anti-Semitic, although he does believe that all Russia Jews should be forced to leave Russia and that they should not be allowed to hold responsible or influential jobs. 
    • According to a radio news broadcast (BBC News, April 2, 1994), tourist guides in Virginia have added a new attraction.  Tourists now see “old Southern mansions.”  Formerly, these sites were called “plantations.”
    • In a study reported by Cialdini (1993), college students rated average-looking females and males as less attractive after viewing a television show with beautiful people than if they watched a different show.
  11. Explain the term “risk adverse.”  Write two different hypothetical advertisements for insurance (any type)—one that uses the principle that most people are adverse to risk and one that does not use this principle.  Compare the two.  Does the advertisement that is based on risk aversion seem more persuasive?  Explain the differences between your two advertisements.

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Chapter 4 - Reasoning: Drawing Deductively Valid Conclusions

  1. Explain failure to accept the logical task.  How is it related to belief bias?
  2. Are the psychological processes that people use in formulating conclusions the same ones that are specified by the laws of formal logic?  How do they differ? 
  3. Why is the legal process described as an “exercise in reasoning?”
  4. What is the difference between inductive and deductive reasoning?  Give an example of each.  If you are a fan of the fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes, you should be able to describe one example of each from the famous stories that chronicle his adventures. 
  5. If you need to give someone information about the distance the planets are from the sun and each other, what rules about communicating ordered information do you need to keep in mind?
  6. What is the difference between truth and validity?  Can a conclusion be both?  Neither?
  7. What are the parts of “if, then” reasoning problems?  What errors are common when reasoning with them?
  8. How does negation affect our ability to reason well?
  9. What is a syllogism?
  10. Explain what circle diagrams are.  Why are they used?
  11. Define the terms “middle term” and “distributed.”
  12. What are the rules of syllogisms?
  13. How does content affect the way we reason with syllogisms?  How does this differ from the rules of logic?
  14. How do probability and logic interact to influence our belief in the validity of conclusions?
  15. Confirmation bias is a ubiquitous effect.  What is it?  How is it demonstrated in the “four-card selection task?”  Explain the correct answer to this problem.
  16. If you need to try all combinations of 5 items, 2 at a time, 3 at a time, 4 at a time and 5 at a time, how do you form the combinations?
  17. Why is B distributed in “No A are B,” but not distributed in “All A are B?” Explain this.

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Chapter 5 - Analyzing Arguments

  1. Why does Harmon call reasoning “a change in view?”
  2. How do convergent argument structures differ from chained structures?  What is the net effect on the strength of the argument if I add a weak premise to each of these argument structures?
  3. How do you determine if a premise is acceptable?  What standards should you apply?
  4. What do you need to consider when assessing the credibility of an expert?  Why is the credibility of an expert an important factor in determining the acceptability of a premise?
  5. Explain the concept of relatedness as it applies to the relationship between a premise and a conclusion.
  6. What are the criteria for a sound argument?
  7. Why is it important to consider what’s missing from an argument when you evaluate its soundness?
  8. The twenty-one common fallacies are based on unsound reasoning.  Which ones are examples of premises that are unrelated to the conclusion?
  9. How does reasoned judgment differ from opinion?  Give an example in which an opinion serves as a premise in an argument.
  10. How do you change someone’s beliefs?
  11. What does it mean to be “actively open-minded?”  How is it related to the confirmation bias?
  12. Discuss the argument strategies used by “Holocaust Deniers” (Shermer, 1997).  How do these strategies relate to the confirmation bias?
  13. What criteria should you use to judge the arguments that you are making?
  14. How does one evaluate the quality of information presented by web sites?  Why is it important for people to understand how to evaluate the quality of information they are presented with, including information presented on web sites?
  15. How can visual stimuli be used to support or weaken a conclusion?

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Chapter 6 - Thinking as Hypothesis Testing

  1. How is everyday thinking like the experimentation used by scientists?
  2. What is the difference between inductive and deductive methods?  How are they used in a cyclical fashion?
  3. Why do we need operational definitions?
  4. Explain the relationship of random assignment of participants to experimental and control groups to isolation and control of variables, and the occurrence of confounding.
  5. Generate operational definitions for the following variables (remember, each operational definition must specify some kind of measurement of the specific variable):
    • reading comprehension
    • physical attractiveness
    • physical fitness
    • popularity among peers
    • romantic relationship satisfaction
    • class participation
    • ability to use word processing software
  6. What are some mistakes that we can make when generalizing from a sample to a population?  Describe a better sampling technique than the one used by the Literary Digest.
  7. Identify the independent and dependent variables in the following examples:
    • using worker training to reduce the number of work accidents in a factory
    • the effects of swimming lessons on Mr. Toad’s lung capacity
    • tutoring in spelling and grammar and grades in English
    • exercise and the ability to concentrate while studying
    • differences in illness rates between people who pray and those who do not
    • hypnosis used to quit smoking
    • relations between toddlers’ vocabulary development and watching Sesame Street
  8. How is the importance of sample size in research related to the law of large numbers?  How is variability affected by sample size? 
  9. Explain why random assignment of participants to experimental and control groups is essential to making causal claims.  Why is it difficult to compare pre-existing groups of people (e.g., smokers vs. nonsmokers; rich vs. poor; divorced vs. married; etc.)?
  10. Explain how confounding can lead to erroneous conclusions.  Provide an example.
  11. “My grandpa smoked, drank a pint of gin every day, and had bacon and fried eggs every morning for breakfast, and he lived to be 98 years old.”  How can this statement be analyzed based on the law of large numbers and variability?
  12. How does relying on the law of small numbers affect the development and use of stereotypes?  How might group interactions be affected by a misunderstanding of variability?
  13. Explain illusory validity.  How is it related to the confirmation bias?  What are other reasons why disconfirming evidence may not be considered? 
  14. We can be more confident in our conclusions when there is convergent validity.  Why?  If you have already read the chapter on analyzing arguments, compare the notion of convergent argument structures with convergent validity.
  15. Explain why people sometimes believe that variables are correlated when, in fact, they are not.
  16. How can experimenter and subject biases affect the results obtained from experiments?  How do double blind procedures protect against these biases?
  17. List three pairs of variables that you would expect to be positively correlated, three that you would expect to be negatively correlated, and three that you would expect to be uncorrelated.  
  18. Why can’t we determine cause from correlated variables?  Why is the three-stage experimental design a better method than correlation for making strong causal claims?
  19. A recent newspaper article reported a significant positive correlation between education and experiencing a divorce in women.  How can this relationship be interpreted?  What are some possible third variables that could be responsible for the relationship between education and divorce?
  20. Why do people persist in believing in the validity of their conclusions even when their confidence is unwarranted?
  21. Why is prospective research preferable to retrospective research? 
  22. How are some errors “worse” than others?  How might consideration of the consequences of different errors influence the search for evidence?

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Chapter 7 - Likelihood and Uncertainty: Understanding Probabilities

  1. Explain how Al Hibbs was able to “beat the house” at roulette.
  2. What is the logic of tree diagrams?  Explain what you are doing when you draw tree diagrams.
  3. What principle explains why the probability of 40 people sharing a common birthday is as high as .90?  Explain it in words.
  4. Explain Gambler’s Fallacy.  What is fallacious about it?  Ask your friends what they would expect on the next flip of a fair coin that has landed “heads up” on the last five flips.  Why does the book call the belief in streaks the “flip side” of gambler’s fallacy?
  5. When people were asked to judge the frequency of lethal events, what kinds of errors did they make?
  6. If a disease is very rare (i.e., it has a very low base rate), how optimistic can we be about devising a test that will detect it?  Why?
  7. If a student gets the highest grade in his class on a psychology exam, what grade would you predict that he will get on the midterm?  What is the name of the principle you used to make this prediction?
  8. Explain why the Israeli flight instructors believed that praise led to poorer performance and criticism improved performance.  What is a better explanation of these results?
  9. Give two examples of situations in which tree diagrams can be used as decision-making aids.
  10. How are conjunctive errors evidence that many people don’t understand the reasoning behind the “and” rule?  I have had students who found it very difficult to understand why Linda, the example in the book, is more likely to be a bank teller than she is to be a bank teller and a feminist.  I often will draw circle diagrams to explain this relationship.  Try this demonstration with friends and then explain the correct answer to them.
  11. Of the various gambling games offered in places like Las Vegas and other “gaming” places, which are completely determined by chance?  Do any gambling games involve skill?  How do these features of the different games affect one’s chances of winning?
  12. Every time I buy an appliance, the salesperson tries to sell me product insurance.  I always decline and explain to the salesperson that, in the long run, I am better off never buying appliance insurance for small appliances because the cost of the insurance is calculated so that I would be expected to lose money.  This is how the companies make money on the insurance.  Often a salesperson will argue with me and tell about a customer who got a brand new replacement appliance when his broke down and was still under warranty.  Explain why the “expected value” for the consumer is always negative.  How would you explain these concepts to a friend who is contemplating the purchase of insurance?  Why should I buy auto insurance, even though, it, too, has a negative expected value for all consumers?  (Think about the amount of risk.)
  13. Every roulette table has a lighted sign displaying the results of several previous spins.  Why would the owners of casinos display these signs?  Do people pay attention to these signs?  Should they?
  14. Which of the following events are independent?  Why or why not?
    1. drawing cards from a deck without replacement
    2. flips of a coin
    3. rolls of a die
    4. drinking alcohol and wrecking a car
    5. motivation and college grades
    6. the various hands of the players at a Blackjack table
    7. the plays of the last player at the Blackjack table and the probability that the dealer will “bust”

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Chapter 8 - Decision Making: It Is a Matter of Choice

  1. Describe a framework for decision making.  How is decision making similar to problem solving?  How are they different?
  2. Describe two experimental studies that support the validity of the worksheet procedure.
  3. Why do most decisions involve uncertainty?  How can this uncertainty be reduced?  How does uncertainty affect one’s ability to make the “best” decision?
  4. Analyze the decision making of the officer on duty at the radar center before the attack on Pearl Harbor (described in the text).  How could one explain his behavior?  Would your explanation of his behavior change if the attack on Pearl Harbor had not occurred?
  5. How are “good” decisions different from “bad” decisions?  How does subjective utility affect such judgments? 
  6. Describe how the confirmation bias influences decision making, including that of experts.
  7. What are heuristics?  How do they differ from algorithms?  Describe two examples of heuristics.  Are they necessarily bad?  Are they sometimes bad?
  8. Why are people likely to believe that death by homicide is more frequent than death from diabetes?  How could such judgments become more accurate?
  9. “Heuristics are often useful and efficient, so they can’t be mistakes or errors in thinking.”  Provide evidence that contradicts this statement, and explain why excessive reliance on heuristics may be harmful or inefficient.
  10. List and describe the steps in preparing a decision worksheet.
  11. How does the theory of cognitive dissonance explain why people are usually satisfied with the decisions they make?
  12. Explain how the “elimination by aspects” strategy can be applied to deciding where to live.
  13. What should a decision maker do if one alternative “wins” by the overall assessment method and a different one “wins” by the dimensional comparison method?
  14. How can the “failure to seek disconfirming evidence” lead to wrong decisions in research?
  15. Justify all of the effort involved in making a worksheet.
  16. How could a decision worksheet be a valuable aid to people in psychotherapy?
  17. Explain how psychological reactance can cause people to select a less desirable alternative.
  18. How does reciprocity influence the kinds of choices we make?
  19. Why is hindsight a detrimental process?  Why does the author state that sometimes good decisions will have detrimental outcomes?  If the outcome is bad, doesn’t that mean that the decision was bad?
  20. What sort of information should you have when making a decision about a potential risk?
  21. Describe a study of the effect of mood on memory.
  22. Compare the overall assessment and dimensional comparison methods of decision making.  How might each be more appropriate in different kinds of decision making contexts?
  23. Explain how memory can affect decision making.
  24. Explain the “2/3 Ideal Rule” and the idea of satisficing.  When are you likely to engage in such judgments?

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Chapter 9 - Development of Problem Solving Skills

  1. Identify and explain the “anatomical” parts of all problems.
  2. What are the four stages in problem solving?  How does each stage contribute to the solution?
  3. Give an example of a well-defined and an ill-defined problem.  In general, how do they differ?
  4. How are external forms of representation (e.g., graphs, diagrams) helpful in solving problems?
  5. List five different problem representations and explain when each is most likely to be useful.
  6. Explain how persistence can be a useful problem solving aid.
  7. Compare and contrast five problem solving strategies presented in this chapter.  Provide an example in which each might be used.
  8. Four different kinds of analogies were suggested for use.  Describe each and give an example when each would be useful.
  9. How does each of the problem solving problems relate to the anatomical parts of a problem?  For example, irrelevant information causes people to consider solution paths that don’t lead to the goal.  How do the other problem solving problems interfere with obtaining a direct route to the goal?
  10. There are good and bad aspects to mechanization.  What are they?
  11. How do functional fixedness and mental sets affect problem solving?  What about worldview constraints?

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Chapter 10 - Creative Thinking

  1. What is the relationship between creativity and problem solving?
  2. Why is creativity defined by its product and not the thinking process that went into the product?
  3. Contrast the terms “vertical” and “lateral” thinking.  Give an example of each.  How is lateral thinking similar to redefining the problem?
  4. Why is stretching and rejecting paradigms important to creativity?
  5. What does it mean to say that it takes a prepared mind to recognize a serendipitous event?
  6. Explain the idea of “release from fixation.”  How can this idea be used to explain insight and incubation?
  7. Describe insight and incubation.  How is spread of activation involved in these processes?
  8. What is the relationship between intelligence and creativity?
  9. Describe the relationship between creativity and individual differences in personality.
  10. What kind of environment will foster creativity?  How can intrinsic motivation be promoted in the classroom and the workplace?
  11. How are generation, exploration, and evaluation related to creativity?
  12. Explain why the formation of analogies is often considered an essential step in the process of creativity.
  13. Why is it important to defer judgment during brainstorming?
  14. How are creative ideas checklists used?  Compare them with the strategy of attribute listing.
  15. What is the principle behind Plus, Minus, Interesting?
  16. Describe the program in which children had to list topic-relevant words before writing.  What was the effect on the outcome?  Why?
  17. Design a learning environment that would foster creative thinking.
  18. What are some basic principles common to creativity training programs?  Are these principles amenable to application in your own decision making and problem solving?  Why or why not?
  19. Why should we try to “make the familiar strange?”

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