Chapter 12, Deductive Reasoning and Decision Making Video Solutions, Cognition

Problem 1

Describe the basic differences between deductive reasoning and decision making. Provide at least one example from your daily life that illustrates each of these cognitive processes. Why can both of them be categorized as "thinking"?

Charles Carter

Numerade Educator

02:02

Problem 2

To make certain that you understand conditional reasoning, begin with this sentence: "If today is Monday, the art museum is closed." Apply the four conditional reasoning situations (the propositional calculus) to this sentence, and point out which are valid and which are invalid.

John Mcalister

Numerade Educator

01:03

Problem 3

What factors influence our accuracy when we work on conditional reasoning tasks? Give an example of each of these factors, based on your own experience.

Nick Johnson

Numerade Educator

11:52

Problem 4

Many of the errors that people make in reasoning can be traced to overreliance on previous knowledge or overactive top-down processes. Discuss this point, and then relate it to the anchoring and adjustment heuristic.

Nick Johnson

Numerade Educator

Problem 5

Throughout this chapter, you have seen many examples of a general cognitive tendency: We tend to accept the status quo (or the currently favored hypothesis), without sufficiently exploring other options. Describe how this statement applies to deductive reasoning and to several kinds of decision-making tasks.

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01:40

Problem 6

Describe which heuristic is represented in each of the following everyday errors: (a) Someone asks you whether cardinals or robins are more common, and you make this decision based on the number of birds of each kind that you have seen this winter. (b) One of your classes has 30 students, including two people named Matthew and three named Jessica, which seems too coincidental to be due to chance alone. (c) You estimate the number of bottles of soda you will need for the Fourth of July picnic based on the Christmas party consumption, taking into account the fact that the weather will be warmer in July.

Tanner Fonjweng

Numerade Educator

Problem 7

In the case of the representativeness heuristic, people fail to take into account two important factors that should be emphasized. In the case of the availability heuristic, people take into account two important factors that should be ignored. Discuss these two statements, with reference to the information in this chapter. Give examples of each of these four kinds of errors.

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Problem 8

Describe the variety of ways in which people tend to be overconfident in their decision making. Think of relevant examples from your own experience. Then point out how you can avoid the planning fallacy when you face a deadline for a class assignment.

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01:22

Problem 9

Think of a recent example from the news in which a politician made a decision for which he or she was criticized by news commentators. How could overconfidence have led to this unwise decision? Why might the hindsight bias be relevant here? What cognitive processes might the news commentators be using to make the decision seem more foolish than it might actually have been?

Emily Robinson

Numerade Educator

01:22

Problem 10

Imagine that you have been hired by your local high school district to create a course in critical thinking. Review the chapter and make fifteen to twenty suggestions (each only one sentence long) about precautions that should be included in such a program.

Victor Salazar

Numerade Educator