1. iClicker Questions for
Exploring Psychology, 9th Edition by David G. Myers
Karla Gingerich, Colorado State University
Chapter 9: Thinking,Language, and Intelligence

2. While working on a word problem, Jenae has an “aha
While working on a word problem, Jenae has an “aha!” moment of sudden insight about how to solve the problem. If you were mapping her brain activity on an EEG at that moment, you would expect to observe a burst of activity in her:
A. left frontal lobe.
B. right frontal lobe.
C. left temporal lobe.
D. right temporal lobe.
Answer: D

3. To find Tabasco sauce in a large grocery store, you could systematically search every shelf in every store aisle. This best illustrates problem solving by means of:
A. the availability heuristic.
B. functional fixedness.
C. an algorithm.
D. the representativeness heuristic.
Answer: C

4. Pablo vainly searches for a screwdriver while failing to recognize that a readily available coin in his pocket would turn the screw. His oversight best illustrates:
A. functional fixedness.
B. the availability heuristic.
C. belief perseverance.
D. the representativeness heuristic.
Answer: A

5. Which of the following is TRUE?
A. People underestimate the accuracy of their judgments.
B. People pay closest attention to information that disconfirms what they believe.
C. It is difficult for most people to explain away their failures.
D. People are overconfident about how they will perform on various tasks.
Answer: D

6. Advertisers know that a thirty-three percent discount sounds like a better deal than a discount of one third. This best illustrates:
A. framing.
B. belief bias.
C. representativeness heuristics.
D. confirmation bias.
Answer: A

7. Maintaining one's conceptions even after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited is known as:
A. the representativeness heuristic.
B. belief perseverance.
C. confirmation bias.
D. functional fixedness.
Answer: B

8. Due to an automobile accident, Jenny suffered damage to her cerebral cortex in Broca's area. Jenny is most likely to experience:
A. auditory hallucinations.
B. aphasia.
C. memory loss.
D. paralysis of her left limbs.
Answer: B

9. In which of the following parts of the brain would a lesion most likely result in aphasia?
A. corpus callosum
B. amygdala
C. hypothalamus
D. Wernicke's area
Answer: D

10. In English, it is appropriate to refer to “a pretty bird,” but not to “a bird pretty.” This best illustrates the importance of:
A. syntax.
B. semantics.
C. morphemes.
D. phonemes.
Answer: A

11. Using different words for two very similar objects enables people to recognize conceptual distinctions between the objects. This illustrates:
A. telegraphic speech.
B. linguistic determinism.
C. functional fixedness.
D. the representativeness heuristic.
Answer: B

12. Which language theorist would have been most likely to emphasize that children master the rule for forming the past tense of regular verbs like "push" before they learn common past tense constructions of irregular verbs like "go"?
A. B. F. Skinner
B. Benjamin Lee Whorf
C. Noam Chomsky
D. Beatrix Gardner
Answer: C

13. Which of the following is NOT included as part of today’s general definition of intelligence?
A. the ability to solve problems
B. the ability to use knowledge to adapt to new situations
C. the ability to understand people and emotions
D. the ability to learn from experience
Answer: C

14. Although diagnosed with autism and hardly able to speak coherently, 18-year-old Andrew can produce intricate and detailed drawings of scenes he has viewed only once. Andrew illustrates a condition known as:
A. g factor.
B. Down syndrome.
C. emotional intelligence.
D. savant syndrome.
Answer: D

15. When Phoebe strongly disagrees with her sister's opinion, she effectively controls her own anger and responds with empathy to her sister's frustration regarding their dispute. Her behavior best illustrates:
A. factor analysis.
B. analytic intelligence.
C. predictive validity.
D. emotional intelligence.
Answer: D

16. In developing the first intelligence test, Alfred Binet and Théodore Simon developed a measure of a child’s:
A. mental age.
B. musical aptitude.
C. mathematical ability.
D. vocabulary.
Answer: A

17. What percentage of people score between 70 and 130 on a typical test of intelligence?
A. fifteen percent
B. thirty-four percent
C. sixty-eight percent
D. ninety-five percent
Answer: D

18. Mary's bathroom scale always overstates people's actual weight by exactly six pounds. The scale has ________ reliability and ________ validity.
A. low; high
B. high; low
C. low; low
D. high; high
Answer: B

19. College grades are the criterion for the ________ of college entrance exams.
A. heritability
B. reliability
C. standardization
D. predictive validity
Answer: D

20. __________ is the most common level of mental retardation.
A. Mild
B. Moderate
C. Severe
D. Profound
Answer: A

21. The similarity between the intelligence test scores of non-twin siblings reared together is:
A. greater than that between identical twins reared apart.
B. equal to that between fraternal twins reared together.
C. greater than that between unrelated adoptive siblings reared together.
D. less than that between children and their biological parents.
Answer: C

22. Critical Thinking Questions

23. Problem solving is one type of cognitive activity in which we all engage. Which of the following cognitive tendencies is seen to be an obstacle to problem solving?
A. availability heuristic
B. insight
C. prototype confusion
D. confirmation bias
Answer: D

24. A typical one-year-old child:
A. uses telegraphic speech.
B. imitates two-word phases.
C. is in the cooing stage.
D. has lost the ability to discriminate phoneme sounds outside her native language.
Answer: D

25. Noam Chomsky’s theory of language acquisition holds that people have an inborn universal grammar that makes learning of language easy for children. Which of the following statements is used as support for this theory?
A. Children repeat words that they hear frequently.
B. Regardless of the language learned, children tend to make similar errors of grammar when they first begin to learn language.
C. Chimpanzees and other apes can easily learn language.
D. Some children’s vocabularies are extensive, despite the fact that they may live in poor environments.
Answer: B

26. Which of these findings have been cited as evidence supporting the viewpoint that animals have capacity for language?
A. Washoe, a language trained chimp has been observed trying to teach other chimps to use language without trainer intervention.
B. Chimpanzees’ and other apes’ use of language is seemingly unlimited.
C. Chimps simply imitate the gestures of the trainers.
D. Language behaviors are strongly reinforced by the trainers.
Answer: A

27. Savant syndrome lends support to which theory of intelligence?
A. Charles Spearman’s “g”
B. the theory of brain size
C. Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences
D. the theory of emotional intelligence
Answer: C

28. Some people appear to be self-aware, manage conflicts well, and generally seem to be well equipped to handle most social and emotional situations very well. What type of intelligence does this seem to reflect?
A. creative intelligence
B. practical intelligence
C. emotional intelligence
D. this is not considered a type of intelligence
Answer: C

29. Creativity is often seen as a valuable skill seems to be related to intelligence. Which of the following is NOT considered a component of creativity?
A. expertise
B. intrinsic motivation
C. venturesome personality
D. high score on IQ tests
Answer: D

30. You are applying for a job as a salesperson for a large cell phone company. You are given a battery of tests. Which of the following might be the best for determining your ability to succeed in this job?
A. a test of emotional intelligence
B. a test of creativity
C. a traditional IQ test
D. a polygraph test
Answer: A

31. Which best illustrates the concept of stereotype threat?
A. When women are told that they will likely outperform men on a test of abstract math skills, they are more confident and do outperform the men.
B. Black children score higher on a test administered by black teachers than by white teachers.
C. People taking a civil aptitude test are not familiar with the vocabulary words on the test, and therefore score poorly.
D. Asian Americans feeling pressure to perform well on an achievement test score better than their white peers, who do not feel as much pressure.
Answer: B