Critical Thinking Flashcards

1/ Which of the following scenarios best demonstrates the availability heuristic?

1. A) A voter bases their decision primarily on a candidate's political party affiliation.
2. B) A person estimates the divorce rate is over 50% after seeing divorces discussed frequently on social media posts.
3. C) A manager anchors on an employee's first performance review when deciding on a promotion.
4. D) A doctor makes a diagnosis based on recent patients with similar symptoms.

2/ When we reason, we use our knowledge about one or more related statements that we can reasonably believe are true to determine if another statement is true. What is this process called?

1. A) Inference
2. B) Conclusion
3. C) Critical thinking
4. D) Premises

3/ How can the representativeness heuristic lead to errors in judgment?

1. A) By neglecting base rate information
2. B) Through reliance on anchoring
3. C) Because of framing effects
4. D) Due to confirmation bias

4/ Anchoring and adjustment often impacts decisions because:

1. A) People anchor on irrelevant information
2. B) The anchor point is treated as the only outcome
3. C) Adjustment from the anchor is typically insufficient
4. D) People only adjust down, not up, from the anchor

5/ Which of these can help mitigate decision biases?

1. A) Using positive framing on options
2. B) Consulting objective data sources
3. C) Relying on confirmation from others
4. D) Focusing on examples that come to mind

6/ Which professionals are vulnerable to biases like overconfidence?

1. A) Investors
2. B) Engineers
3. C) Doctors
4. D) All of the above

7/ The _______ heuristic could be described as the ability to update an initial impression based off of new information:

1. Representativeness
2. Anchoring and Adjusting
3. Availability
4. Fallacy

8/ Fallacy could be described as the mental shortcuts our brains take to operate on new information:

1. True
2. False

9/ Characteristics of the Information Age:

1. A massive increase in advertising over the span of 30 years
2. An overabundance of Information
3. Information is always accurate
4. Past information is always stagnant and never changes
5. A & B

10/ Megan believes that taking vitamin C supplements prevents colds because whenever she takes them she seems to avoid getting sick. This best illustrates:

1. A) The bias of imaginability
2. B) The illusion of correlation
3. C) Confirmation bias
4. D) Anchoring bias

11/ Which of these methods would best combat the illusion of correlation?

1. A) Consulting personal experiences
2. B) Thinking of memorable examples
3. C) Gathering statistical data
4. D) Considering a single recent event

12/ System 1 thinking can be influenced by the subconscious and Things we would otherwise be unaware of.

1. True
2. False

13/ A False Dilemma involves oversimplifying an issue and presenting a choice between two or more limited options without the recognition of other objects

1. True
2. False

14/ System 2 thinking is more natural, requiring less thought and more reflex:

1. True
2. False

15/ System 1 relies on more complex, well thought out and thorough solutions to solve a problem:

1. True
2. False

• Which of the following is correct about fallacies?
1. Something that looks appealing but really isn’t
2. Something that appeals to emotion
3. Something that uses persuasion through emotional manipulation to support a conclusion
4. All of the above

• What is the process of inference?
1. Believing every statement is true
2. Relying on other people's beliefs
3. Taking one or more statements that we believe are true to confirm another statement is true
4. None of the above

• When you walk into your first day of class, you decide in your head who to sit by. What heuristic would you subconsciously use to determine this?
1. Availability
2. Representativeness
3. Anchoring
4. Adjusting

• After watching a television show about a plane crash, you become more scared of planes. What heuristic would this represent?
1. Representativeness
2. Availability
3. Anchoring
4. Adjusting

• After a winning football season, it comes to the final game. Luke is going to the final game because he believes they will win after not losing all season. What bias does this represent?
1. Base rate neglect
2. Familiarity of information
3. Bias of imaginability
4. All of the above

What is a heuristic?

Cubs or Cardinals?

When we jump to a conclusion about what a person driving a Tesla looks like, we are using what heuristic?

What is it called when it seems like you can only pick between option A or B but there are actually other choices?

What are the two brain systems?

What is a bias?

How many advertisements do we see a day?

What is inference?

What is critical thinking?

What bias are you using when you imagine yourself winning the lottery?

Watching the Movie "Jaws" and going to the beach, you think a shark attack is going to happen. This is an example of:

A) Representative Heuristic

B) Avaliblity Heurstic

C) Causation

D) The Cubs being shit.

You hear rumors that the stock market is going down so you choose not to buy stocks because you think it's about to go down. This is an example of the Availability Heuristic.

True or False