Anastasia is building a sand castle at the beach
She is frustrated by the fact that the water keeps washing it away. She has rebuilt the castle five times already, each one a little further from the waves. Her brother Christopher walks up, sees the problem, and proceeds to dig a channel for the water that bypasses her latest sand castle completely. Which cognitive block was Anastasia demonstrating?
A) Functional fixedness
B) Convergent thinking
C) Mental set
Correct. Mental set occurs when we get stuck in a specific problem-solving strategy and can't see the problem from a new angle.
D) Thin slicing
Answer: C
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Don incorrectly believes that most defendants who claim they were insane "get off scot-free" and thus never serve time in prison. If his belief is based on several easily recalled cases in which this appears to be true, he is using the
a) availability heuristic. b) regressive heuristic. c) comparison heuristic. d) representativeness heuristic.
Twin studies indicate that
a. there is a genetic basis for homosexuality in males as well as in females. b. identical male twins are less likely to be concordant for homosexuality than are fraternal male twins. c. a male child whose older twin sisters are heterosexual is more likely to be homosexual. d. homosexual women are likely to have homosexual male relatives. e. early family environment is more important than genes for the development of homosexuality.