Thinking, Intelligence and Creativity Questions and Answers

Answer: C

In Guilford's structure of intellect model there are three dimensions: operations (cognition, memory, divergent and convergent production, evaluation), contents (figural, symbolic, semantic, behavioural) and products (units, classes, relations, systems, transformations, implications). Transformation is therefore a product, whereas evaluation and cognition are operations and symbols are a content. Guilford's model is a three-dimensional cube of 120 (later 180) factors, one for each combination of an operation, a content and a product.

Answer: C

A mental set can speed up and improve perceiving and problem solving under some conditions, when the situation is like the one the set was formed for (statement 1), and it may inhibit or distort mental activity in new situations, where the old approach does not fit (statement 3). Statement 2 is the reverse of this and statement 4 wrongly says it is a hindrance under the same conditions. So 1 and 3 only is correct.

Answer: B

Reasoning is the mental activity through which available information is transformed in order to reach conclusions (p-2); thinking is the manipulation of mental representations of various features of the external world (q-1); problem solving is processing information in various ways in order to move toward desired goals (r-4); and decision making is the choice between two or more alternatives on the basis of information about them (s-3). The code is 2 1 4 3. The other codes pair thinking with the first description or problem solving with the choosing of alternatives, which is not accurate.

Answer: C

Awareness of one's own thought processes that enables effective learning through correction is called metacognition.

Metacognition is thinking about thinking: planning, monitoring and correcting one's own learning. An algorithm is a step-by-step procedure that guarantees a solution, analogies are comparisons between situations, and a constructive process is the building up of a memory or perception from elements, so none of these names the self-monitoring that is described.

Answer: B

What reduces the distance between the starting point and the goal is means-end analysis.

In means-end analysis the problem solver compares the present state with the goal and picks the operators that reduce the difference between them, setting sub-goals when necessary. Normative-utilitarian and normative-logical are not problem-solving strategies, and heuristic short cuts are rules of thumb that make judgement quicker but are not the specific method of reducing the distance to the goal.

Answer: D

The correct matching is p-1, q-2, r-3, s-4, which is option D.

Anchoring is making estimates from an initial value (1). Hindsight bias is adjusting the view of past events in the light of current knowledge (2). Framing is the way the phrasing of a situation guides a biased decision (3), and the representativeness heuristic selects the most stereotypical exemplars (4). Options A, B and C swap two or more of these descriptions.

Answer: C

The key marks prosodic contour as the level at which the complete meaning and sense of a language structure is understood.

Prosody, the rhythm, stress and intonation across a stretch of speech, carries meaning and attitude beyond the words, so the whole sense of an utterance is taken from it. Phonemes are the basic sounds, morphemes are the smallest units of meaning, and syntax is the arrangement of words into sentences. The key treats the contour as the highest level of the four listed.

Answer: A

The threshold hypothesis indicates a positive correlation between intelligence and creativity up to a particular level of intelligence.

Below an IQ of about 120 the two go together, since a minimum level of ability is needed for creative work. Above that threshold the relation weakens or disappears, and creativity depends on other traits. The options speaking of a negative correlation reverse the relation, and a curvilinear relation after the threshold is not what the hypothesis says.

Answer: B

The correct matching in Sternberg's triarchic theory is experiential with creative, contextual with practical and componential with analytic, which is option B (2 3 1).

The experiential subtheory deals with the use of insight and novelty, the creative aspect (2). The contextual subtheory is concerned with adapting to the environment, the practical aspect (3). The componential subtheory is the analytic, mental mechanisms aspect (1). 'Successful' (4) is a kind of intelligence in the theory, not a match for any of these components, so options A and C, which use it, are wrong.

Answer: A

The statement that is not a component of Emotional Intelligence as described by Mayer and Salovey is statement 4, so the answer is 4 only.

Their model has components such as the ability to perceive, appraise and express emotion accurately (2), and appropriately (3), and to use emotions to facilitate thinking (1). Statement 4, the ability to adapt to new and different contexts, select appropriate contexts and shape one's environment, is the wording used for practical intelligence in Sternberg's theory, so it is the one that does not belong. Options B, C and D wrongly reject statement 1 or 3 as well.