psychology beginner 10 sample questions

Decision Making MCQ Practice Test

Judgment processes and biases

Q1. While shopping for a new phone, Sarah considers two models: one with a superior camera but a smaller screen, and another with a larger screen but a less impressive camera. She decides to prioritize screen size because she primarily watches videos on her phone. Which decision-making heuristic is Sarah MOST likely using?

Explanation: Lexicographic decision making involves ordering criteria by importance and selecting the option that performs best on the most important criterion. Sarah prioritized screen size, making this the most likely heuristic.

Q2. Which of the following cognitive biases is most closely associated with the phenomenon of “loss aversion”, where individuals tend to prefer avoiding losses rather than acquiring equivalent gains?

Explanation: Prospect theory, developed by Kahneman and Tversky, describes how individuals make decisions under uncertainty and is closely related to the concept of loss aversion. The framing effect refers to how the presentation of information influences decision-making. The anchoring effect occurs when individuals rely too heavily on the first piece of information encountered when making a decision. The sunk cost fallacy is the tendency to continue investing in a decision because of the resources already committed.

Q3. Which of the following cognitive biases is characterized by the tendency to overestimate the importance or likelihood of information that is readily available, rather than seeking out a more diverse range of information?

Explanation: The availability heuristic is a cognitive bias that occurs when people overestimate the importance or likelihood of information that is readily available, rather than seeking out a more diverse range of information. This can lead to poor decision-making and a lack of consideration for alternative perspectives.

Q4. Which of the following cognitive biases is characterized by the tendency to overestimate the importance of vivid, but rare, events when making decisions under uncertainty?

Explanation: The availability heuristic occurs when people overestimate the likelihood of an event based on how easily examples come to mind. This can lead to poor decision-making, as vivid and memorable events are often given too much weight in the decision-making process.

Q5. Which of the following cognitive biases explains why people tend to overvalue their own contributions to a group project, while undervaluing the contributions of others?

Explanation: The Self-Serving Bias is a cognitive bias that refers to the tendency for people to attribute their successes to their own abilities, but their failures to bad luck or circumstances. This bias is often observed in group projects, where individuals tend to overvalue their own contributions and undervalue the contributions of others. The Self-Serving Bias is a key concept in social psychology and is often studied in the context of attribution theory.

Q6. Which of the following cognitive biases is most closely related to the tendency to overestimate the importance or likelihood of information that is readily available, rather than seeking out a more diverse range of information?

Explanation: The availability heuristic is a cognitive bias that refers to the tendency for people to overestimate the importance or likelihood of information that is readily available to them, rather than seeking out a more diverse range of information. This can lead to inaccurate judgments and decisions.

Q7. Which cognitive bias is characterized by the tendency to overestimate the importance or likelihood of information that is readily available, rather than seeking out a more diverse range of information?

Explanation: This bias occurs when people judge the likelihood of an event based on how easily examples come to mind, rather than considering a more representative sample of information. For example, if a person has recently experienced a plane crash, they may overestimate the risk of flying due to the availability of this vivid memory.

Q8. Which of the following cognitive biases is characterized by the tendency to overvalue the importance of information that is readily available, rather than seeking out a broader range of information?

Explanation: The availability heuristic is a cognitive bias that occurs when people overestimate the importance or likelihood of information that is readily available, rather than seeking out a more diverse range of information. This can lead to poor decision-making and a lack of consideration for alternative perspectives.

Q9. The availability heuristic describes judging the likelihood of events by ____.

Explanation: Tversky and Kahneman's availability heuristic: vivid or recent examples come to mind easily, inflating judged frequency or probability. Prototype-matching is representativeness; initial numbers are anchoring.

Q10. Which of the following describes the tendency to continue investing resources in a project because of what has already been spent, even when continuing is no longer worthwhile?

Explanation: This is the sunk cost effect (sunk cost fallacy): past, unrecoverable investments unduly influence current decisions, so people "throw good money after bad" instead of deciding based only on future costs and benefits.

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Decision Making MCQ Practice Test | Mind Hustle