Thinking and Problem Solving Scenarios

5. What psychologists call a mental category that helps you group things like “apple,” “banana,” and “grape” under “fruit.”
6. Heuristic After seeing news about shark attacks, you overestimate how often they happen — your brain uses this shortcut.
7. and Error A student tries multiple passwords until one finally unlocks their account — an example of this problem-solving method.
8. Bias When someone only reads articles that support their political opinion, they’re showing this thinking error.
9. When you picture a “bird,” and you imagine a robin instead of a penguin, you’re using this mental image.

1. Fixedness Needing a screwdriver but not realizing a coin could work just as well is caused by this limitation.
2. Heuristic Assuming a quiet, bookish person must be a librarian instead of a salesperson shows this type of bias.
3. A mental shortcut, such as guessing a phone number by trying familiar patterns instead of every possible combination.
4. Set Using the same method to solve every math problem, even when a new one requires a different approach, shows this.
6. A step-by-step recipe that guarantees the right answer, like long division in math.