1. John hopes that he and his ex-girlfriend, who broke up with him last month, eventually will get back together. When he heard that she had talked about him with a mutual friend, he took this as evidence that she was still interested in a reunion. When he heard that she went on a date with someone else, he concluded that she was just trying to get her mind off their break-up. John is exhibiting

A. a skeptical attitude.
B. mental continuity.
C. observational objectivity.
D. the confirmation bias.

2. For almost 30 years, geneticists miscounted the number of human chromosomes for all of the following reasons EXCEPT:

A. because of prior research, geneticists had a preconception that there were 48 chromosomes in each cell.
B. geneticists had a very difficult time counting the number of chromosomes because they clumped together on the slides.
C. chimpanzees, our closest relatives, have 48 chromosomes and, hence, geneticists thought that humans must have the same number.
D. geneticists who counted 46 chromosomes would continue to recount them until they got 46 chromosomes.

3. Which of the following would be an example of the confirmation bias?

A. Tara believed that her boyfriend was cheating on her but was unable to prove it, she thought, because her boyfriend was so good at hiding the fact that he was cheating.
B. Tom enjoyed baseball so much that he spent most of his free time either watching baseball games on television or talking with his friends about the games he had recently watched.
C. Tamara used to believe that she was too "stupid" to do well in college but, after getting an A in her first-semester English class, she changed her mind and eventually got a bachelor's degree.

4. Ted always watches a certain cable-news station that promotes a particular political viewpoint, and he usually agrees readily with the opinions expressed on that station. He believes that these opinions must be correct because, whenever the news anchors poll their viewers, they always find that over 95% agree with their opinions. There is another cable news station that promotes an opposing political viewpoint that Ted disagrees with vehemently. If Ted watches a news anchor on that station poll her viewers and find that almost 100% agree with her opinions, which of the following is Ted most likely to do?

A. Decide that, if almost 100% of her viewers agree with her opinion, it must be correct. In this case, he probably would start to watch the station with the opposing political viewpoint more often.
B. Decide that, if almost 100% of her viewers agree with her opinion, it must be because only those who have the same political viewpoint watch her show.
C. Decide that, if almost 100% of her viewers agree with her opinion, and if almost 100% of those who watch his station probably would disagree with her opinion, the truth must lie somewhere in the middle.

5. In which way is the confirmation bias most likely to be useful in science?

A. Scientists with opposing theories are likely to find weak points in the other side's evidence and strong points in their own, which might help others figure out which theory is better.
B. The confirmation bias always makes it more diffficult to find the truth and, hence, would never be of use in science.
C. Scientists with opposing viewpoints would continue to argue until one side finally convinced the other side that they must be wrong.

6. A student received a D on an algebra test and decided that it was unfair: he felt he had studied sufficiently for it by going through his notes the morning of the test. When he found out that 60% of the other students in the class also received a D or F, he readily accepted this as proof that the test was unfair. But, when he heard that almost none of these students had studied for the test, and that those who received a C or higher all had studied hard for the test, he concluded that this information wasn't relevant because he had studied for almost an hour before the test and still didn't do well. This student's reasoning exemplifies

A. the confirmation bias.
B. the falsification bias.
C. the mental-continuity problem.
D. the mind-body problem.

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