HU260 Strategies for Decision Making Final Exam Latest 2022

Question 1Despite our rational nature, our ability to reason well is often affected by psychological biases that interfere with the formation of good arguments. Identify three such biases and explain how they negatively impact our ability to reason.

Question 2The advent of social media has changed the norms and modes of public discourse. In at least 200 words, explain the importance of (a) evaluating and fact-checking individual claims, (b) the benefits and negatives of instantaneous mass communication, and (c) the need for civility in online interactions.

Question 3Identify the fallacy: “Bob is trustworthy because he says so, and we can trust what Bob says because he’s trustworthy.”

                Fallacy of composition

                Begging the question

                Genetic falacy

                Appeal to authority

                Ad hominem

Question 4Identify the fallacy: “All banks have money. All rivers have banks. Therefore, all rivers have money.”

                Equivocation

                Ad hominem

                Slippery slope

                Appeal to ignorance

                False cause

Question 5Identify the fallacy: “You shouldn’t trust Bob. His best friend is a racist.”

                Appeal to popularity

                Appeal to ignorance

                Appeal to tradition

                Two wrongs make a right

                Guilt by association

Question 6Identify the fallacy: “Republicans are extremists who believe that government is fundamentally evil.”

                False dilemma

                Fallacy of composition

                Straw man

                Ad hominem

                Begging the question

Question 7Identify the fallacy: “You should buy Pepsi because Taylor Swift said so.”

                Appeal to authority

                False dilemma

 

                Equivocation

                Appeal to pity

                Fallacy of division

Question 8Identify two techniques that are often used to slant the news.

Question 9Compare and contrast “old media” with “new media.”

Question 10Define rationalization and explain how it is it sometimes applied.

Question 11What is a “defense mechanism,” in the context of poor reasoning?

Question 12What is good news-reporting supposed to look like?