1. Ebony works in Human Resources at a factory and is going to lead a new employee orientation for five new workers that day: 2 mechanics, a factory floor worker, and an executive. A man walks into her office in a suit and tie, and she shakes his hand saying, "It's great to welcome a new executive to our company." He then reveals that he is one of the new mechanics. What thinking shortcut occurred that led Ebony to assume he was an executive?

2.A category 4 hurricane rolls up the Gulf coast and destroys Lucia's home, but she had evacuated her family ahead of time.She moves her family inland, building an underground bunker made of concrete, and declares, "Well, I've got us all taken care of and we're sure to be safe from everything now!"A week later, torrential rain arrives and floods the bunker.

Name the specific thinking error that Lucia is demonstrating in this scenario.

3. Seventh Generation "Free and Clear" Dish Soap proclaims on its label, "Safer Choice. Meets U.S. EPA Safer Product Standards." What type of language trick is occurring here?

4. In the 1990s,Boston decided a major road was needed through the center of the city to ease traffic congestion. The project was originally suppose to be completed in 1998 with a cost of 2.8 billion but it ended up taking until 2007 and cost 14.6 billion dollars. What error of thinking did the planners of this project make?

5. The narrators of a documentary about the outbreak of the 2019 coronavirus make the point that millions of lives could have been saved if China had taken faster steps to lock down the Wuhan area where the outbreak began. They even go so far as to calculate the rate of disease if the government had closed it one week earlier, two weeks earlier, or three weeks earlier. They seem to think the government should have known to shut down the region at an earlier date than they did. What thinking error may be occurring with these kinds of analyses looking back in time?

6. The following graph shows that people choose their news sources based on their own political viewpoints. We've talked in class about how different news outlets themselves have different political leanings. This graph is an illustration of what thinking phenomenon discussed in class? (Make sure to read all parts of it very carefully to understand it.)

[If image is not showing, here is a description: Image shows a line graph labeled -10 "Audience is more consistently liberal" on the left and "+10 - Audience is more consistently conservative" on the right. News outlets are listed along the graph. Sources like "The Daily Show" and "New York Times" are dots on the graph around -5. "Drudge Report" and "Fox News" are at about +6 and +3, respectively. Others in between.]

7. Dr.Nowithalconducts a research study on student engagement in online courses. She hypothesizes that students who have chosen to take onlineclasses previously will be more engaged with the online experience than those who have not chosen to take them previously and were required to take an onlineclass out of necessity. She tracks the number of times students post to a Discussion board, and finds no significant difference between the two types of students. This was disappointing, but she publishes her results anyway.

What context to understanding and exploring her ideas has she used?

8. When the coronavirus outbreak first started, a research study was publicized claiming that taking ibuprofen when infected with CoVID-19 would worsen the progress of the disease. This news story scared everyone away from using ibuprofen, including physicians. Since that time, several research studies have disproved this idea, showing absolutely no evidence that ibuprofen has any impact on the progress of the disease and would appear perfectly safe to take for the comfort of the patient. However, many physicians and much of the public continue to be wary of taking ibuprofen. It seems unclear how much evidence will be enough to convince people to let go of this false claim. What phenomenon is being demonstrated here?

9. Maggie is attacked in a parking garage one evening, beaten up, and her purse is stolen. The attacker is never found. She consoles herself by saying, "what goes around comes around... he'll get what's coming to him." However, in reality the attacker goes on to lead a successful life as a real estate agent. What mental phenomenon is Maggie demonstrating?