CCTST Inductive Reasoning 3

Question 1

A child touches a hot stove and gets burned. She touches it again and gets burned. She concludes that touching the stove always causes burns. This is an example of:

Accepted Answer

Enumerative induction

Answer

Enumerative induction involves observing repeated instances of a pattern and generalizing to a universal rule.

Question 2

Which factor does NOT affect the strength of an inductive argument?

Accepted Answer

Whether the argument uses formal notation

Answer

Formal notation is a feature of deductive logic; inductive strength depends on evidential factors like sample quality.

Question 3

An argument concludes: 'Since this coin landed heads 9 times in a row, it will probably land tails next.' This is an example of the:

Accepted Answer

Gambler's fallacy

Answer

The gambler's fallacy assumes past random events influence future independent events, which they do not.

Question 4

A scientist observes that plants in a greenhouse grow faster when classical music is played. She repeats the experiment 20 times with the same result. Her best next step to strengthen the inductive argument is to:

Accepted Answer

Test with varied plant species and music types

Answer

Testing varied conditions improves the generalizability and strength of an inductive conclusion.

Question 5

A journalist interviews 5 residents of Beverly Hills and concludes that all Californians are wealthy. This argument is weak primarily because:

Accepted Answer

The sample is too small and unrepresentative

Answer

A small, geographically and economically unrepresentative sample cannot support a generalization about all Californians.

(CCTST) California Critical Thinking Skills Test Practice Test

(CCTST) California Critical Thinking Skills Test Practice Test

CCTST Inductive Reasoning 3