Cognitive Reflection CRT and Decision-Making Questions and Answers

Question 1

A man has six sons, and each son has exactly one sister. How many children does the man have?

Accepted Answer

7

Answer

The intuitive answer is 12 (6 sons + 6 sisters). However, all six sons share the same sister. Therefore, the man has 6 sons and 1 daughter, for a total of 7 children. This question requires overriding the initial impulse to perform a simple multiplication.

Question 2

A high score on the Cognitive Reflection Test is most strongly predictive of a person's tendency to:

Accepted Answer

Be more patient in decisions involving future rewards.

Answer

Research has shown that individuals with higher CRT scores, indicating a greater ability to override incorrect intuition, tend to exhibit more patience and are less prone to temporal discounting (preferring smaller, immediate rewards over larger, later ones). The other options are characteristic of lower CRT scores, which are associated with a greater reliance on System 1 (intuitive) thinking.

Question 3

A manager is given a highly complex 50-page business proposal. Instead of analyzing the data, they decide to approve it based on how confident and articulate the presenter seemed. This decision-making shortcut is a classic example of:

Accepted Answer

Attribute Substitution

Answer

Attribute Substitution occurs when a person needs to assess a complex attribute (the viability of the business proposal) and instead substitutes it with a more easily evaluated one (the presenter's confidence). This is a core mechanism behind many intuitive errors that the CRT is designed to identify. The other biases do not fit the scenario as described.

Question 4

In the structure of a standard Cognitive Reflection Test question, what is the primary purpose of the incorrect answer that springs to mind immediately?

Accepted Answer

To serve as an intuitive lure that must be actively inhibited by System 2 thinking.

Answer

The key feature of a CRT question is the presence of an obvious but wrong answer that arises from quick, intuitive System 1 processing. The test's purpose is to measure a person's ability to recognize this initial impulse as potentially flawed and engage more effortful, reflective System 2 thinking to find the correct solution.

Question 5

A clerk at a butcher shop is 5 feet 10 inches tall and wears size 10 shoes. What does he weigh?

Accepted Answer

Meat

Answer

This is a riddle that plays on the test-taker's assumptions. The intuitive response is to focus on the physical description of the clerk and either guess his body weight or state that it's impossible to know. However, the question is a literal play on words related to his profession: a butcher weighs meat.

Cognitive Reflection Test Practice Test

Cognitive Reflection Test Practice Test

Cognitive Reflection CRT and Decision-Making Questions and Answers