Quiz — Chapter 26: Learning, Growth Mindset, and Expertise

25 questions. Multiple choice unless otherwise noted. Answer key at the end.

1. Craik and Lockhart's levels-of-processing framework holds that:

a) The number of repetitions determines retention, regardless of processing depth b) Shallow processing (rote repetition) produces stronger encoding than deep processing c) Deep processing (elaborative rehearsal, connecting to existing knowledge) produces stronger encoding than shallow processing d) Processing depth affects speed of encoding but not durability of retention

2. The forgetting curve (Ebbinghaus) describes:

a) The gradual loss of skill with extended non-use b) Rapid initial forgetting of newly learned information, followed by slower, more gradual loss c) The systematic decay of procedural memory before declarative memory d) The loss of memory for emotional events faster than neutral ones

3. Spaced repetition improves retention compared to massed practice because:

a) Each review session reinforces the information as if it were newly learned b) Spacing forces retrieval from long-term memory rather than working memory, strengthening the retrieval pathway c) Multiple separate study sessions provide more total exposure to the material d) The intervals allow the brain to consolidate information during sleep between sessions

4. The interleaving effect describes the finding that:

a) Mixing different topics in a single study session reduces cognitive load b) Mixed practice (different problem types together) produces better long-term retention than blocked practice, despite feeling less effective c) Studying related topics in sequence produces better transfer than studying unrelated topics d) Alternating between active recall and passive review optimizes retention

5. "Desirable difficulties" (Bjork) refers to:

a) Challenges that are difficult enough to be motivating but not so difficult as to be discouraging b) Learning conditions that slow apparent acquisition but enhance long-term retention and transfer c) Difficulties that arise from working in a domain outside one's expertise d) The productive tension between current skill level and aspirational performance

6. Carol Dweck's research on fixed vs. growth mindset found that praising children for intelligence (vs. effort) produced:

a) Higher motivation and performance in subsequent difficult tasks b) Preference for easier tasks, lower persistence after failure, and performance declines under difficulty c) Higher self-esteem and more positive self-concept d) Better short-term performance but similar long-term trajectories

7. The illusion of knowing (Glenberg) refers to:

a) The tendency for novices to overestimate their competence relative to experts b) The overestimation of comprehension following passive reading, where familiarity is mislabeled as understanding c) The false belief that one knows how to do something until attempting it reveals otherwise d) The tendency to misremember understanding a concept better than one actually did at the time

8. The most effective study strategies, according to Dunlosky et al.'s systematic review, include:

a) Re-reading and summarization b) Highlighting and mental imagery c) Practice testing and distributed (spaced) practice d) Elaborative mnemonics and keyword methods

9. Ericsson's concept of deliberate practice requires all of the following EXCEPT:

a) Designing practice to address specific weaknesses b) Operating at the edge of current capability c) High total hours of engagement with the domain d) Immediate, specific feedback from a sufficiently expert source

10. The Dunning-Kruger effect describes:

a) The tendency for all people to overestimate their competence across all domains b) The paradox that the knowledge required to recognize incompetence is the same knowledge that competence provides, causing low-competence individuals to overestimate their ability c) The tendency for experts to underestimate how much of their knowledge is domain-specific d) The finding that confidence and competence are inversely correlated

11. According to Dreyfus and Dreyfus's five-stage skill model, the expert differs from the proficient primarily in:

a) Expert has more accumulated practice hours b) Expert has more explicit procedural knowledge that can be articulated to others c) Expert demonstrates fluid, intuitive performance from deep pattern recognition that is often difficult to articulate d) Expert can apply skills across a wider range of domains

12. Transfer of learning research consistently finds that:

a) Expertise transfers broadly across conceptually related domains b) Expertise in one domain reliably predicts superior performance in adjacent domains c) Expertise is largely domain-specific and does not transfer as broadly as commonly assumed d) Transfer occurs readily when the learner consciously attempts to apply their knowledge

13. The primary mechanism by which retrieval practice strengthens memory is:

a) Retrieval increases the total number of times the information is processed b) Each successful retrieval strengthens the neural pathway to the stored information c) The difficulty of retrieval triggers greater elaborative processing during subsequent study d) Retrieval practice reduces the emotional associations that interfere with memory

14. Ericsson's deliberate practice research most directly challenged which popular belief?

a) That practice is necessary for skill development b) That feedback is required for learning to occur c) That expert performance is primarily determined by innate talent d) That expertise requires formal instruction and mentoring

15. In Dweck's framework, a person with a fixed mindset is most likely to respond to others' success by:

a) Being genuinely inspired, interpreting others' success as evidence that more is possible b) Feeling threatened, interpreting others' success as suggesting lower relative standing for themselves c) Feeling indifferent, as others' outcomes are not relevant to one's own ability level d) Redoubling their effort, motivated by competition

16. The learning organization (Senge) concept emphasizes that team learning requires:

a) Individual expert development distributed across team members b) The ability to suspend assumptions and think together rather than only individually c) Formal training programs that develop shared knowledge bases d) Clear accountability structures that incentivize learning behaviors

17. Edmondson's distinction between types of failure identifies intelligent failures as:

a) Failures that could have been prevented with adequate planning b) Failures from negligence or inattention that produce clear accountability learning c) Failures in novel territory based on sound reasoning, producing valuable new information d) Failures from complex system interactions that cannot be attributed to individual error

18. The 10,000-hour rule popularized by Gladwell is more accurately stated as:

a) Expert performance requires precisely 10,000 hours of any kind of practice in the domain b) Approximately 10,000 hours of deliberate practice — not general engagement — characterizes top performers in many domains, with deliberate practice being the key qualifier c) 10,000 hours of practice is the minimum threshold below which world-class performance is impossible d) Practice hours, regardless of quality, are the primary determinant of expert performance

19. Metacognition, as described in the chapter, includes which of the following?

a) The ability to learn multiple subjects simultaneously b) Monitoring what you know and don't know, and regulating learning strategy accordingly c) The capacity to learn from mistakes without explicit reflection d) Using cognitive strategies to improve performance on assessments

20. Which of the following best describes the difference between a learning plateau and actual performance ceiling?

a) A learning plateau indicates that the person has reached their potential; a performance ceiling indicates structural limitations b) A learning plateau occurs when deliberate practice stops — practice becomes comfortable routine rather than targeted development — but it is not the ceiling of potential c) A performance ceiling is domain-specific; a learning plateau affects all domains simultaneously d) A learning plateau occurs in the early stages of skill acquisition; performance ceiling occurs in the advanced stages

21. The beginner's mind (shoshin) is described as valuable for expert practitioners because:

a) It allows experts to revisit foundational knowledge that may have been forgotten over time b) It enables experts to approach familiar domains with fresh curiosity, noticing what they take for granted and what a newcomer would find non-obvious c) It reduces overconfidence by reminding experts of how much they didn't know at the start d) It improves teaching ability by reconnecting experts to the novice experience

22. Process praise (praising effort and strategy) is more developmentally effective than person praise (praising intelligence or talent) because:

a) Process praise is more specific and therefore more informative b) Person praise produces higher self-esteem, which interferes with subsequent learning c) Process praise tells the learner that performance is a product of controllable processes, maintaining motivation after difficulty d) Person praise creates unrealistic expectations that cannot be sustained

23. Ericsson's deliberate practice requires operating "at the edge of capability." This means:

a) The practice involves challenges that are completely beyond current capability b) The practice involves challenges where performance is currently inconsistent and effort is required — difficult but achievable with focused effort c) The practice involves mastered skills practiced under time pressure to improve automaticity d) The practice involves performing at peak capability consistently across extended sessions

24. The finding that "re-reading is among the least effective study strategies" is counterintuitive because:

a) Re-reading is time-consuming and difficult b) Re-reading produces familiarity that is mislabeled as comprehension, generating the illusion of knowing c) Re-reading is the most commonly used strategy, which should correlate with effectiveness d) Re-reading does not engage active cognitive processing at all

25. The chapter's observation that many professionals have "one year of deliberate practice, repeated" refers to:

a) The finding that most learning occurs in the first year of professional experience b) The pattern where practitioners reach a comfortable performance level and then practice reinforces existing capability rather than developing new capability — producing plateau without improvement c) The 70-20-10 finding that most development occurs early in career experience d) The observation that formal continuing education typically occurs annually

Answer Key