1. How does this topic fit into what I have learned already in this course?

Our ability to make decisions is highly dependent on our general knowledge, working memory, accessing long term memory, and top-down processing. All of our cognitive skills are at work when exercising deductive reasoning. To better understand where we fall short in both of these areas, it is important to look at the “whole” picture. Reading about decision making and deductive reasoning would have proven to be very abstract without the knowledge or our cognitive abilities and the role they play in cognition.

2. What am I still not clear on in this week's reading(s)?

I am a bit unclear about the anchoring effect. It seems as if it is known that people rely too heavily on the anchor when using this approach. People too often rely on their current beliefs and that gets in the way of making a true or accurate decision. Is this saying that we are developing a mechanism that hinders our thinking and decision making abilities?

3. Under what conditions would I apply this material to my own teaching/work?

I can apply the information from this chapter to my own classroom by keeping the different decision making processes in mind. Some students exert overconfidence in their learning and I think this too is important to remember when teaching gifted student. The framing effect is something teachers need to know. The questions we ask our students really do matter. Not only the questions themselves but how we present them will have an effect on our students.