Which method uses a small number of examples to guide the model's responses?

Which method uses a small number of examples to guide the model's responses?

• A. Few-shot
• B. Zero-shot
• C. Cognitive verifier pattern
• D. Chain-of-thought (CoT)

Answer: (A)

Few-shot prompting uses a small number of examples included in the prompt to steer the model’s outputs. By showing a handful of input-output pairs, you demonstrate the exact pattern, format, or style you want the model to follow. The model treats those examples as demonstrations and generalizes from them to handle new inputs in the same way. This is a form of in-context learning—no changes to the model’s weights are needed, just the prompt you provide. This differs from zero-shot, which asks the model to perform the task based only on the instruction, with no illustrative examples. Chain-of-thought prompts aim to elicit a step-by-step reasoning process in the model’s output, focusing on internal reasoning rather than simply guiding the final answer through examples. The cognitive verifier pattern isn’t a standard, widely used term for this particular mechanism of guiding behavior with a few examples, so it doesn’t capture the same idea as few-shot prompting.

Few-shot prompting uses a small number of examples included in the prompt to steer the model’s outputs. By showing a handful of input-output pairs, you demonstrate the exact pattern, format, or style you want the model to follow. The model treats those examples as demonstrations and generalizes from them to handle new inputs in the same way. This is a form of in-context learning—no changes to the model’s weights are needed, just the prompt you provide.

This differs from zero-shot, which asks the model to perform the task based only on the instruction, with no illustrative examples. Chain-of-thought prompts aim to elicit a step-by-step reasoning process in the model’s output, focusing on internal reasoning rather than simply guiding the final answer through examples. The cognitive verifier pattern isn’t a standard, widely used term for this particular mechanism of guiding behavior with a few examples, so it doesn’t capture the same idea as few-shot prompting.