Chapter 12 Flashcards
What is problem-solving?
Cognitive processes that involve recognizing there is a problem, analyzing and solving it, then verifying the effectiveness of the solution
What is a problem?
Occurs when there’s an obstacle between an initial state in a goal state when you do not know the solution right away
What are the mental processing steps in problem-solving?
- Understanding the relevant information in the problem.(bottom up and top down.)
- What steps do you need to take to solve the problem? generate solutions
- Choose a solution and use the steps to solve the problem.
- Reflect on the effectiveness of your decision.
What is an initial state?
Starting point of the problem
Describes and defining the problem
What’s the goal state?
Desired final state/ending situation
Has operators = actions that transform the current problem state into another problem state
What are well-defined problems?
Have correct answers, and procedures that lead us to solve them
Initial and goal state are clearly specified
What are ill defined problems?
A problem that does not have a clear goal stated, solution paths, or expected solutions
Computers aren’t good at solving these
What is the behaviours approach to problem-solving processes? (Also The law of effect )
Reproductive process
Using knowledge from past experience
Trial and error strategies for solutions and rule out solutions that don’t work
The law of effect = response, with a satisfying effect, will occur in the situation again most likely.
The response with a dissatisfying effect won’t occur again .
What is the gestalt approach to problem-solving processes?
Trial and error does not explain insight (when the solution to a problem suddenly shows up in your conscious)
Theorized it’s a productive process
Restructuring information to provide a solution this makes insight possible
(Restructuring means manipulating information changes representation in your mind)
What are heuristics?
Mental shortcuts for drawing inferences, based on limited information, without deliberation
Examples : rules of thumb, educated guess, common sense, ETC
What’s the working backwards heuristic
Solving a problem by focussing on the end result
What’s the mean and analysis heuristic?
Creating sub goals to move closer to the final goal state
What’s the functional fixedness? (Barriers to solving problems.)
Intended purpose of an object inhibits you from seeing its other potential uses
What is fixation? (barriers to solving problems)
Tendency to focus on a specific characteristic of a problem
What’s the insight problem?
Solution suddenly occurs in consciousness
What’s a non-insight problem
Problem is worked through step-by-step
Do insight and non-insight problem/solution have the same cognitive processes
You’re not consciously aware of environmental queues that might lead to insight
But you are aware of things in non-incite problems
What’s creativity
Focus on divergent thinking
What is Sternberg’s three facets of human intelligence? (Analytical, practical., creative)
- analytics (puzzles, general analytics)
- Practical intelligence. ( ability to understand and deal with every day tasks.)
- Creative intelligence. (Use existing knowledge and skills in order to deal with novelty or create ideas.)
What is ideational fluency?
A measure where the number of ideas a person can generate about a particular topic or item is used to assess the creativity
What’s a mental set?
Tendency to use solutions that have worked in the past, or use some thing in a “set way”.
Do experts, have better memory than novices within their domain?
Expert sent to memorize meaningful information easier
Example . Chess pieces in a particular attack position but they’re not better at memorizing randomly positioned chest pieces.
Are experts better at creative thinking than novices?
No, this is benefit from creative, thinking, while experts are stuck in conventional ways of thinking
What’s the information processing approach?
- Information about the problem.
- we use our past experiences to solve it.
-Humans use heuristics
Computers use algorithms ( step-by-step procedure that should produce the correct solution)
-computers can calculate all the possible moves/steps at once in our fast at solving well-defined problems
