Chapter 12 Problem Solving & Creativity Flashcards
Alternate uses task (AUT)
A task used to assess creativity, in which the person’s task is to think unusual uses for an object. Also called the unusual uses task.
Analogical encoding
A technique in which people compare two problems that illustrate a principle. This technique is designed to help people discover similar structural features of cases or problems.
Analogical paradox
People find it difficult to apply analogies in laboratory settings, but routinely use them in real-world settings.
Analogical problem solving
The use of analogies as an aid to solving problems. Typically, a solution to one problem, the source problem, is presented that is analogous to the solution to another problem, the target problem.
Analogical transfer
Transferring experience in solving one problem to the solution of another, similar problem.
Analytically based problem
Problem that is solved by a process of systematic analysis, often using techniques based on past experience.
Analogy
Making a comparison in order to show a similarity between two different things.
Candle problem
A problem, first described by Duncker, in which a person is given a number of objects and is given the task of mounting a candle on a wall so it can burn without dripping wax on the floor. This problem was used to study functional fixedness.
Compound remote-association problem
A problem in which three words are presented, and the task is to determine one word that when combined with each of these words forms a new word or a phrase.
Contingency strategy
A negotiating strateg y in which a person gets what he or she wants if something else happens.
Creative cognition
A technique developed by Finke to train people to think creatively.
Mind wandering / Daydreaming
Thoughts that come from within a person, often unintentionally. In early research this was called daydreaming.
Divergent thinking
Thinking that is open-ended, involving a large number of potential solutions.
Electroencephalogram (EEG)
An electrical response recorded from the scalp using disc electrodes.
Executive control network (ECN)
A brain network that is involved in directing attention as a person is carrying out tasks.
Expert
Person who, by devoting a large amount of time to learning about a field and practicing and applying that learning, has become acknowledged as being extremely skilled or knowledgeable in that field.
Fixation
In problem solving, people’s tendency to focus on a specific characteristic of the problem that keeps them from arriving at a solution.
Focused attention (FA) meditation
A type of meditation in which the basic procedure is to focus on one thing, like the in and out of your breath, and when your mind wanders, to bring your attention back to your breath.
Functional fixedness
An effect that occurs when the ideas a person has about an object’s function inhibit the person’s ability to use the object for a different function.
Goal state
In problem solving, the condition that occurs when a problem has been solved.
Group brainstorming
When people in a problem-solving group are encouraged to express whatever ideas come to mind, without censorship.
Imagination network
Kaufman and Gregoire’s (2015) name for the default mode network (DMN).
In vivo problem-solving research
Observing people to determine how they solve problems in real-world situations. This technique has been used to study the use of analog y in a number of different settings, including laboratory meetings of a university research group and design brainstorming sessions in an industrial research and development department.
Incubation
The phenomenon of getting ideas after taking a “time-out” from working on a problem.
Initial state
In problem solving, the conditions at the beginning of a problem.
Insight
Sudden realization of a problem’s solution.
Intermediate states
In problem solving, the various conditions that exist along the pathways between the initial and goal states.
Means–end analysis
A problem-solving strateg y that seeks to reduce the difference between the initial and goal states. This is achieved by creating subgoals, intermediate states that are closer to the goal.
Meditation
A number of different practices for controlling the mind.
Mental set
A preconceived notion about how to approach a problem based on a person’s experience or what has worked in the past.
Mindfulness
Paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally, to the unfolding of experience moment to moment.
Mutilated checkerboard problem
A problem that has been used to study how the statement of a problem influences a person’s ability to reach a solution.
Nine-dot problem
A problem involving nine dots, arranged in a square pattern, in which the task is to draw four straight lines that pass through all nine dots without lifting the pen from the paper or retracing a line.
Open monitoring (OM) meditation
A type of meditation that involves paying attention to whatever comes into the mind, and to follow this thought until something else comes along.
Operators
In problem solving, permissible moves that can be made toward a problem’s solution.
Preinventive forms
Objects created in Finke’s “creative cognition” experiment that precede the creation of a finished creative product.
Problem space
The initial state, goal state, and all the possible intermediate states for a particular problem.
Problem
A situation in which there is an obstacle between a present state and a goal state and it is not immediately obvious how to get around the obstacle.
Radiation problem
A problem posed by Duncker that involves finding a way to destroy a tumor by radiation without damaging other organs in the body. This problem has been widely used to study the role of analog y in problem solving.
Restructuring
The process of changing a problem’s representation. According to the Gestalt psychologists, restructuring is the key mechanism of problem solving.
Source problem
A problem or story that is analogous to the target problem and which therefore provides information that can lead to a solution to the target problem.
Subgoals
In the means–end analysis approach to problem solving, intermediate states that move the process of solution closer to the goal.
Target problem
A problem to be solved. In analogical problem solving, solution of this problem can become easier when the problem-solver is exposed to an analogous source problem or story.
Think-aloud protocol
A procedure in which subjects are asked to say out loud what they are thinking while doing a problem. This procedure is used to help determine people’s thought processes as they are solving a problem.
Tower of Hanoi problem
A problem involving moving discs from one set of pegs to another. It has been used to illustrate the process involved in means–end analysis.
Trade-off strategy
A negotiating strategy in which one person says to another, “I’ll give you A, if you’ll give me B.”
Transcranial direct current stimulation
A procedure for stimulating the brain in which two electrodes, which are connected to a battery-powered device that delivers direct current, are placed on a person’s head.
Two-string problem
A problem first described by Maier in which a person is given the task of attaching two strings together that are too far apart to be reached at the same time. This task was devised to illustrate the operation of functional fixedness.
Volitional daydreaming
The act of consciously choosing to disengage from external tasks in order to pursue an internal stream of thought that might have positive outcomes.
Water jug problem
A problem, first described by Luchins, that illustrates how mental set can influence the strategies that people use to solve a problem.
