Final Lecture 17: March 25 Flashcards
If you were solving a problem by implementing a set of moves (steps) but reached a criterion failure, this means you have to ____________, according to ___________. At this point, you will then be open to insight. Fill in blanks.
a) Create a new set of moves: Progress monitoring theory
b) Create a new set of moves: Representational change theory
c) Create a new view of the problem: Progress monitoring theory
d) Create a new of the problem: Representational change theory
a) Create a new set of moves: Progress monitoring theory
what is Analogical transfer
Using past stories or solutions to solve a current problem
what is Analogical transfer similar to
Similar to insight: You see a new link between unconnected thoughts/experiences
what is Remote association task (RAT)
Come up with a single association to link three presumably unrelated words ¤ safety / cushion / point
¤ eight / skate / stick
¤ way / board / sleep
Creativity: Two critical features
Novelty
Appropriateness
what is Novelty
¤ An original concept
¤ E.g., using a common object for a new function
what is Appropriateness
¤ A creative idea/produce is socially valued or relevant to the given context
¤ E.g., the new function of that object must be useful
Appropriateness separates what
creativity from mental illness
¤ generating novel combinations of things that are not appropriate in a given context or socially valued
Creativity can result fromwhat
problem-finding
how can Creativity can result from problem-finding
The ability to formulate a ’new’ problem can leads to new methods and outcomes
(solutions)
¤ The outcome is determined based on a new view of the problem ¤ Find a new way to reach an outcome you want
¤ Similar to Gestalt switches (last lecture)
explain Creativity can result from blind variation
¤ Trial and error behavior that, by chance, leads to a creative outcome
¤ The outcome was not pre-determined
what does creativity resulting from blind variation require
Requires selective retention
¤ The retention of those trials that worked in a particular context
what are the Three principles to this form of creativity
¤ Creative solutions require variation, which are chance permutations of ideas or concepts ¤ These variations are selected on the basis of goodness of fit
¤ You keep the variations that fit that criteria
how else can creativity result
Accidental discoveries
Why do we want to solve problems
The Zeigarnik effect:
what is The Zeigarnik effect:
Unfulfilled tasks or unsolved problems remain in memory
This creates a need to finish a task once it is started ¤ Overcome a feeling of incompleteness
what started the Zeigarnik effect theory
Bluma Zeigarnik (1901-1988) noticed that waiters could remember complex orders without writing them down, but forgot them once the food was delivered
explain Analytic problem solving
¤ Pre-defined steps to solve a well-defined problem
¤ Information processing views of problem solving
¤ Use computer simulation and thinking-aloud protocols to study the steps take to solve puzzle-like problem
what is Problem space: The representation of a problem that includes
The representation of a problem that includes 1. Initial and goals states 2. Intermediate states/subgoals 3. Operators (transitions) actions performed to change a state 4. Constraints
what is the The general problem solver (GPS)
¤ First computer simulation of problem solving behavior in humans
¤ Maps the operators used to move through a problem space to a a goal state
¤ Meant to be universal, but more appropriate for solving well-defined problems
explain GPS: A production system
Represents problem solving as sequential steps
These steps are described as making a choice between pairs of statements
¤ These statements are condition-action (production) rules
The GPS views problem solving:
¤ As plan-oriented
¤ A series of steps along a production line
what are Thinking aloud procedures
Used to measure complex thinking and has verified that people use something like GPS’s production rules for well-defined problem solving
what are the two types of Thinking aloud procedures
Concurrent verbalizations
what is Concurrent verbalizations:
describe what you are doing as you do it
how are you solving a problem
what is ¤ Retrospective verbalizations:
describe what you did at an earlier time
¤ Influenced by metacognitive processes
what are ways to search the problem space
Systematic algorithms
Brute-force approach
what is Systematic algorithms
¤ Represent all the possible steps from
the initial problem state
what is Brute-force approach
¤ Going through all the options
¤ A blind search
¤ While it is guaranteed to find a solution, this leads to Combinatorial explosion
what is Combinatorial explosion
Computing the many alternatives (combinations) takes too up too much resources
Searching the problem space: Heuristics what are they
Strategies (short-cuts) to control how we move in a problem space ¤ Saves energy, but doesn’t always guarantee a solution
¤Insight is not a heuristic
what are the two examples of Searching the problem space: Heuristics
¤Means-end strategy/analysis ¤Hill climbing
what is Means-ends strategy
¤Used by the GPS
¤Constantly evaluate the difference between current and goal
states
¤Look for the greatest reduction in this difference ¤Take into account the full problem space
how to do Means-ends strategy
- Set up a goal
- Look for the difference between that goal and current state
- Find the production rule that will reduce this difference to greatest degree
- Repeat until final goal is achieved
what is the Hill climbing strategy
¤ Always select the operation that would bring you closer to the end goal
¤ Don’t look around the problem space
¤ Foothill problem: Since you don’t consider the full problem space … ¤ You may think you have reached your goal, but it is a ‘local maxima’
What makes expert problem solvers better than novices?
¤ They have more knowledge than novices
What makes expert problem solvers better than novices? ¤ They have more knowledge than novices
¤ Do they also use better rules or strategies when solving problems?
¤ Spoiler alert: Yes!
80 participants: four groups defined by area of study (art or science) and expertise level (critically acclaimed or not).
¤ All were given ambiguous problems to solve
how did experts and non experts differ
¤ The experts devoted more time to defining the problem than the non-
experts.
¤ Non-experts spent more time trying to develop a solution
¤ Experts differ in general problem solving processing
Experts organize information via what
deeper concepts
Novices organize information in terms ofwhat
surface details
Experts use more efficient search patterns in the domain of expertise
¤ Expert radiologists use what kind of visual process
‘global’ visual processes when viewing scans ¤ They don’t get bogged down by the details
¤ Participants: Expert and novice chess players
¤ Experimental task Reconstruct a previously seen chess
board displaying chess moves from memory
¤ Experts could remember more of the board
¤ Control task: Reconstruct a shown chess board with
pieces in a random layout
¤ Experts were no different than novices
¤ Conclusion:
Experts chunk information when encoding based on prior knowledge
¤ NOTE: this skill did not transfer to other domains like checkers
are anatomical differences between experts and non-experts reported
Typically anatomical differences between experts and non-experts are not reported
what are some Functional differences are found between these groups
(expert and non expert)
Experts more easily recruit brain areas that process information related to their expertise
¤ Expert radiologists will recruit more visual areas when viewing chest x-rays
¤ Experts are better able use domain-relevant knowledge to perform a task
How to become an expert
practice
The 10-year rule
¤ roughly 10 years (or 10,000 hours) of intense practice is necessary in order
to become an expert in a domain
“individual differences in ultimate performance can largely be accounted for by differential amounts of past and current levels of practice”
is the 10 year runle solid
Many psychologists are against the 10 year rule
¤ “blindness . . . to decades of psychological theorizing”
¤ Gardner
deliberate practice may be correlated with success because it is a proxy for ability: We stop doing what we do not do well and feel unrewarded for”
¤ Sternberg
To be creative, a problem must be ________ and ___________
a. ) original; accidental
c. ) practical; original
d. ) accidental; solve a relevant social problem
b.) original; solve a relevant social problem
Summary
¤ Creativity is about novelty but also appropriateness related to an idea/approach to solving a problem
¤ Analytic problem solving is useful to solving well-defined problems
¤ The GPS is a computer simulation that describes how this done via a series
of production rules
¤ Experts differ from non-experts in how they define, view and encode a problem
¤ Whether practice leads to expertise is up for debate
