Problem Solving Flashcards
According to Ohlsson’s (1992) theory, what prevents or delays a sudden change in the problem representation during insight problem solving?
Relying on past experiences
A ‘trial and error’ approach to problem solving comes from which school of psychology?
Behaviourism
What does the Monty Hall Problem suggest?
You’re better off switching as two thirds of the time you’ll win if you switch
People use the ___ while they ignore ____
Heuristic and Causality
The multi whole problem is an example of a…
Well-defined Adversary Problem
The overwhelming majority of problems used in psychological experiments are…
Knowledge lean and well defined
Two search strategies that we use include…
Depth first search and Breadth first search
Example of depth first search includes..
A person at the initial start state may choose a particular option and continue along the path until either the goal state or a fail state is reached
An example of the breadth firsts earch includes..
A person may choose to consider all possible options before selecting one then at the next decision all the new options are considered before selecting the next one
What would a behaviourist assume that problem solving is
They would assume that it is a matter of trial-and-error learning
Trial and error suggests..
We learn from our mistakes
What is reproductive thinking?
Re use of previous experiences
What is productive thinking?
Novel reconstruction of the problem
What is the Gestalt approach to problem solving?
This the idea of viewing the problem from a different perspective was termed perceptual restructuring
The representation change theory suggests..
representational change is not the result of a deliberate search, but the result of unconscious processes that occur when problem solvers get stuck in an impasse.
Functional Fixedness is…
A failure to see that an object may have alternative functions
Mental Sets is..
Inappropriately using a previously successful strategy
Functional fixedness and mental sets are examples of
When restructuring fails to occur and this makes solving problems harder
Jung-Beeman et al 2004 found that
The right anterior superior temporal gyrus was active for insight trials suggesting that insights/perceptual restructuring occurs possibly at an unconscious level
What is incubation time?
Leaving a problem and coming back to it
Sio and Ormerod (2009) found..
Small but positive incubation effect found in 73% of studies
Stronger effects for solutions that relied on creativity
Stronger effects with longer preparation time
What are three things that could explain incubation
Automatic spreading activation view, opportunistic assimilation view and fixation forgetting i.e. Forgetting misdeeding information
Vul and Pashler (2007) found that when participants were given misleading information…
Incubation had a positive effect but otherwise it didn’t
