Problem Solving Flashcards
What are insight problems?
A problem that requires us to understand how all parts of the problem are related before we can find the solution
What are non-insight problems?
A problem that can be effectively broken down into discrete stages, working slowly toward the end solution
What does the gestalt theory state?
Consciousness tends to be organized into a coherent whole
What is a gestalt switch?
Sudden change in the way information is organized
True or false. Insight occurred spontaneously and was all-or-none for the chimpanzee who used a small stick to retrieve a longer stick to retrieve a banana outside of the cage.
True
What does the alter window problem demonstrate?
How superficial learning interferes with the ability to see what might be obvious to a more naive person
What did the alter window problem show for children and adults?
Children: with no math training was able to solve the problem. Not constrained by any way of thinking unlike adults
Adults: tried to solve according to principles they had learned in past
What is structurally blind thinking?
Kind of thinking shown by adults, who reproduced thinking they had done in past with similar situations, but which was unfit to the current one
What is functional fixedness?
Inability to see beyond the most common use of a particular object and recognize that it could perform the function needed to solve a problem; thinking about objects only in respect to function for which they were designed
Animals do not have insight. True or false.
False
What is insight?
Sudden realization of how parts of a problem/situation relate together
Applying the same kind of thinking as for a past problem, but which is ineffective for the current one is called ____ thinking.
Structurally blind thinking
What happens during non-insight problems?
We have an awareness of incremental success or a greater feeling of warmth as we get closer to the solution and feeling of knowing
What is the progress monitoring theory?
We monitor our progress on a problem, and when we reach an impasse we are open to an insightful solution
What proposes that insight requires a change in the way that we represent the problem?
Representational change theory
Representational change theory depends on what 2 processes?
- Constraint relaxation: removal of assumptions that are blocking problem solution
- Chunk decomposition: parts of the problem that are seen as belonging together are separated into chunks and thought about independently
What part of the brain is involved in insight process?
Anterior cingulate cortex
What part of the brain strengthens memory traces, catalyzes mental restructuring and encourages the emergence of insight?
Hippocampal
What did Wagner et al. find about participants who slept after training on an insight problem?
More likely to produce insightful solutions compared to those who had not slept
What is the Einstellung effect?
Tendency to respond inflexibly to a particular type of problem; also called a rigid set
What part of the brain is critical for successful water jar performance?
Left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex
What does it mean to behave mindlessly?
To act as if a situation has only one possible interpretation
What does it mean to behave mindfully?
To actively seek new possibilities
True or false. younger children show more functional fixedness than older children do.
False
