Problem Solving & Expertise Flashcards
What is a problem?
When a living organism has a goal, but does not know how to reach this goal.
The are lacking the relevant knowledge to produce an immediate solution.
What is problem solving?
A higher cognitive function which interacts with many other cognitive processes.
- Uses internal knowledge representation to figure out how to resolve unfavourable situations.
What mental processes occur during problem-solving?
- Understanding that there is a problem.
- Define, label and describe the problem.
- Identify the scope of the problem.
- Review available information.
- Choose relevant information.
- Construct or identify a strategy.
- Identify and allocating resources.
- Monitoring progress of te solution strategy.
- Evaluate the solution strategy by obtaining feedback.
- If unsuccessful, go back and find alternative strategy.
What are ill-defined problems?
Unspecified when endless stratgies you could adopt. It is hard to know ahead of time which would be most effective.
What are well-defined problems?
When all aspects of the problem are clearly specified.
What are knowledge-lean problems?
Problems that do not require specific knowledge because most of the information needed to solve the problem is available.
What are knowledge-rich problems?
Problems that can only be solved by those having much relevant specific knowledge.
Describe the behaviourist approach.
- Concerned with observable behaviour.
- Theories need to be supported by empirical data obtained through controlled observation and measurement of behaviour.
- Most appropriate unit of analyssi is simple stimulus-response associations.
- Problem solving occurs through trial and error processes.
- Initial learning through trying.
Describe the Learning Theory (Thorndike, 1898).
- Problem solvinh in animals.
- Laid the groundwork for operant conditioning.
- Suggsted that learning to solve a problem involved a flash of insight where the solution suddenly pops into consciousness.
- However, unfortunately, he found that problem solving ia a reproductive process - involves use of past experiences and not sudden insight.
Describe the Gestalt Approach.
Gestalt psychologists emphasied the wholeness and the structural quality of the way in which we perceive, think about, and feel the world around us.
- The whole is greater than the sum of the parts.
What does the Gestalt account of problem solving focus on?
- The structural understanding of the problem - The ability to comprehend how the problem elements fit together to form a structure in order to solve a problem.
- If we fail to solve a problem, this is because of the failure to perceive the structure of the problem situation.
- Problem is solved through insight and not trial and error.
Learning and problem solving are both a reproductive and productive process.
What does this mean?
- Reproductive problem-solving involves a systematic reuse of our previous experience.
- Productive problem-solving is more complex and involves a novel approach characterised by restructuring of the problem and showing insight.
What is the incubation effect?
Where interruption of the task improves eventual success rate.
When a problem is put aside for some time, the subconscious mind continues to work.
Describe Murray and Denny’s (1969) study on incubation.
- Subjects had to do a ‘use of objects test’ of creativity.
- Based on their score, divided into high and low ability groups.
- Given 20 mins to solve a complex practical problem.
- Half of the group had to spend 5 mins on a distractor task in the middle of the complex task.
- The other half didn’t have a task to do.
Describe the findings from Murray and Denny’s (1969) study on incubation.
The two groups performed differently, but not as the researchers expected.
- For the high ability subjects, for whom the problem was relatively simple, the break acted as a distraction from the problem at hand. So they did worse with an interruption.
The low ability subjects, for whom the problem was relatively hard, were aided by the distractor task - they were required a period of incubation. So they did better with an interruption.
Murray and Denny conclued that incubation was only useful for problems that people find hard.
What is the two-string problem (Maier, 1931)?
- Two pieces of string are hanging from the ceiling.
- They are too far away from each other to be reached by one person alone.
- The task is to connect them by tying a knot.
- In the room there are some irrelevant items.
- Even subtle hints help solving a problem through insight.
4 conditions:
- Two conditions providing uninformed ‘hints’ for the target solution.
- One explicit hint condition.
- A control condition.
What is the Triarchic Theory (Sternberg, 1988)?
A theory of intelligence suggesting intellgience is made up of 3 parts:
Analytical intelligence
- Academic problem solving and computation.
Practical intelligence
- Street smart and common sense.
Creative intelligence
- Imaginative and innovative problem solving.
What is divergent thinking?
Thinking outside the box.
- It allows individuals to arrive at unique, multiple solutions to a given problem.
What is convergent thinking?
The ability to provide one correct or well-established solution to a problem.
What are the four stages for creative thinking?
- Preparation - A problem is formulated and initial attempts are made to solve to problem.
- Incubation - The problem is set aside and no conscious work is done on it.
- Illumination - A sudden inspiration provides a new insight onto the way in which the problem might be solved.
- Verification - Conscious work on the problem develops and tests the inspiration to provide a full solution to the problem.
Describe the cheap necklace problem (Silveira, 1971).
- You are given 4 seperate chains that are each 3 links in length.
- It cost 2p to open a link and 3p to close a link.
- All links are closed at the beggining of the problem.
- Your goal is to join all 12 links of chain into a single circle at a cost of no more than 15p.
Control group:
- Worked on the problem for half an hour.
- 55% solved the problem after half an hour.
Experimental group 1:
- Worked for half an hour, interrupted by a half-hour break, which other activities were performed.
- 64% solved the problem.
Experimental group 2:
- Worked for half an hour, interruped by a 4 hour break, which other activitives were performed.
- 85% solved the problem
What is the representational change theory (Ohlsson, 1992)?
- A problem occurs when the problem is represented in a way that does not permit the retrieval of the necessary operators or possible actions.
- The way a problem is structured in the mind of the individual, serves as a tool to access relevant knowledge in long term memory.
- The more clues/knowledge, the sooner the problem will be solved.
- An impasse occurs when there is not enough relevant clues or knowledge in memory.
- An impasse is broken when the problem representation is changed.
What can change in representation occur through?
- Elaboration or adding of new problem information.
- Removing constraints or inhibitions.
- Re-encoding or re-interpreting old information.
- Insight occurs when a mental impasse is broken.
What is the nine-dot problem?
Often used to demonstrate and explain mental creativity and out of the box thinking.
- Use 4 straight lines to connect the nine dots.
- Most people cannot solve this because they assume in believing they must stay within the square.
- This assumption is an exmaple of self-imposed constraint.
- Key insight is to realise that this ocnstraint must be removed/relaxed.
What is functional fixedness or constraint?
When we wrongly assume that any given object has only a limited number of uses.
Describe Dunker’s (1945) study of functional fixedness.
Task: Support the candle on the wall so that it doesn’t drip on the table below.
- Participants were given a candle, matches and a box of push pins.
- Subjects often tried to nail the candle into the wall or glue to candle with wax.
- Participants are dixated on the box’s normal function and are unable to re-conceptualise it as something else.
What is Luchins’ Water Jug Problem (1942)?
Each problem specifies the capacity of jugs A, B and C and a final desired quantity. The task is to use the jugs to measure out the final quantity.
- Tests a persons predisposition to solve a given problem in a specific manner even though better or more appropriate methods of solving the problem exist.
- Shows the negative effect of previous experience when solving new problems.
What is the hill-climbing strategy?
- Involves a focus on short-term goals.
- Often does not lead to problem solution.
What is analogical problem solving?
- A comparison between two events that highlights how they are thought to be similar.
- Coping successfully with novel situations by relating them to situations we have previosuly encountered.
What is means-end analysis?
- The most important heuristic method.
- To identify a goal and then break it down into smaller, more manageable subgoals.
- Form a subgoal to reduce the differece between the current and goal states.
- Actions to overcome obstacles and achieve the desired outcome.
What is meta-reasoning?
Progress monitoring
- Assessing their rate of progress towards the goal.
- If progress is too slow to solve the problem within the maximum number of moves allowed, then adopt a different strategy.
What characteristics do you find in experts?
- Excel mainly in their own limited domains.
- Have greater knowledge and experience.
- Spend a great deal of time analysing a problem qualitatively and form several angles before plunging into its solutions.
- Employ different problem-solving strategies.
- See and represent a problem in their domain at a deeper level.
- When asked to sort and analyse problems, they tend to deal with deep issues rather than superficial ones.
- Have sub-skills for a task better automised.
What is explicit reasoning?
Slow, deliberate, associated with conscious awareness.
What is implicit reasoning?
Fast, automatic, not associated with conscious awareness.
What type of reasoning to medical experts engage in?
Medical experts engage in implicit reasoning, while novices rely on explicit reasoning.
- Medical experts engage in rapid pattern recognition.
