Problem Solving I: Approaching Problems Flashcards
What is a Problem?
Requires:
1. An obstacle between a present state and a goal
2. Not immediately obvious how to get around the obstacle
Problem solving: transforming current state into goal state
How are problems represented? (3)
– What facts are specified
– What is being asked of problem solver
– The methods you can you to solve it
Routine problem solving?
Apply learned knowledge or techniques to solve (“analytically based”)
Non-routine problem solving?
Known strategies do not guarantee a solution, but offer the possibility of success
Often requires “insight”
Gestalt approach?
Problems are first represented in one way
Restructuring:
Representation of problem changes
Insight often required to solve non-routine problems
Insight:
Sudden comprehension, realization, or solution that involves reorganization of the situation, and leads to an interpretation that wasn’t initially obvious
What Makes Restructuring Difficult? Mental set and Functional fixedness
People tend to fixate on current representation of the problem
In the 4-chains problem, fixate on all four, or fixate on operation of connecting them
Mental set:
Typical way of looking at a problem
Functional fixedness:
Fixating on the typical use of an object, failure to see novel uses
Information-processing approach? Simon & Newell (1972) (Operators)
Problems have an initial state and goal state
Operators: Actions that can change the state of the problem
E.g., math operations on an equation, or steps in puzzle
Tower of Hanoi?
Rule 1: Move 1 disk at a time from one peg to another
Rule 2: Can move disk only when no disks are on top of it
Rule 3: Larger disk cannot be put on top of smaller disk
What is an operator?
Operator–moving a disc
Searching a problem space and Means-ends analysis?
Problem space:
Initial state, (permissible) intermediate states, goal state
Means-ends analysis:
Reduce the difference between initial and goals states by creating subgoals (intermediate states that are closer to the goal)
Satisficing (heuristic)?
- Combination of “satisfactory” and “sufficient”
- A person who satisfices is one who chooses a path or goal that is good enough, rather than searching endlessly for the one that is the best or optimal
- Optimizers tend to have worse decision outcomes than satisficers–most people do a mixture of both
How do Experts Solve Problems?
- People who have seen many problems draw analogies between them
- They organize their knowledge so it can be accessed easier
- They are more ardent + patient
How do Experts Solve Problems?
People who have seen many problems draw analogiesbetween them
Analogical Reasoning?
Gickand Holyoak (1980) first gave students a military problem (“source problem”)
Then presented participants with a harder problem (“target problem”)
– Control condition: no source problem
Asked to solve the Target problem
- Only 10% solved target problem alone
- 30% solved target problem with help of source problem
- 70% after Ps told to “think about source problem”
Analogical Reasoning 3 steps? + Structural features
(1) Noticing the analogous relationship
(2) Mapping the correspondence
(3) Applying the mapping (generate parallel solution)
Structural features:
Underlying principle(s) that govern the solution to a problem
– Making these more obvious aids in analogical problem-solving
Chi et al., (1982)
- Showed 24 physics problems to experts and intro-level students
- Asked to sort problems based on their similarities
How did experts vs novices sort the problems?
- Novices sorted based on surface similarities
- Experts sorted based on structural features
