thinking 1 Flashcards
what is a problem?
when a living organism has a goal, but doesn’t know how to reach this goal
what are the three elements of a problem?
starting state
goal state
set of processes (operators), which can transform one state to another
what are the two historical approaches to problem solving?
behaviourist
gestalt
what is the behaviourist approach to problem solving?
looks at observable behaviour by stimulus response association
problem solving occurs through trial and error
what is the gestalt approach to problem solving?
problem solving is more than reproducing a learned response
occurs in a moment of insight
what did Thorndike find in the behaviourist approach?
placed cats in a puzzle box with a clasp to hold the door shut
need to perform a sequence of actions to exit
found that the cats learnt by trial and error- although the initial escape is by chance, future efforts improve
what did Kohler find in the Gestalt approach?
was a psychologist trapped on Tenerife in WW1
found a colony of chimps and studied their problem solving behaviour
one problem= given two sticks which were too short to reach bananas outside their cage
in a sudden moment of insight, realised these had to be put together to reach the banana
who proposed the four stages of creative thinking?
Wallas
what are the four stages of creative thinking?
preparation
incubation
illumination
verification
what is preparation in problem solving?
problem is formulated and initial attempts are made to solve the problem
what is incubation in problem solving?
the problem is set aside and no conscious work is done on it
what is illumination?
suddent inspiration provides a new insight into how a problem can be solved
what is verification?
conscious work on the problem develops and tests the inspiration to provide a full solution to the problem
who came up with the cheap necklace problem?
Silveira
what happens in the cheap necklace problem?
given four separate pieces of chain that are each 3 links in length
costs £2 to open a link and £3 to close a link
all the links are closed at the start of the problem
goal is to join all 12 links of the chain into a single circle at cost no more than £15
what were the results of the cheap necklace problem?
control group= worked on problem for half an hour= 55% solved the problem
group 1= worked for half an hour, interrupted by a half hour break performing other activities= 64% solved the problem
group 2= worked for half an hour, interrupted by a 4 hour break= 85% solved the problem
who investigated incubation?
Murray and Denny
when is incubation necessary?
divided participants into high and low ability groups based on their performance on a ‘use of objects’ test
subjects given 20 mins to solve a complex practical problem
half subjects had a 5 min break in the middle of the task, and the other half didn’t
incubation was only useful for difficult tasks
what is functional fixedness?
people fixate on a property/function of an object that can be used to solve the problem- can’t think about it in a different way
what is mental set?
learn a strategy for solving a problem which has produced success in the pass, but continue to use even when inappropriate
who investigated functional fixedness?
Duncker
what happened in Duncker’s study for functional fixedness?
told to support a candle on the wall so it doesn’t drip onto the table below
partipants often tried to nail the candle to the wall or glue the candle with wax
became easier if the drawing pins were emptied out of the box first- can reimagine it as a candle holder
what is the Einstellung problem?
mechanisation of thought-people become biased by prior experience to prefer certain approaches, which may block the solution
what happened in Luchin’s water jug problem?
problem specifies the capacities of jugs A, B and C, and a final desired quantity
need to work out how to use the jugs to measure the final required quantity
some participants were taught a hard method to solve the problem
there were more efficient ways to solve the problem in some circumstances, that weren’t spotted due to functional fixedness
what is the 9 dot problem?
participants told to draw four continuous straight lines to connect 9 dots without taking their pen off the paper
most people cannot solve the problem as they fixate on staying within the square
still not everyone could solve when told to draw outside the box- not always a moment of fixation
what is feeling of knowing?
even when we cannot immediately solve a problem, sometimes we feel like we are closer to knowing the answer than other times
what is feeling of warmth?
being able to predict how close to a solution you are
less accurate than feeling of knowing
often the case for incremental rather than insight solutions
