Thinking 1

Question 1

What did Duncker refer to as a ‘problem’?

Answer 1

-“A problem arises when a living organism has a goal, but doesn’t know how this goal is to be reached”

Question 2

What are the 3 crucial elects that make up a problem?

Answer 2

-Starting state
-A set of processes (operators) that transform the starting state to the goal state
-Goal state

Question 3

What is the behaviourist approach?

Answer 3

-Problem solving occurs through incremental process of trial and error
-Behaviours are learnt from interactions with the environment
-All behaviour can be reduced to simple stimulus-response behaviours
-Observable behaviours

Question 4

Describe Thorndike’s puzzle box (1898)

Answer 4

-Placed a cat in a puzzle box with a clasp to keep door shut
-Outside the cage was a piece of fish to encourage the cat in attempt to escape
-Eventually they touch the lever which opens the door
-Recorded time it took the cat to solve the problem and escape
-After the cat escaped, he would put the cat back and look at how long it takes again
-Future escapes became progressively faster

Question 5

What is Thorndike’s ‘Law of Effect’ that he proposed

Answer 5

-Any behaviour followed by pleasant consequences is likely to be repeated
-Any behaviour followed by unpleasant consequences is likely to be stopped

Question 6

What is the Gestalt approach?

Answer 6

-Problem solving occurs through restructuring and insight
-A distinction was drawn between reproductive thinking (reuse of previous experience) and productive thinking (novel restructuring of problem)

Question 6

What is referred to as ‘insight’?

Answer 6

-Insight occurs due to productive thinking as when the problem is restricted, the solution becomes clear suddenly

Question 7

Describe the research conducted by Kohler (1925) Sultan’s Insight

Answer 7

-Found a colony of chimps and passed war studying their problem solving behaviour
-Sultan was given the problem of getting bananas that were outside his cage and beyond reach of arms
-If he was given 2 sticks that were both too short to reach bananas, he would give up and sulk
-After a period of time, he suddenly went to the sticks and placed one inside the other creating one long stick

Question 7

What can be concluded from this research

Answer 7

-He restricted the problem and had a moment of insight
-Problem solving is viewed to be results of sudden insight rather than incremental trial and error
-The moment the correct solution is found, performance is perfect

Question 8

According to Wallas (1926), what are the 4 stages of creative thinking?

Answer 8

-Preparation
-Incubation
-Illumination
-Verification

Question 8

What is meant by preparation?

Answer 8

-A problem is formulated and initial attempts are made to solve the problem

Question 9

What is meant by incubation?

Answer 9

-The problem is set aside, and no conscious work is done on it

Question 10

What is meant by illumination?

Answer 10

-A sudden inspiration provides a new insight into the way in which the problem might be solved

Question 11

What is meant by verification?

Answer 11

-Conscious work on the problem develops and tests the inspiration to provide a full solution to the problem

Question 12

Describe the ‘cheap necklace’ problem by Silveira (1971)

Answer 12

-Starting state - You are given 4 chains each consisting of 3 links
-It costs $2 to open a link and $3 to close a link
-All links are closed at the beginning of the problem
-Goal state - Your goal is to join all 12 links of a chain into a single circle at a cost of no more than $15
-Solve the problem - Find the set of processes that transform the starting state into the goal state

Question 13

What were the results of this study for the control group?

Answer 13

-Worked on the problem for half an hour
-55% solved the problem

Question 14

What were the results of this study for the experimental group 1?

Answer 14

-Worked for half an hour and then interrupted by a half hour break during which the other activities were performed
-64% solved the problem

Question 15

What were the results of this study for the experimental group 2?

Answer 15

-Worked for half an hour and then interrupted by a four hour break during which other activities were performed
-85% solved the problem

Question 16

Describe the procedure by Murray and Denny (1969)

Answer 16

-Ppts divided into high and low ability groups on the basis of their performance on a ‘use of objects test’ of creativity
-Ppts were then given 20 minutes to solve a complex practical problem (moving steel balls into a metal cylinder without getting within 8 feet of the cylinder)
1-Interpolated Activity or ‘Incubation’ group Given 5 minute break
2-Continuous Activity or ‘Control’ group - Not given a 5 minute break

Question 16

What results were found from this experiment?

Answer 16

-For the high ability ppts, the break acted as a distraction from the problem and interfered with performance
-Low ability ppts for whom the problem was hard for were aided by the break and needed the period of incubation

Question 17

What are the 2 barriers to successful problem solving?

Answer 17

-Functional fixedness
-Einstellung effect

Question 18

What is meant by functional fixedness?

Answer 18

-People fixate on one property/function of an object and cannot think about it in a different way

Question 19

What is meant by Einstellung effect?

Answer 19

-People learn a particular strategy for solving a problem which has produced success in the past and continue to use it even when it’s appropriate

Question 20

What research did Duncker conduct to look into functional fixedness?

Answer 20

-Ppts were told to “Support the candle on the wall so that it doesn’t drip on the table below”
-Ppts tried to nail the candle to the wall or glue the candle with wax
-The task becomes easier when the box of nails is emptied on the table
-When the box of nails are emptied, ppts were no longer fixated on the box’s normal function of holding nails
-Instead, they can re-conceptualise it as a candle holder

Question 21

Describe the research conducted by The Lunchins (1942): The water jug problem

Answer 21

-Each problem specifies the capacities of jugs A,B and C, and a final desired quantity
-The task is to work out how to use the jugs to measure out final required quantity
-The Einstellung Effect shows that the negative effect of previous experience when solving new problems
-People become biased by previous experience to use all 3 jugs to solve this problem
-The most efficient solution to problem 7 is to just use 2 jugs

Question 22

Describe the nine dot problem (Scheerer, 1963)

Answer 22

-Draw four continuous straight lines connecting all the dots without lifting your pen from the paper
-According to Scheerer most people can’t solve this problem because they assume it must stay within the square
-To solve the problem, you must draw outside the square

Question 23

What did Weisberg and Alba (1981) find in regards to this study?

Answer 23

-Around 20% of people can solve the problem when told to draw outside the box

Question 23

Describe the research conducted by Brown and McNeill (1966)

Answer 23

-Even when we can’t solve the problem immediately, we sometimes feel closer to the solution than at other times
-What is the word for “a navigational instrument used in measuring angular distances, especially the altitude of the sun, moon and stars at sea?”
-When people claim the answer is “on the tip of their tongue” they are 57% correct in identifying the first letter of the word
-The correct word is a ‘sextant’

Question 24

Describe the research conducted by Metcalfe (1986)

Answer 24

-Can predict how close to solution you are
-Metcalfe (1986) compared feelings-of-warmth for incremental and insight based problems
-Feelings-of-warmth predicted performance on incremental problems e.g. Tower of Hanoi
-Feelings-of-warmth didn’t predict performance on insight problems e.g. Reversing Triangle