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Cognitive Psychology Chapter XI - Problem Solving I

Psychology29 CardsCreated 5 months ago

This deck covers key concepts from Chapter XI of Cognitive Psychology, focusing on problem-solving strategies, types of problems, mental sets, and creativity.

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problem solving

an effort to overcome obstacles obstructing the path to solution
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Key Terms

Term
Definition
problem solving
an effort to overcome obstacles obstructing the path to solution
The problem-solving cycle includes:
• problem identification • problem definition • strategy formulation • organization of information • allocation of resources • monitoring • evaluation
4 strategies that can help in strategy formulation:
• analysis • synthesis • divergent thinking (e.g. brainstorming) • convergent thinking (narrowing your range of brainstormed solutions)
A well-structured problem has a …
… clear path to a solution.
An ill-structured problem …
… lacks clear path to solutions.
Example for well-structured problems:
• Move Problems (Riverrowing)

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Cognitive Psychology Chapter XI - Problem Solving I
TermDefinition
problem solving
an effort to overcome obstacles obstructing the path to solution
The problem-solving cycle includes:
• problem identification • problem definition • strategy formulation • organization of information • allocation of resources • monitoring • evaluation
4 strategies that can help in strategy formulation:
• analysis • synthesis • divergent thinking (e.g. brainstorming) • convergent thinking (narrowing your range of brainstormed solutions)
A well-structured problem has a …
… clear path to a solution.
An ill-structured problem …
… lacks clear path to solutions.
Example for well-structured problems:
• Move Problems (Riverrowing)
Means-ends analysis:
A strategy in which current state is compared to goal state and steps are taken to minimize differences.
Other heuristics than means-ends analysis:
• working forward (starting from initial state) • working backward (starting from goal state) • generate and test ((non-systematic) generation of alternative courses of action)
Isomorphic problems:
• formal structure the same • content differs
Does problem presentation matter?
Yes!
Some ill-structured problems are insight problems, because …
… you need to see the problem in a novel way.
Insight is a …
… sometimes sudden understanding of a problem or a strategy to solve this problem.
Gestalt psychologist Max Wertheimer thought about productive thinking as …
… involving insights and as opposit to reproductive thinking.
Two ways to distinguish solving of insightful and non-insightful problems:
In insightful problems: 1. it is hard to predict your success. 2. It is hard to know how close you are to the solution.
What can help to generate insights?
sleep, rest, divergence etc.
Mental set:
a frame of mind involving an existing model of representing a problem or its context.
Mental set aka.
entrenchment
Problems in problem solving:
• having an entranched mental set • functional fixedness (a hammer is a hammer and nothing else)
Another kind of mental set:
stereotypes
2 kinds of transfer (influence of the solution of an earlier problem on the next problem):
• negative transfer • positive transfer
Example for transfer of analogies:
military problem vs. radiation problem
One can actively search for analogies btw problems, but what can be another problem:
Transparency: One sees analogies just because of similar content.
Putting a problem aside for a while is called …
… incubation.
Statements made by a problem solver a called …
… verbal protocols.
Experts usually have an advantage because of two mechanisms:
schematization (developing rich, highly structured schemas); automatization (binding steps to a single step)
Expert systems are …
… programs that can perform liek an expert in a highly specialist domain.
Creativity means to produce sth that is both …
… novel and worthwhile.
A measurement of creativity:
divergent production (producing a diverse assortment of possible responses)
Creativity and the brain:
prefrontal cortex