PSY304 Lecture 8 notes - Problem solving
Thinking -
- Not looking at the information only in one specific area but also going beyond to think about
the situation
- Influenced by prior knowledge
Characteristics of problem solving -
- Must have a goal in mind before solving
- Only engage when solution is not given immediately
- Engage in several type of cognitive operation
The problem space hypothesis -
- To have every possible solution and route within the problem space
- Include our own knowledge for each step of the solution (having all possible solution that one
can think of)
- Initial state - start
- Multiple intermediate route - having multiple solutions that works
- To create the most efficient path (shortest and efficient) to get the problem solve
Insight - Gestalt approach -
- Changing of references in the problem (having a different view)
- Don’t look at individual element but the link between each of the element
- Understanding the relationship between the elements (finding ways to approach on solving the
problem)
- Having a sudden "aha” moments
- Solution already known to us but draw in new conclusions based on the old information
Insight - neurological evidence -
- Needing to understand the meaning of the word and how they are relate to each other
- This is only activate when the solution of the problem involve insight
- e.g having to look at the relationship between two weakly-related things vs viewing it in a new
stance and creating a new solution that may have a stronger relationship between the variables of
the situation/object
General methods of solution - Generate and test technique -
- Generating several few possible solutions and see which work best
- To see which fits the criteria of the problem (e.g words that starts with ‘A’)
- Only useful when there are a few possibilities
- Looses effectiveness if there are too many possibilities to choose from
General methods of solution - Means-end analysis -
- Analyse the problem before working on the problem
- Foward-looking: Each moves that you take should take us closer to our ‘goal’ (solution)
- Establishing subgoals apart from the main goal (to ace an exam [main] -> start focusing in class
[sub], attend extra lessons [sub] etc)
General methods of solution - Working backwards -
Opposite direction of means-end analysis
Establishing subgoals
Start from the goal position and work towards the initial state
Possible when the goal is known
e.g time (reach party at 7pm [main], leave by 630pm [sub], dressed up by 620pm [sub] etc)
General methods of solution - backtracking -
If you find that one of the plan does not comply in reaching your goal, might need to backtrack
and find an alternative route that may be best
When a step doesn’t work (just undoing one of the route)
Reasoning by analogy (analogical reasoning) -
New problem is similar to a problem you’d encountered before
Able to use previous successful solution to solve the existing problem
Able to transfer whatever that we had learn to the new problem that arise
Types of transfer -
Far transfer: transfer the knowledge to a situation that is quite different
E.g placing knowledge to real life situation
Near transfer: transferring to a very similar context
e.g quizzes to exam
Easier to achieve and able to see improvement
Factor affecting transfer -
Task similarity: having the same properties, relation and procedure of the solution
Context similarity: location/people
Time interval: the period between the old and new problem
Neurological evidence -
Individual that has damage to prefrontal cortex had harder time to
- move away from the goal
• Unable to plan ahead
• Prefrontal cortex inhibit related but incorrect answers
Activity 1: move 3 dots so that the triangle is upside down
. . . .
. . .
. .
.
Activity 2: only have 15 cents, open cost 2 cents, closing cost 3 cents, need to link all rings
together within 15 cents
Ooo (open 3 rings = 6 cents) ooo (chain 1 into ring 1) ooo (chain 2 into ring 2) ooo (chain 3 into
ring 3) closing 3 rings = 9 cents (6 cents + 9 cents = 15 cents)
Blocks to problem-solving - mental set -
To see in another side of the visual (‘picture’)
Fixate to a certain solution
Refuse to look at other possible solutions
Repeating same strategy even if the solution is not good
Usually people are not aware that they are in ‘mental-set’
Blocks to problem-solving - incorrect/incomplete representation -
Unable to complete the presentation as there are errors in the steps (does not have the right
representation)
Search is incomplete as we did not understand the entire problem space
Hard to determine the problem = undefined/fuzzy (problems are incomplete)
e.g how to be ……? (A happier person? A responsible person? What does it mean by
happy/responsible person?)
Blocks to problem-solving - lack of problem-specific knowledge/expertise -
Experts vs normal people
Having more experiences allow expert to create a shortcut in solving the problem (able to solve
the problem faster than normal people)
Remembering the information and knowledge on their specific field
Experts tend to solve based on the specific information of the object of the problem
e.g physics professors will group problems based on the principles of the problem / normal
students will just group problems based on characteristics
Creativity -
Requires insight and inference
Specialised process -
Unconscious processing = incubation (able to find solution after a small break) [unconsciously
solving the problem, background working]
Solutions are enhanced by delay/break
Ordinary cognitive mechanism -
Directed remembering - constantly trying to remember thing while solving the problems / trying
hard to retrieve information from long term memory
Contrary recognition - recognising something is not what it appear it is / seeing beyond of what
something is supposed to be
