PROBLEM

SOLVING
 Thinking

Formation of a new mental

representation through the
transformation of information
by complex interaction of the
mental attributes of judging,
abstracting, reasoning,
imagining, and problem solving.
 Thinking

Thinking is perhaps one aspect of our mental activity which continues even
when we are asleep.

The difference between what is thinking and what is not thinking is just our
awareness about the particular thinking process.

Hence thinking is a complex mental process which involves manipulation of

information.

Such information is collected through our senses (such as vision, hearing,

smelling etc) from the environment, as well as the information which is stored
in our memory because of our encounter with many events and situations in
the past.
 Problem
solving

Problem solving is part of our daily life. Every day we solve a

number of problems ranging from simple to complex.

Some problems take little time where as some take much time
to solve.

We look for alternative solutions if do not get the right kind

of resources to solve the problem in hand.

In the case of solving any type of problem our thinking

becomes directed and focused and we try to use all the
resources, both internal (mind) and external (support and help
of others) to arrive at the right and appropriate decision.
 Problem
solving

For example if you want to score good

marks in an exam, you study hard, take the
help of teachers, friends, and parents and
finally you score good marks. Thus problem
solving is directed thinking focused
towards dealing with a specific problem.

This thinking has three elements: the

problem, the goal, and the steps to reach
the goal.
 What is
Solving
Problem?

Much of life is spent solving

problems
• There is an initial state
• There is a goal state that
differs from the initial state
• The process of going from the
initial state to the goal state is
not immediately obvious
 Parts of a
Problem

Problem solving involves

attempting to move from the
initial state to the goal state
via the available operators
while observing any
constraints
 Aspects of
Problem
Solving
Plan: a hierarchical
process that
controls the order
Problem space: the in which a sequence
domain of the of operations is to
problem and the be performed
choices the solver
evaluates during
solution
DO PROBLEM
REPRESENTATION
MATTER?
ISOMORPHIC PROBLEMS

Sometimes, two problems

are isomorphic; that is,
their formal structure is
the same, and only their
content differs.
 PROBLEM REPRESENTATION DOES MATTER!

What is the key reason that some

problems are easier to solve than
Other researchers had
others ?
Consider the various versions of a
experimental participants do what
problem known as the Tower of Hanoi. they called the “Tower of London”
task, which is very similar to the
In this problem, the problem solver tower of Hanoi.
must use a series of moves to transfer
a set of rings (usually three) from the In this task, the goal was to move a
first of three pegs to the third of the set of colored balls across
three pegs, using as few moves as different-sized pegs in order to
possible.
match a target configuration.
Problems such as the Tower of Hanoi
As in the tower of Hanoi, there
challenge problem-solving skills, in part were constraints on which balls
through their demands on working could be moved at a given time.
memory.
The researchers also
gave participants two
tests of working-memory
capacity.

They found that the

measures of working-
memory capacity
accounted for between
25% and 36% of the
variance in how
successful participants
were in solving the
problem.
TYPES OF PROBLEMS

Knowledge-Rich Problems:
Knowledge-Lean Problems:
requires specific knowledge
can be solved (though not
or skill to solve the problem –
always skillfully) by use of
e.g., calculus, computer-
instructions for the task and
programming.
general problem solving skills
– e.g., finding a parking space
in the mall
 Two Kinds of
Problems Ill-structured or
Ill-defined
a problem usually
Well-structured or having multiple
well-defined possible solutions;
a problem having a cannot be solved by
clear cut solution; an algorithm
can be solved by an – E.g., writing a hit
algorithm song or building a
– E.g., crossword career
puzzle or
3x = 2 (solve for x)
WELL-DEFINED PROBLEMS

These problems had clear paths,

if not necessarily easy paths, to
their solutions—in particular, the
application of a formula.
 ILL-STRUCTURED PROBLEMS

The following problems illustrate some of the

difficulties created by the representation of
ill-structured problems. Be sure to try all
problems before you read about their
solutions.

1. A woman who lived in a small town 2. You have loose black and brown
married 20 different men in that same socks in a drawer, mixed in a ratio of
town. All of them are still living, and five black socks for every brown one.
she never divorced any of them. Yet How many socks do you have to take
she broke no laws. How could she do out of that drawer to be assured of
this? having a pair of the same color?
 ILL-STRUCTURED PROBLEMS

The woman who was involved in multiple marriages is a

minister.
The critical element for solving this problem is to
recognize that the word married may be used to
describe the performance of the marriage ceremony. As for the socks, you need only to
So the minister married the 20 men but did not take out three socks to be assured of
herself become wedded to any of them. To solve this having a pair of the same color. The
problem, you had to redefine your interpretation of ratio information is irrelevant.
the term married. Whether the first two socks you
Others have suggested yet additional possibilities. withdraw match in color, the third
For example, perhaps the woman was an actress and certainly will match at least one of
only married the men in her role as an actress. Or the first two.
perhaps the woman’s multiple marriages were annulled
so she never technically divorced any of the men.
There are no clear, readily available paths to
solution.

By definition, ill-structured problems do not have

well-defined problem spaces.

Problem solvers have difficulty constructing appropriate

mental representations for modeling these problems and
their solutions.
For such problems, much of the difficulty is in
constructing a plan for sequentially following a series of
steps that inch ever closer to their solution.
 WHAT ARE THE
DIFFERENT WAYS
TO SOLVE A
PROBLEM?

THE STRATEGIES
OR THE OPERATORS
 Plan a solution
Implementing
Strategies and
Evaluating Progress

• Generate-test method
(“trial and error”)
– would take too long.
-The problem solver simply generates alternative
courses of action, not necessarily in a systematic
way, and then notices in turn whether each
course of action will work.
- Involves trying a number of different solutions
and ruling out those that do not work.
-This approach can be a good option if you have a
very limited number of options available. If there
are many different choices, you are better off
narrowing down the possible options using another
problem-solving technique before attempting trial-
and-error.
 Plan a solution
Implementing
Strategies and
Evaluating Progress
• Means-end analysis
(a heuristic strategy)
- Using this problem-solving strategy does allow
people to simplify complex problems and reduce
the total number of possible solutions to a more
manageable set.
- Aims to reduce discrepancy between current
situation and desired goal at multiple
intermediate points
– Break problem into sub-goals.
The problem solver analyzes the problem by
viewing the end—the goal being sought —and
then tries to decrease the distance between the
current position in the problem
space and the end goal in that space
.
 Plan a solution Insight
In some cases, the solution to a
Implementing
problem can appear as a sudden
Strategies and insight. According to researchers,
Evaluating Progress insight can occur because you realize
that the problem is actually similar
to something that you have dealt
with in the past, but in most cases,
Algorithm
the underlying mental processes
An algorithm is a step-by-step procedure
that will always produce a correct solution. that lead to insight happen outside
A mathematical formula is a good example of awareness.
of a problem-solving algorithm. While an
algorithm guarantees an accurate answer, it
is not always the best approach to problem-
solving. This strategy is not practical for
many situations because it can be so time-
consuming. For example, if you were trying
to figure out all of the possible number
combinations to a lock using an algorithm, it
would take a very long time!
 Plan a solution
Implementing
Strategies and
Evaluating Progress Working backward
The problem solver starts
at the end and tries to
work backward from
there.

Working Forward
The problem solver starts
at the beginning and tries
to solve the problem from
the start to the finish.
 HOW TO ACQUIRE
THESE STRATEGIES?
There are at least three In a famous study reported in
ways to acquire new 1898, Thorndike placed cats in
problem-solving “puzzle boxes.” The boxes could
operators. We can be opened by various nonobvious
acquire new operators by means. For instance, in one box,
if the cat hit a latch, the door
discovery, by being told
would fall open. The cats, which
about them, or by were hungry, were rewarded with
observing someone else food when they got out. Initially,
use them. Discover a cat would move about randomly,
We might discover how a behaving ineffectively in other
new microwave oven works ways until it happened to hit the
by playing with it and so unlatching device. After
learn a new operator for repeated trials in the same
preparing food. Or a puzzle box, the cats eventually
scientist might discover a arrived at a point where they
new drug that kills bacteria would immediately hit the
and so invent a new operator unlatching device and get out.
for combating infections.
Each of these examples
involves a variety of
reasoning processes.
 Learning by Being Told or
by Example
We can acquire new
operators by being told
about them or by observing
someone else use them.
It might seem that the
most efficient way to learn Analogy
new problem-solving Is the process by which a problem
operators would be simply to solver extracts the operators used
be told about them, but to solve one problem and maps
seeing an example is often them onto a solution for another
at least as effective as problem.
being told what to do. Sometimes, the analogy process
can be straightforward. For
instance, a student may take the
structure of an example worked
out in a section of a mathematics
text and map it into the solution
for a problem in the exercises at
the end of the section.
THE PROBLEM-SOLVING
CYCLE

1. Problem 2. Problem
identification definition and
representation
Do we actually
have a problem? What exactly is
our problem?
 Understanding Complex.
When your problem is simple,
the solution is usually obvious,
and you don't need to follow
the four steps we outlined
Understanding the Problem. above.
The key to a good problem A complex problem is likely to
statement is ensuring that you be complex when it is difficult
deal with the real problem – not to understand due to the web
its symptoms. of interrelated issues. On a
Use tools to help you ask the right more complex problem you will
questions, and work through the typically take a more formal
layers of a problem to uncover approach to solve your
what's really going on. problem.
It is also important to ensure that
you look at the issue from a
variety of perspectives.
THE PROBLEM-SOLVING
CYCLE

3. Strategy formulation: How can

we solve the problem?
The strategy may involve analysis—breaking down the
whole of a complex problem into manageable elements.
It may involve the complementary process of
synthesis—putting together various elements to
arrange them into something useful.
Another pair of complementary strategies involves
divergent and convergent thinking. In divergent
thinking, you try to generate a diverse assortment of
possible alternative solutions to a problem. Once you
have considered a variety of possibilities, however, you
must engage in convergent thinking to narrow down the
multiple possibilities to converge on a single best
answer.
THE PROBLEM-SOLVING
CYCLE 5. Resource allocation
How much time, effort, money, etc., should
4. Organization
I put into this problem?
of information
Studies show that expert problem solvers (and
better students) tend to devote more of their
How do the mental resources to global (big-picture) planning
various pieces than do novice problem solvers. Novices (and
of information poorer students) tend to allocate more time to
local (detail-oriented) planning than do experts.
in the
problem fit For example, better students are more likely than
together? poorer students to spend more time in the initial
phase, deciding how to solve a problem, and less
time actually solving it. By spending more time in
advance deciding what to do, effective students
are less likely to fall prey to false starts, winding
paths, and all kinds of errors. When a person
allocates more mental resources to planning on a
large scale, he or she is able to save time and
energy and to avoid frustration later on.
THE PROBLEM-SOLVING
CYCLE 7. Evaluation

Did I solve the problem correctly?

Our emotions can influence how we
6. Monitoring implement the problem-solving
cycle. In groups with participants
with high measured emotional
Am I on intelligence—that is, the ability to
track as I identify emotions in others and
regulate emotions in oneself—
proceed to emotional processing can positively
solve the influence problem solving. In
problem? mathematicians, the ability to
regulate their emotional state
(among other factors) is related to
higher problem-solving ability
 Obstacles and
Aids to Problem
Solving

Of course, problem-solving is
not a flawless process. There
are a number of different
obstacles that can interfere
with our ability to solve a
problem quickly and efficiently.
Researchers have described a
number of these mental
obstacles, which include
functional fixedness, irrelevant
information, and assumptions.
 Mental Sets
and the set
effect
Assumptions

Mental Set
A common problem-solving obstacle is
known as a mental set, which is the
tendency people have to only use Assumptions
solutions that have worked in the past When dealing with a problem,
rather than looking for alternative people often make assumptions
ideas. about the constraints and
A mental set can often work as a obstacles that prevent certain
heuristic, making it a useful problem- solutions.
solving tool. However, mental sets can
also lead to inflexibility, making it more
difficult to find effective solutions.
 Incubation
effect

The best explanation for incubation effects relates them

to set effects.
During initial attempts to solve a problem, people set
themselves to think about the problem in certain ways and
bring to bear certain knowledge structures.
If this initial set is appropriate, they will solve the
problem. If the initial set is not appropriate, however,
they will be stuck throughout the session with
inappropriate procedures.
 Functional Irrelevant or
Fixedness Misleading
Information

Functional Fixedness Irrelevant or Misleading

This term refers to the tendency Information
to view problems only in their When you are trying to solve a
customary manner. Functional problem, it is important to
fixedness prevents people from distinguish between information
fully seeing all of the different that is relevant to the issue and
options that might be available to irrelevant data that can lead to
find a solution. faulty solutions. When a problem is
very complex, the easier it becomes
to focus on misleading or irrelevant
information.
 Positive transfer
Negative and Occurs when the solution of
Positive an earlier problem makes it
Transfer easier to solve a new
problem. That is, sometimes
Negative transfer the transfer of a mental
Occurs when solving an set can be an aid to problem
earlier problem makes it solving. For instance, one
harder to solve a later one. may transfer early math
Sometimes an early problem skills, such as addition, to
Transfer is any gets an individual on a wrong advanced math problems of
carryover of knowledge track. For example, police the kinds found in algebra
or skills from one may have difficulty solving a or physics
problem situation to political crime because
another. Transfer can be such a crime differs so
either negative or much from the kinds of
positive. crime that they typically
deal with.
 Mental
Representation

Problem solvers have difficulty constructing

appropriate mental representations for
modeling these problems and their solutions.
For such problems, much of the difficulty is
in constructing a plan for sequentially
following a series of steps that inch ever
closer to their solution.
 Insight

Insight is a distinctive and sometimes

seemingly sudden understanding of a
problem or of a strategy that aids in solving
the problem.
Often, an insight involves re-conceptualizing a
problem or a strategy in a totally new way.
Insight often involves detecting and combining
relevant old and new information to gain a novel
view of the problem or of its solution.
 How to improve your
problem solving skills
How to fix a project
that’s running behind
schedule?

1. Focus on the Solution, Not the Problem

Neuroscientists have proven that your brain
cannot find solutions if you focus on the problem.
This is because when you focus on the problem,
you’re effectively feeding ‘negativity,’ which in
turn activates negative emotions in the brain.
These emotions block potential solutions.
That doesn’t mean to ‘ignore the problem,’
instead, try to remain calm. It helps to first,
acknowledge the problem; and then, move your
focus to a solution-oriented mindset where you
keep fixed on what the ‘answer’ could be, rather
than lingering on ‘what went wrong’ and ‘who’s
fault it is’.
 If the problem is “always late to work”…
How to improve your Why am I late to work?
problem solving skills I always click the snooze button and just want to
How to fix a project go on sleeping.
that’s running behind Why do I want to go on sleeping?
schedule? I feel so tired in the morning.
Why do I feel tired in the morning?
I slept late the night before, that’s why.
2. Adapt 5 Whys to Clearly Define Why did I sleep late?
the Problem I wasn’t sleepy after drinking coffee, and I just
5 whys is a problem solving framework kept scrolling my Facebook feed and somehow I
to help you get to the root of a couldn’t stop.
problem. Why did I drink coffee?
By repeatedly asking the question Because I was too sleepy at work in the afternoon,
“why” on a problem, you can dig into not having enough sleep the night before.
the root cause of a problem, and
that’s how you can find the best
solution to tackle the root problem
once and for all. And it can go deeper
than just asking why for five times.
For example:
 How to improve your
problem solving skills
4. List out as Many Solutions as
How to fix a project
Possible
that’s running behind
Try to come up with ‘ALL POSSIBLE
schedule?
SOLUTIONS’ – even if they seem
ridiculous at first. It’s important you
keep an open mind to boost creative
3. Simplify Things thinking, which can trigger potential
As human beings, we have a solutions.
tendency to make things more ‘No idea is a bad idea’ and this aids
complicated than they need to be! creative thinking in brainstorms and
Try simplifying your problem by other problem-solving techniques.
generalizing it. Whatever you do, do not ridicule
Remove all the details and go back yourself for coming up with ‘stupid
to the basics. Try looking for a solutions’ as it’s often the crazy ideas
really easy, obvious solution – you that trigger other more viable
might be surprised at the results! solutions.
And we all know that it’s often the
simple things that are the most
productive.
 How to improve your
problem solving 6. Use Language That Creates
skills? Possibility
Lead your thinking with phrases
like ‘what if…’ and ‘imagine
if…’ These terms open up our brains
5. Think Laterally to think creatively and encourage
Change the ‘direction’ of your solutions.
thoughts by thinking laterally. Pay Avoid closed, negative language such
attention to the saying, as ‘I don’t think…’ or ‘But this is not
Try to change your approach and look right…’.
at things in a new way. You can try You’ll be able to solve problems in
flipping your objective around and your role better as you grow in your
looking for a solution that is the industry-specific knowledge. But
polar opposite! there are also a few universal
Even if it feels silly, a fresh and problem-solving skills we all need:
unique approach usually stimulates a
fresh solution.
 How to improve your
problem solving
skills?

7. Keep an “Idea Journal” with

You
You’ll be able to quickly record
important thoughts, write down
personal experiences, make
sketches, and explore ideas when
you keep an “Idea Journal” with you
at all times. Working out problems
by sorting your thoughts on paper
and then viewing them more
objectively is easier than having all
your thoughts stuck in your head
(and will provide better problem-
solving strategies).
 How to improve your
problem solving
skills?

8. Use Mind Maps to Help Visualize the Problem

Mind Maps, a visual snapshot of a problem and its possible solutions, can
help focus the mind, stimulate the brain, increase the capacity for
creative thinking, and generate more ideas for solutions.
Make a Mind Map by drawing your problem as the central idea. Add
“main branches” consisting of all the reasons for the problem. Use “sub-
branches” to explore further details.
Next, make a separate Mind Map of all possible solutions to the central
problem. Add “main branches” showing all the ways that your problem
can be solved, such as colleagues that can help, techniques you can apply,
and other resources you can use.
Add “sub-branches” to further explore the details. Make a final branch
with the most suitable solution for the main problem. Use “sub-
branches” for details.
Through this exercise, you should be able to see which “branch” or
option is the most practical, time-saving, and cost-effective problem
solving method.
 10. Get a Good Night’s Sleep
More than any other sleeping or awake
How to improve your state, Rapid Eye Movement (REM)
problem solving sleep directly enhances creative
skills? processing in the brain. REM sleep
helps “stimulate associative networks,
allowing the brain to make new and
useful associations between unrelated
9. Create “Psychological Distance” ideas” and are “not due to selective
What is psychological distance? memory enhancements” such as
It’s “anything that we do not experience as memory consolidation, which occurs
occurring now, here, and to ourselves.” Some when awake.
examples include taking another person’s
perspective or thinking of the problem as
unlikely.
Scientists have shown that by increasing the
mental distance between us and our problem,
we’ll have an increase in creative solutions. This
happens because thinking more abstractly helps
us form unexpected connections between
seemingly unrelated concepts, thus allowing our
minds to increase its problem-solving capacity.
How to improve your
problem solving
skills?

11. Participate in Yoga

The powerful combination of body
awareness, breathing, and meditation
that is required during yoga practice
has been shown to significantly raise
cognitive test scores. Other
results from a University of Illinois
study include shorter reaction times,
more accuracy, and increased
attention.