ch.12 psych
preinventive forms
Objects created in Finke's "creative cognition" experiment that precede the creation of a finished creative product.
Situationally produced mental set is illustrated by
Situationally produced mental set is illustrated by the Luchins water jug problem.
Describe Goal state and give an example from the tower of hanoi
Solution to the problem. All three discs are on the right peg.
the pros and cons of in-vivo problem solving research
The advantage of the in vivo approach is that it captures thinking in naturalistic settings. A disadvantage is that it is time-consuming, and, as with most observational research, it is difficult to isolate and control specific variables.
restructuring
The process of changing a problem's representation. According to the Gestalt psychologists, restructuring is the key mechanism of problem solving.
divergent thinking
Thinking that is open-ended, involving a large number of potential solutions.
Creative problem solving is associated with
divergent thinking.
enduring contributions of Gestalt psychology
idea that problem solving depends on how the problem is represented in the mind
Newell and Simon (1972) saw problems in terms
of an initial state—conditions at the beginning of the problem—and a goal state—the solution of the problem.
One of the main contributions of Newell and Simon's approach to problem solving is
that it provided a way to specify the possible pathways from the initial to goal states.
When James Voss and coworkers (1983) posed a real-world problem involving Russian agriculture to expert political scientists, expert chemists, and novice political scientists, they found
that the expert political scientists performed best and that the expert chemists performed as poorly as the novice political scientists. In general, experts are experts only within their own field and perform like anyone else outside of their field because they possess a larger and better organized store of knowledge about their specific field.
Research on the mutilated checkerboard problem also illustrate
the importance of how a problem is presented.
the initial state of the Tower of Hanoi and the goal state
the initial state of the Tower of Hanoi problem as three discs stacked on the left peg, and the goal state as these discs stacked on the right peg.
For the Tower of Hanoi problem, the operators
the operators are moving the disc to another peg.
Alan Newell and Herbert Simon were early proponents of the information-processing approach to problem solving. They saw problem solving as
the searching of a problem space to find the path between the statement of the problem (the initial state) and the solution to the problem (the goal state). This search is governed by operators and is usually accomplished by setting subgoals. The Tower of Hanoi problem has been used to illustrate this process.
Newell and Simon developed the technique of think-aloud protocols
to study subjects' thought process as they are solving a problem.
surface features
Specific elements that make up a problem. For example, in the radiation problem, the rays and the tumor are surface features. Contrast with Structural features.
Holyoak and Koh did another experiment in which they investigated the effect of varying the structural features of the problem.
Holyoak and Koh kept the surface features constant by using the lightbulb problem as the source problem and the radiation problem as the target problem; they varied the structural features by presenting two versions of the lightbulb problem. The first version, called the fragile-glass version, was essentially the same as the original lightbulb problem. In this version, the structural features of the lightbulb and radiation problems were similar. laser intensity too high = breaks bulb Source and target problems have similar structural features.) Sixty-nine percent of the subjects who read this solution were able to solve the radiation problem. Laser intensity too low (won't fix filament) In the second version of the problem, called the insufficient-intensity version, the structural features of the lightbulb and radiation problems are different. Source and target problems have different structural features. Only 33 percent of the subjects who read this solution were able to solve the radiation problem. the conclusion from comparing the results from these two versions of the lightbulb problem is that analogical transfer is improved by making the structural features of the source and target problems more similar.
One of the major obstacles to problem solving, according to the Gestalt psychologists, is
fixation
Structural features
Types of memory indicated by boxes in models of memory. In the modal model, the types are sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory. are the underlying principle that governs the solution.
source problem
A problem or story that is analogous to the target problem and which therefore provides information that can lead to a solution to the target problem.
means-end analysis
A problem-solving strategy that seeks to reduce the difference between the initial and goal states. This is achieved by creating subgoals, intermediate states that are closer to the goal. According to Newell and Simon, the person has to search the problem space to find a solution, and they proposed that one way to direct the search is to use a strategy
Kaplan and Simon used a technique in mutilated checkerboard problem introduced by Simon called the think-aloud protocol
A procedure in which subjects are asked to say out loud what they are thinking while doing a problem. This procedure is used to help determine people's thought processes as they are solving a problem.
what has been associated with creativity
A reduction in latent inhibition has been associated both with mental illness and with creativity. Additionally, it has been demonstrated that deactivation of the anterior temporal cortex, which is damaged in people with the savant syndrome, can increase the ability to solve difficult problems.
An experiment by William Chase and Herbart Simon (1973a, 1973b) compared how well a chess master with more than 10,000 hours of experience and a beginner with fewer than 100 hours of experience were able to reproduce the positions of pieces on a chessboard after looking at an arrangement for 5 seconds.
Experts Possess More Knowledge About Their Fields results showed that experts excelled at this task when the chess pieces were arranged in actual game positions (Figure 12.17a) but were no better than the beginners when the pieces were arranged randomly (Figure 12.17b). The reason for the experts' superior performance with actual positions is that the chess masters had stored many of the patterns that occur in real games in their long-term memory, so they saw the layout of chess pieces not in terms of individual pieces but in terms of four to six chunks, each made up of a group of pieces that formed familiar, meaningful patterns. When the pieces were arranged randomly, the familiar patterns were destroyed, and the chess masters' advantage vanished (a) The chess master is better at reproducing actual game positions. (b) The master's performance drops to the level of the beginner's when the pieces are arranged randomly.
experiment by Michelene Chi and coworkers (1982; also see Chi et al., 1981). They presented 24 physics problems to a group of experts (physics professors) and a group of novices (students with one semester of physics) and asked them to sort the problems into groups based on their similarities
Experts' Knowledge is Organized Differently Than Novices' The difference in organization between experts and novices is illustrated novice sorted the problems based on surface characteristics such as how similar the objects in the problem were. Thus, two problems that included inclined planes were grouped together, even though the physical principles involved in the problems were quite different. The expert, in contrast, sorted problems based on structural features, such as general principles of physics. novices categorized problems based on their surface features (what the objects looked like) and the experts categorized them based on their deep structure (the underlying principles involved). As it turns out, organizing based on principles results in more effective problem solving,
Lightbulb Problem
Holyoak and Kyunghee Koh (1987) created a problem that had surface features similar to the radiation problem To test the idea that making the surface features more similar might help subjects notice the relationship between the source problem and the target problem, Holyoak and Koh (1987) used the radiation problem as the source problem (note that this is different from our previous discussion, in which the radiation problem was the target problem) and the lightbulb problem as the target problem. Subjects in one group were taught about the radiation problem and its solution in an introductory psychology class, just prior to being given the lightbulb problem. Subjects in the control group did not know about the radiation problem. The result was that 81 percent of subjects who knew about the radiation problem solved the lightbulb problem, but only 10 percent of the subjects in the control group solved it. Holyoak and Koh hypothesized that this excellent analogical transfer from the radiation problem to the lightbulb problem occurred because of the high surface similarity between rays (radiation problem) and lasers (lightbulb problem).
mutilated checkerboard problem
How a problem is stated can affect its difficulty A problem that has been used to study how the statement of a problem influences a person's ability to reach a solution. A checkerboard consists of 64 squares, which can be completely covered by placing 32 dominos on the board so that each domino covers two squares. The mutilated checkerboard problem asks the following question: If we eliminate two corners of the checkerboard, as shown in Figure 12.13, can we now cover the remaining squares with 31 dominos? A solution would be either a "yes" or "no" answer plus a statement of the rationale behind your answer. The key to solving the mutilated checkerboard problem is understanding the principle that each domino covers two squares and that these squares must be of different colors, so removing the two corner squares with the same color makes it impossible to solve the problem
An experiment by Dedre Gentner and Susan Goldin-Meadow (2003) illustrated analogical encoding by showing that it is possible to get subjects to discover similar structural features by having them compare two cases that illustrate a principle.
In the first part of the experiment, subjects were taught about the negotiation strategies of trade-off and contingency I'll give you A, if you'll give me B. The strategy of contingency refers to a negotiating strategy in which a person gets what he or she wants if something else happens. "You can have 18 percent if sales are high, but less if sales are low." After being familiarized with these negotiating strategies, one group of subjects received two sample cases, both of which described trade-off solutions. The subjects' task was to compare these two cases to arrive at a successful negotiation. Another group did the same thing, but their examples involved the contingency principle. Then both groups were given a new case, which potentially could be solved by either negotiating principle. When presented with the new test problem, subjects tended to use the negotiating strategy that had been emphasized in the sample cases. Gentner concluded from these results that having people compare source stories is an effective way to achieve analogical encoding because it forces them to pay attention to structural features that enhance their ability to solve other problems. subjects who had compared trade-off examples were more apt to find trade-off solutions, whereas those who had compared contingency examples were more apt to find contingency solutions.
subgoals
In the means-end analysis approach to problem solving, intermediate states that move the process of solution closer to the goal.
terms coined by Newell-Simon approach to problem solving
Initial state goal state intermediate state operators problem space means-end analysis
Tower of Hanoi Problem
Move the discs from the left peg to the right peg, as shown in Figure 12.9a, following these rules: Discs are moved one at a time from one peg to another. A disc can be moved only when there are no discs on top of it. A larger disc can never be placed on top of a smaller disc. As you try solving this problem, count the number of moves it takes to get from the initial to the goal state. problem starts with an initial state, continues through a number of intermediate states, and finally reaches the goal state.
Dunbar studied the use of analogies in real-world settings using a technique called in vivo research.
Observing people to determine how they solve problems in real-world situations. This technique has been used to study the use of analogy in a number of different settings, including laboratory meetings of a university research group and design brainstorming sessions in an industrial research and development department.
savant syndrome
Occurs in people with autism or other mental disorders, who can achieve extraordinary feats of memory or may have great artistic talent or mathematical ability. such as being able to tell the day of the week for any randomly picked date, or exhibit great artistic talent or mathematical ability.
analogical paradox
People find it difficult to apply analogies in laboratory settings, but routinely use them in real-world settings. Many real-world examples of analogical problem solving illustrate what Kevin Dunbar (2001) has called the analogical paradox analogical paradox People find it difficult to apply analogies in laboratory settings, but routinely use them in real-world settings. : While it is difficult to apply analogies in laboratory research, people routinely use analogies in real-world settings.
Alan Snyder (2009) to consider what another type of disorder can tell us about creativity. Snyder considered the savant syndrome
Snyder proposes that these savant skills reside within everyone but are not normally accessible to conscious awareness. Savants, he suggests, are open to information in the brain that is normally hidden from conscious awareness because of what he calls top-down inhibition. Based on the fact that the savant syndrome is often associated with damage to the anterior temporal lobe (ATL; see Figure 9.26), Snyder proposed that deactivating the ATL might open people to different ways of perceiving stimuli. To test this idea, Richard Chi and Snyder (2011, 2012) presented normally functioning subjects with the nine-dot problem shown in Figure 12.25. The task in this problem is to draw four straight lines that pass through all nine dots, without lifting your pen from the paper or retracing a line. None of Chi and Snyder's subjects were able to solve the problem, but when their ATL was deactivated by transcranial magnetic stimulation, 40 percent of the subjects were able to solve the problem. This matches the 40 percent who can solve the problem if they are told that the solution involves drawing lines outside the square. Chi and Snyder concluded that we find the problem difficult because our brains are wired to interpret the world in certain ways, based on past experience. In the nine-dot problem, Gestalt grouping principles cause us to perceive the nine dots as a square. we need to break free of our normal way of perceiving. This idea is consistent with the research we just described on latent inhibition, which also demonstrates a relationship between mechanisms that open the mind and creativity.
water jug problem,
The Gestalt psychologists also showed how mental set can arise out of the situation created as a person solves a problem. A problem, first described by Luchins, that illustrates how mental set can influence the strategies that people use to solve a problem. subjects were told that their task was to figure out on paper how to obtain a required volume of water, given three empty jars for measures. presented the first example to his subjects, in which the three jugs had the following capacities: quarts, quarts, quarts, and the desired volume was 100 quarts. This is Problem 1 in Figure 12.8a. After giving his subjects some time to solve the problem, Luchins provided the following solution: The solution for Problem 1 can be stated as . After demonstrating how to solve Problem 1 (but without mentioning this formula), Luchins had his subjects solve Problems 2-8, all of which could be solved by applying the same formula. Luchins was interested in how his subjects solved Problems 7 and 8, which could be solved by the B − A − 2C formula, but which also could be solved more simply as follows: Problem 7: Desired quantity = A + C (Fill A and C and pour into B.) Problem 8: Desired quantity = A − C (Fill A and pour into C.) The question Luchins asked was: How will subjects solve Problems 7 and 8 with and without mental set? He determined this by running two groups: Mental set group: Using the procedure described above, he presented Problem 1 first as a demonstration, then had subjects solve Problems 2-8, beginning with Problem 2. This established a mental set for using the B − A − 2C procedure. No mental set group: Subjects just solved Problems 7 and 8, beginning with 7. In this case, subjects weren't exposed to the B − A − 2C procedure. The result was that only 23 percent of the subjects in the mental set group used the simpler solutions for Problems 7 and 8, but all of the subjects in the no mental set group used the simpler solutions. Thus, mental set can influence problem solving both because of preconceptions about the functions of an object (candle and two-string problems) and because of preconceptions about the way to solve a problem (water jug problem).
A more recent example of a creative idea based on analogical thinking is the case of Jorge Odón, an Argentine car mechanic, who designed a device to deal with the life-threatening situation of a baby stuck in the birth canal during delivery.
The beginnings of Odón's design can be traced to viewing a YouTube video that demonstrated how to remove a cork that had been pushed inside a wine bottle It is an example of analogical thinking applied to creative problem solving that resulted in a truly useful product
After confirming Duncker's finding that the radiation problem is extremely difficult, Gick and Holyoak (1980, 1983) had another group of subjects read and memorize the fortress story below, giving them the impression that the purpose was to test their memory for the story.
The fortress story is analogous to the radiation problem: After Gick and Holyoak's subjects read the story, they were told to begin work on the radiation problem. Thirty percent of the people in this group were able to solve the radiation problem, an improvement over the 10 percent who solved the problem when it was presented alone. However, what is significant about this experiment is that 70 percent of the subjects were still unable to solve the problem, even after reading an analogous source story. This result highlights one of the major findings of research on using analogies as an aid to problem solving: Even when exposed to analogous source problems, most people do not make the connection between the source problem and the target problem. when Gick and Holyoak's subjects were told to think about the story they had read, their success rate more than doubled, to 75 percent. Since no new information was given about the story, apparently the information needed to recognize the analogy was available in people's memories but had simply not been retrieved
how the radiation problem and its solution fit with the Gestalt idea of representation and restructuring.
The initial representation of the problem is a single ray that destroys the tumor but also destroys healthy tissue. The restructured solution involves dividing the single ray into many smaller rays.
analogical problem solving
The use of analogies as an aid to solving problems. Typically, a solution to one problem, the source problem, is presented that is analogous to the solution to another problem, the target problem. Using the Russian marriage problem to help solve the mutilated checkerboard problem is an example of an effective use of analogy to solve a problem.
Experts are better than novices at solving problems in their field of expertise.
They have more knowledge of the field, organize this knowledge based more on deep structure than on surface features, and spend more time analyzing a problem when it is first presented.
Craig Kaplan and Herbert Simon (1990) hypothesized that versions of the mutilated checkerboard problem that were more likely to lead subjects to become aware of this principle that each domino covers two squares and that these squares must be of different colors would be easier to solve. To test this idea, they created
To test this idea, they created the following four version of the checkerboard, shown in Figure 12.14: Blank: a board with all blank squares Color: alternating black and pink squares as might appear on a regular checkerboard The words black and pink on the board The words bread and butter on the board All four versions of the checkerboard problem have the same board layout and the same solution. What is different is the information on the boards (or lack of information on the blank board) that can be used to provide subjects with the insight that a domino covers two squares and that these squares must be of different colors. subjects who were presented boards that emphasized the difference between adjoining squares found the problem easier to solve. The bread-and-butter condition emphasized the difference the most, because bread and butter are very different but are also associated with each other. Subjects in the bread-and-butter group solved the problem twice as fast as those in the blank group and required fewer hints, which the experimenter provided when subjects appeared to be at a "dead end." The bread-and-butter group required an average of 1 hint; the blank group required an average of 3.14 hints. The performance of the color and the black-and-pink groups fell between these two. This result shows that solving a problem becomes easier when information is provided that helps point people toward the correct representation of the problem.
group brainstorming
When people in a problem-solving group are encouraged to express whatever ideas come to mind, without censorship. This idea, that preconceptions can inhibit creativity, led Alex Osborn (1953) to propose the technique of group brainstorming. The purpose of this technique is to encourage people to freely express ideas that might be useful in solving a particular problem The basis of these instructions is to increase creativity by opening people to "think outside the box."
Analogical problem solving occurs when experience with a
a previously solved source problem or a source story is used to help solve a new target problem. Research involving Duncker's radiation problem has shown that even when people are exposed to analogous source problems or stories, most people do not make the connection between the source problem or story and the target problem.
By recording people's thought processes as they are solving a problem, the think-aloud protocol reveals
a shift in how a person perceives elements of the problem. This is very similar to the Gestalt psychologists' idea of restructuring he circle problem in Figure 12.2. The key to solving that problem was realizing that the line x was the same length as the radius of the circle. Similarly, the key to solving the mutilated checkerboard problem is realizing that adjoining squares are paired, because a domino always covers two different-colored squares on a normal checkerboard. in Gestalt terms, we could say that the person creates a representation of the problem that makes it easier to solve.
The examples of George de Mestral and Jorge Odón illustrate how
analogy has been used to create practical inventions.
two key terms that are used in research on analogical transfer are
are target problem, which is the problem the subject is trying to solve, and source problem, which is another problem that shares some similarities with the target problem and that illustrates a way to solve the target problem. For the mutilated checkerboard problem, the checkerboard problem is the target problem, and the Russian marriage problem is the source problem.
Creative problem solving has been described as
as a process that begins with generation of the problem and ends with implementation of the solution, with ideas happening in between.
candle problem
example of functional fixedness A problem, first described by Duncker, in which a person is given a number of objects and is given the task of mounting a candle on a wall so it can burn without dripping wax on the floor. This problem was used to study functional fixedness. The solution to the problem occurs when the person realizes that the matchbox can be used as a support rather than as a container. When Duncker did this experiment, he presented one group of subjects with small cardboard boxes containing the materials (candles, tacks, and matches) and presented another group with the same materials, but outside the boxes, so the boxes were empty. he found that the group that had been presented with the boxes as containers found the problem more difficult than did the group presented with empty boxes. Subjects who were presented with empty boxes were twice as likely to solve the problem as subjects who were presented with boxes that were being used as containers The fact that seeing the boxes as containers inhibited using them as supports is an example of functional fixedness.
One type of fixation that can work against solving a problem,
functional fixedness- An effect that occurs when the ideas a person has about an object's function inhibit the person's ability to use the object for a different function. See also focusing on familiar functions or uses of an object,
Analogical problem solving is facilitated when
hints are given regarding the relevance of the source problem, when the source and target problems have similar surface features, and when structural features are made more obvious. Analogical encoding is a process that helps people discover similar structural features.
analogy
his process of noticing connections between similar problems and applying the solution for one problem to other problems Making a comparison in order to show a similarity between two different things.
Problem solving, for the Gestalt psychologists, was about
how people represent a problem in their mind and how solving a problem involves a reorganization or restructuring of this representation.
he Gestalt psychologists focused on
how people represent a problem in their mind. They devised a number of problems to illustrate how solving a problem involves a restructuring of this representation and to demonstrate factors that pose obstacles to problem solving. The Gestalt psychologists introduced the idea that reorganization is associated with insight—a sudden realization of a problem's solution.
Despite the lack of relationship between creative professions and mental disorders, one particularly interesting result of the Swedish study was that
one particularly interesting result of the Swedish study was that close relatives (parents and siblings) of people with schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder (a mixture of schizophrenic and mood disorder symptoms), and bipolar disorder, who were not themselves diagnosed with a disorder, had a higher than average chance of being in a creative profession (Kyaga et al., 2013). Other research has also shown that creativity and schizophrenia-like symptoms run in families (Brod, 1997; Prentky, 1989), and close relatives of people with bipolar disorder, who were not themselves diagnosed as having the disorder, scored higher on creativity tests (Richards et al., 1988). This suggests a genetically determined trait that is associated both with mental illness and with creativity.
creative cognition exercise one devised by Finke (
randomly selected three of the object parts from Figure 12.22 for his subjects. After the subjects had created an object, they were provided with the name of one of the object categories from Table 12.3 and were given 1 minute to interpret their object. for your form, pick a category, and then decide what your object could be used for and describe how it functions. Finke called these "inventions" preinventive forms because they are ideas that precede the creation of a finished creative product. 360 objects, a panel of judges rated 120 of these objects as being "practical inventions" (the objects received high ratings for "practicality") and rated 65 as "creative inventions" (they received high ratings for both practicality and originality; Finke demonstrated not only that you don't have to be an "inventor" to be creative, but also that many of the processes that occur during creative cognition are similar to cognitive process from other areas of cognitive psychology. For example, Finke found that people were more likely to come up with creative uses for preinventive objects that they had created themselves than for objects created by other people. This result is similar to the generation effect we discussed in Chapter 7: People remember material better when they generate it themselves.
The link between LI and creativity is that
reduced LI is associated both with mental illness and with enhanced creativity Thus, one of the hallmarks of schizophrenia is being bombarded with an overwhelming flow of incoming information. Reduced LI is associated with being more open to stimuli that would ordinarily be ignored and is often associated with higher levels of the personality trait "openness to experience.
why is group brainstorming not a good way to generate ideas
research has shown that placing people in groups to share ideas results in fewer ideas than adding up the ideas generated by the same number of people asked to think of ideas individually some people may dominate the discussion so others aren't able to participate. Also, despite the instructions to express any idea that comes to mind, being in a group can inhibit some people from expressing their ideas People also may be paying attention to others in the group, which keeps them from coming up with ideas of their own
Experts Spend More Time Analyzing Problems which
spend time trying to understand the problem rather than immediately trying to solve it Although this may slow them down at the beginning, this strategy usually pays off in a more effective approach to the problem.
In the radiation and lightbulb problem, the structural features are
strong ray destroys tissue for the radiation problem, and strong laser breaks lightbulb for the lightbulb problem.
One thing that makes noticing step in analogical problem solving difficult is that people often focus on
surface features- specific elements of the problem such as the rays and the tumor. Surface features of the source problem and the target problem can be very different.
The analogical paradox is that, while it is difficult to apply analogies in laboratory research, in vivo problem-solving research has shown
that analogical problem solving is often used in real-world settings.
One disadvantage of being an expert
that knowing about the established facts and theories in a field may make experts less open to new ways of looking at problems. suggest being an expert may be a disadvantage when confronting a problem that requires flexible thinking—a problem whose solution may involve rejecting the usual procedures in favor of other procedures that might not normally be used
Gestalt psychologist Wolfgang Kohler (1929), asks us to determine the length of the segment marked x if the radius of the circle has a length r.
that the solution to a problem depends on how it is represented What is important about this solution is that it doesn't require mathematical equations. Instead, the solution is obtained by first perceiving the object and then representing it in a different way. The Gestalt psychologists called the process of changing the problem's representation restructuring
To test the idea of a relationship between LI and creativity in people without mental illness, Shelly Carson and coworkers (2003) had students fill out questionnaires that measured
their creative achievement score—their level of producing creative products in art and science their level of latent inhibition. indicate that subjects with low LI had higher creative achievement scores. This relationship was especially strong in students with high IQs. So, openness to experience combined with intelligence is associated with high creative output. Based on results such as these (also see Peterson & Carson, 2000), Carson (2011) concluded that reduced LI enhances creativity by increasing the unfiltered stimuli available to conscious awareness, which increases the possibility of creating useful and novel combinations of stimuli. Carson (2010) concludes that creativity can be enhanced when some of the characteristics of people with mental disorders are present in small doses.
One particularly interesting result is that close relatives of people with mental disorders tend to be more creative than average. This has led to the idea that
there may be a genetically determined characteristic that is associated with both creativity and mental illness.
A famous example of an invention that resulted from analogical problem solving is the story of George de Mestral, who in 1948
went for a nature hike with his dog and returned home with burrs covering his pants and the dog's fur. inspected the burrs under a microscope. What he saw were many tiny hook-like structures, led him to design a fabric fastener with many small hooks on one side and soft loops on the other side. In 1955 he patented his design and called it Velcro!
The Russian Marriage Problem
Kaplan and Simon used different colors and different names to help their subjects realize that pairing of adjacent squares is important. But this has also been achieved in another way—by telling the following story, which has parallels to the checkerboard problem. The answer to this problem is obvious. Losing two males leaves 30 men and 32 women, making it impossible to arrange 31 heterosexual marriages. Of course, this is exactly the situation in the mutilated checkerboard problem, People who read this story are usually able to solve the mutilated checkerboard problem if they realize the connection between the couples in the story and the alternating squares on the checkerboard. demonstrates analogyu
The question of what leads to generation of ideas is a complicated one. llustrated by Smith's experiment showing that
Knowledge is often essential for generating ideas, but sometimes too much knowledge can be a bad thing, as illustrated by Smith's experiment showing that providing examples can inhibit creative design.
latent inhibition (LI)
Mechanism that results in screening out irrelevant stimuli. One trait that seems to be related to both mental illness and creativity Everyone has this property; it is one of the mechanisms that keep us from being overwhelmed by the huge number of stimuli that bombard us every day
Describe Intermediate state and give an example from the tower of hanoi
Conditions after each step is made toward solving a problem. After the smallest disc is moved to the right peg, the two larger discs are on the left peg and the smallest one is on the right.
Describe Initial state and give an example from the tower of hanoi
Conditions at the beginning of a problem. All three discs are on the left peg
operators
In problem solving, permissible moves that can be made toward a problem's solution. Newell and Simon also introduced the idea of operators
what is the goal state
In problem solving, the condition that occurs when a problem has been solved
what is the initial state
In problem solving, the conditions at the beginning of a problem.
intermediate state
In problem solving, the various conditions that exist along the pathways between the initial and goal states.
mental set
A preconceived notion about how to approach a problem based on a person's experience or what has worked in the past.
two-string problem
A problem first described by Maier in which a person is given the task of attaching two strings together that are too far apart to be reached at the same time. This task was devised to illustrate the operation of functional fixedness. Another demonstration of functional fixedness To solve this problem, subjects needed to tie the pliers to one of the strings to create a pendulum, which could then be swung to within the person's reach. This is an example of functional fixedness because people usually think of using pliers as a tool, not as a weight at the end of a pendulum. Thus, 37 of the 60 subjects did not solve the problem because they focused on the usual function of pliers. When the majority of the subjects were unable to solve the problem within 10 minutes, Maier provided a "hint" by setting the string in motion by "accidentally" brushing against it. Once the subjects saw the string moving, 23 of the 37 who hadn't solved the problem solved it within 60 seconds. Seeing the string swinging from side to side apparently triggered the insight that the pliers could be used as a weight to create a pendulum. In Gestalt terms, the solution to the problem occurred once the subjects restructured their representation of how to achieve the solution (get the strings to swing from side to side) and their representation of the function of the pliers (they can be used as a weight to create a pendulum).
Tower of Hanoi problem
A problem involving moving discs from one set of pegs to another. It has been used to illustrate the process involved in means-end analysis. exemplifies Newell and Simon's approach to problem solving
Why is the Tower of Hanoi problem important?
One reason is that it illustrates means-end analysis, with its setting of subgoals, and this approach can be applied to real-life situations.
problem space
The initial state, goal state, and all the possible intermediate states for a particular problem.
analogical transfer
Transferring experience in solving one problem to the solution of another, similar problem.
Evidence that analogical transfer has occurred is provided when
presentation of the Russian marriage problem enhances the ability to solve the mutilated checkerboard problem.
The results from the radiation problem and fortress story experiment led Gick and Holyoak to propose that the process of analogical problem solving involves the following three steps:
1. Noticing that there is an analogous relationship between the source problem and the target problem. Gick and Holyoak consider this noticing step to be the most difficult of the three steps. 2.Mapping the correspondence between the source story and the target problem. for example, the dictator's fortress) to elements of the target problem (the tumor). 3. Applying the mapping to generate a parallel solution to the target problem. for example, generalizing from the many small groups of soldiers approaching the fortress from different directions to the idea of using many weaker rays that would approach the tumor from different directions.
Karl Duncker's radiation problem
A problem that has been widely used in research on analogical problem solving A problem posed by Duncker that involves finding a way to destroy a tumor by radiation without damaging other organs in the body. This problem has been widely used to study the role of analogy in problem solving. What type of procedure might be used to destroy the tumor and at the same time avoid destroying the healthy tissue only 10 percent of their subjects arrived at the correct solution The solution is to bombard the tumor with a number of low-intensity rays from different directions, which destroys the tumor without damaging the tissue the rays are passing through.
target problem
A problem to be solved. In analogical problem solving, solution of this problem can become easier when the problem-solver is exposed to an analogous source problem or story. See also Source problem
problem
A situation in which there is an obstacle between a present state and a goal state and it is not immediately obvious how to get around the obstacle
creative cognition
A technique developed by Finke to train people to think creatively.
Analogical encoding
A technique in which people compare two problems that illustrate a principle. This technique is designed to help people discover similar structural features of cases or problems. is the process by which two problems are compared and similarities between them are determined.
Describe Means-end analysis and give an example from the tower of hanoi
A way of solving a problem in which the goal is to reduce the difference between the initial and goal states. Establishing subgoals, each of which moves the solution closer to the goal state.
Describe Operators and give an example from the tower of hanoi
Actions that take the problem from one state to another. Operators are usually governed by rules. Rule: A larger disc can't be placed on a smaller one.
Describe Problem space and give an example from the tower of hanoi
All possible states that could occur when solving a problem. Problem space for the Tower of Hanoi problem- all the steps for the shortest path between the initial state (1) and the goal state (8) vs. all the steps for longer paths, etc i.e all the different combos on how to solve it and the possible steps in between each path There are a number of ways to get from the initial state to the goal state. One possibility, indicated by the red lines, involves making 14 moves. The best solution, indicated by the green lines, requires only 7 moves.
problem solving process proposed by Basadur et al.
Basadur proposes four steps, each of which is divided into two processes. Stage 1: Problem generation 1-problem finding 2-fact finding Stage 2: problem formulation 3-problem definition 4- idea finding Stage 3: problem solving 5- evaluation and selection 6- planning Stage 4: solution implementation 7- selling idea 8- taking action
Functional fixedness is an obstacle to problem solving that is illustrated by
Duncker's candle problem and Maier's two-string problem.
Experts in a particular field usually solve problems faster with a higher success rate than do novices (people who are beginners or who have not had the extensive training of experts; Chi et al., 1982; Larkin et al., 1980). But what is behind this faster speed and greater success?
Experts Possess More Knowledge About Their Fields Experts' Knowledge is Organized Differently Than Novices' Experts Spend More Time Analyzing Problems
fixation
In perception and attention, a pausing of the eyes on places of interest while observing a scene. people's tendency to focus on a specific characteristic of the problem that keeps them from arriving at a solution.
The creative cognition technique has been successfully used
The creative cognition technique has been successfully used to create innovative designs
How too much knowledge can be a bad thing was demonstrated in an experiment by Steven Smith and coworkers (1993), who
who showed that providing examples to people before they solve a problem can influence the nature of their solutions. Smith's subjects were given the task of inventing, sketching, labeling, and describing new and creative toys, or new life forms that might evolve on a planet like Earth. One group of subjects was presented with three examples before they began working on the problem. For the life-form-generation task, all three examples had four legs, an antenna, and a tail. Compared with the life forms created by a control group that had not seen any examples, the designs generated by the example group incorporated many more of the example features Proportion of life forms with antennae, tails, and four legs. Subjects in the example group were more likely to include these features. greater use of these features by the example group is related to the idea of functional fixedness, described earlier in the chapter. Sometimes preconceptions can inhibit creativity.