Chapter 12

Illustrative of functional fixedness, people are more likely to solve the candle problem if

the box is empty.

Insight refers to

the sudden realization of a problem's solution.

Intermediate states can be created by

creating subgoals.

Holly was in her mother-in-law's kitchen preparing lunch for the family. When she was ready to dish up the soup, she searched all the cupboards and drawers for a ladle but couldn't find one. She decided to wait until her mother-in- law returned to ask her where the ladle was, leaving the soup in the stove pot. Her mother-in-law later explained that the ladle had been broken, so she told Holly to use a coffee mug to "spoon" the soup into bowls. Holly's ability to solve the "dish up the soup" problem was hindered by which of the following obstacles?

Functional fixedness

Gick and Holyoak consider which of the following to be the most difficult step to achieve in the process of analogical problem solving?

Noticing that there is an analogous relationship between problems because most participants need prompting before they notice a connection

Amber lives in a housing development between two parallel streets that both connect to a freeway. She usually takes the street to the south when heading southbound on the freeway to work, but that street is closed for repairs for three months. Amber takes the street to the north during that time. After the street to the south is re-opened, she continues to take the street to the north, even though it is a slightly longer route. Continuing to take the street to the north represents

a mental set.

The radiation problem was used in your text to illustrate the role of _____ in problem solving.

analogy

The typical purpose of subgoals is to

bring the problem solver closer and closer to the goal state.

Metcalfe and Wiebe gave participants problems to solve and asked them to make "warmth" judgments every 15 seconds to indicate how close they felt they were to a solution. The purpose of this experiment was to

demonstrate a difference between how people solve insight and non-insight problems.

In the two-string problem, tying the pliers to one of the strings best represents a(n) _____ state.

intermediate

The solution to the candle problem involves realizing that the

match box can be used as a shelf.

Gestalt psychologists consider problem solving as a process involving

reorganization or restructuring.

The circle problem, in which the task is to determine the length of a line inside a circle, was proposed to illustrate

representation and restructuring.

A ______ string led to a restructured representation in the two-string problem.

swinging