1.

To understand the nature and concepts of

problem solving and creativity;
2.To explain the processes of problem solving;
and
3.To know the obstacles and aid to problem
solving.
Problem solving – an effort to overcome obstacles obstructing
the path to a solution.

How people solve problems depends partly on how they

understand the problem.
 The Problem-Solving Cycle
• The problem-solving cycle
includes:
• Problem identification
• Problem definition
• Strategy formulation
• Organization of information
• Allocation of resources
• Monitoring
• Evaluation
 The Problem-Solving Cycle
• Successful problem solving may
involve occasionally tolerating
some ambiguity regarding how best
to proceed.
• Rarely can we solve problems by
following any one optimal
sequence of problem-solving steps.
• We may go back and forth through
the steps.
• We can change their order, or even
skip or add steps when it seems
appropriate.
 The Problem-Solving Cycle
• Problem identification: Do we
actually have a problem?
• Problem definition and
representation: What exactly is
our problem?
 The Problem-Solving Cycle
• Strategy formulation: How can
we solve the problem? The
strategy may involve (1) analysis
—breaking down the whole of a
complex problem into
manageable elements. Instead,
or perhaps in addition, it may
involve the complementary
process of (2) synthesis—putting
together various elements to
arrange them into something
useful.
 The Problem-Solving Cycle
Another pair of complementary
strategies involves divergent and
convergent thinking.
In (3) 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 (4) convergent
thinking to narrow down the
multiple possibilities to converge on
a single best answer.
 The Problem-Solving Cycle
• Organization of information:
How do the various pieces of
information in the problem fit
together?
• Resource allocation: How much
time, effort, money, etc., should
I put into this problem?
• Monitoring: Am I on track as I
proceed to solve the problem?
• Evaluation: Did I solve the
problem correctly?
• Our emotions can influence how we implement the problem-solving
cycle.
• In groups with participants with high measured emotional
intelligence—that is, the ability to identify emotions in others and
regulate emotions in oneself—emotional processing can positively
influence problem solving
 Types of Problems
• Problems can be categorized according to whether they have clear
paths to a solution.

• Well-structured problems have clear paths to solutions. These

problems also are termed well-defined problems. An example would
be, “How do you find the area of a parallelogram?”

• Ill (ill)-structured problems lack clear paths to solutions.

 Types of Problems
Well-Structured Problems
• In psychological research, cognitive psychologists might ask you to
solve less content-specific kinds of well-structured problems.
 Types of Problems
• One method for studying how to solve well-defined problems is to
develop computer simulations.
• The researcher’s task is to create a computer program that can solve
these problems.
• By developing the instructions, a computer must execute to solve
problems, the researcher may better understand how humans solve
similar kinds of problems.
• According to one model of problem solving, the problem solver
(which may be using human or artificial intelligence) must view the
initial problem state and the goal state within a problem space.
 Types of Problems
• A problem space is the universe of all possible actions that can be
applied to solving a problem, given any constraints that apply to the
solution of the problem.
• Algorithms are sequences of operations (in a problem space) that
may be repeated over and over again and that, in theory, guarantee
the solution to a problem.
• Generally, an algorithm continues until it satisfies a condition
determined by a program.
 Types of Problems
• The computer can readily calculate all possible operations and
combinations of operations within the problem space. It also can
determine the best possible sequence of steps to take to solve the
problem.
• Unlike computers, the human mind does not specialize in high-speed
computations of numerous possible combinations.
• The limits of our working memory prohibit us from considering more
than just a few possible operations at one time.
Types of Problems

The two-string problem (Maier, 1931)

 Types of Problems
Ill-Structured Problems and the Role of Insight
• The two-string problem is an example of an ill-structured problem.
Examples of Ill-Structured Problems:
• A woman who lived in a small town married 20 different men in that
same town. All of them are still living, and she never divorced any of
them. Yet she broke no laws. How could she do this?
 Types of Problems
• The preceding ill-structured problems are insight problems because
you need to see the problem in a novel way.
• In particular, you need to see it differently from how you would
probably see the problem at first, and differently from how you
would probably solve problems in general. That is, you must
restructure your representation of the problem to solve it.
• Insight is a distinctive and sometimes seemingly sudden
understanding of a problem or of a strategy that aids in solving the
problem.
 Types of 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. So the minister married the 20 men but did not herself
become wedded to any of them. To solve this problem, you had to
redefine your interpretation of the term married. Others have
suggested yet additional possibilities. For example, perhaps the
woman was an actress and only married the men in her role as an
actress. Or perhaps the woman’s multiple marriages were annulled so
she never technically divorced any of the men.
 Obstacles and Aids to Problem
Solving
• Several factors can hinder or enhance problem solving.
• Among them are mental sets as well as positive and negative transfer.
Incubation plays a role in problem solving as well.
 Obstacles and Aids to Problem
Solving
Mental Sets, Entrenchment, and Fixation
• One factor that can hinder problem solving is mental set—a frame of
mind involving an existing model for representing a problem, a
problem context, or a procedure for problem solving.
• Another term for mental set is entrenchment.
• When problem solvers have an entrenched mental set, they fixate on
a strategy that normally works well in solving many problems but that
does not work well in solving this particular problem.
 Obstacles and Aids to Problem
Solving
• Another type of mental set involves fixation on a particular use
(function) for an object. Functional fixedness is the inability to realize
that something known to have a particular use may also be used for
performing other functions
• Functional fixedness prevents us from solving new problems by using
old tools in novel ways.
• Another type of mental set is considered an aspect of social
cognition. Stereotypes are beliefs that members of a social group
tend more or less uniformly to have particular types of
characteristics.
• We seem to learn many stereotypes during childhood.
 Obstacles and Aids to Problem
Solving
Negative and Positive Transfer
• Transfer is any carryover of knowledge or skills from one problem
situation to another
• Transfer can be either negative or positive.
• Negative transfer occurs when solving an earlier problem makes it
harder to solve a later one. Sometimes an early problem gets an
individual on a wrong track.
• Positive transfer occurs when the solution of an earlier problem
makes it easier to solve a new problem. That is, sometimes the
transfer of a mental set can be an aid to problem solving.
 Obstacles and Aids to Problem
Solving
Incubation
• Incubation—putting the problem aside for a while without consciously
thinking about it—offers one way in which to minimize negative
transfer.
• It is a stage in the creative or problem solving process in which attention
(consciousness) is diverted from the task at hand and focuses on
something else
• It involves taking a pause from the stages of problem solving.
Neuroscience and Planning during Problem Solving
• One way to invest enough initial time in a problem is through the
formation of a plan of action for the problem.
 Obstacles and Aids to Problem
Solving
Intelligence and Complex Problem Solving
• Cognitive approaches for studying information processing can be applied to
more complex problem-solving tasks, such as analogies, series problems
(e.g., completing a numerical or figural series), and syllogisms.
• Components are the mental processes used in performing these tasks, such
as translating a sensory input into a mental representation, transforming
one conceptual representation into another, or translating a conceptual
representation into a motor output.
• global planning—encoding the problem and formulating a general strategy
for attacking the problem (or set of problems).
• local planning—forming and implementing strategies for the details of the
task
 Obstacles and Aids to Problem
Solving
• The advantage of spending more time on global planning is the
increased likelihood that the overall strategy will be correct. Thus,
when taking more time is advantageous, brighter people may take
longer to do something than will less bright people.
• More intelligent people seem to spend more time planning for and
encoding the problems they face. But they spend less time engaging
in the other components of task performance.
 Expertise: Knowledge and Problem Solving
• Even people who do not have expertise in cognitive psychology
recognize that knowledge, particularly expert knowledge, greatly
enhances problem solving.
• Expertise is superior skills or achievement reflecting a well-developed
and well-organized knowledge base.
• What interests cognitive psychologists is the reason that expertise
enhances problem solving.
 Expertise: Knowledge and Problem
Solving
Organization of Knowledge
• Knowledge can interact with understanding in problem solving.
Innate Talent and Acquired Skill
• Although a richly elaborated knowledge base is crucial to expertise in a domain,
there remain differences in performance that are not explainable in terms of
knowledge level alone.
• There is considerable debate as to whether differences between novices and
experts and among different experts themselves are due either to innate talent
or to the quantity and quality of practice in a domain.
• Experts in some domains perform at superior levels by virtue of prediction skills.
• Another characteristic of experts is that they tend to use a more systematic
approach to difficult problems within their domain of expertise than do novices.
 Expertise: Knowledge and Problem
Solving
Artificial Intelligence and Expertise
• Computer programs have been developed both to simulate human
intelligence and to exceed it.
• In many ways, computer programs have been created with the
intention of solving problems faster and more efficiently than
humans.
 Expertise: Knowledge and Problem Solving
Can a Computer Be Intelligent?
• Much of early information-processing research centered on work based on
computer simulations of human intelligence as well as computer systems
that use optimal methods to solve tasks.
• Programs of both kinds can be classified as examples of artificial intelligence
(AI), or intelligence in symbol-processing systems such as computers
• Computers cannot actually think; they must be programmed to behave as
though they are thinking. That is, they must be programmed to simulate
cognitive processes. In this way, they give us insight into the details of how
people process information cognitively.
• Essentially, computers are just pieces of hardware—physical components of
equipment—that respond to instructions. Other kinds of hardware (other
pieces of equipment) also respond to instructions.
 Expertise: Knowledge and Problem Solving
The Turing Test
• The basic idea behind the Turing Test is whether an observer can distinguish the
performance of a computer from that of a human.
• The test is conducted with a computer, a human respondent, and an interrogator.
• The goal of the interrogator is to figure out which of two parties is a person
communicating through the computer, and which is the computer itself.
Expert Systems
Expert systems are computer programs that can perform the way an expert does in a
fairly specific domain.
They are not developed to model human intelligence, but to simulate performance in
just one domain, often a narrow one.
They are mostly based on rules that are followed and worked down like a decision tree.
 End of
Chapter 11