PROBLEM SOLVING, EXPERTISE, CREATIVITY:

Using Info to Reach Goals & Arrive at Solutions

By Scott D. Griffin
 “To live is to have problems and to solve
problems is to grow intellectually.” (J.P. Guilford)
 “In the dim background of our mind we know
what we ought to be doing but somehow we
cannot start.” (William James, 1890)
 “Determine the thing that can and shall be done,
and then we shall find the way.” (Abraham Lincoln)
 "The most serious mistakes are not being made
as a result of wrong answers. The truly dangerous
thing is asking the wrong questions.”
"Erroneous assumptions can be disastrous.“
(Peter Drucker, business/management Guru)
 “Oneday Alice came to a fork in the road and
saw a Cheshire cat in a tree. ‘What road do I
take?’ she asked. ‘Where do you want to go?’
was his response. ‘I don’t know’ Alice answered.
Then, said the cat, ‘it doesn’t matter’.” (Alice in
Wonderland by Lewis Carroll)
 “Defineyour desired destination in life and
chart your best route for getting there.”
(Downing, 2011, p. 90)
 “At
each fork in the road, the key to your
success is being aware of which choice
leads to the future you want.”
(Downing, 2011, p. 241)
 Definition of Problem Solving
 Toovercome obstacles obstructing the
path to solving one’s goals
 Problem Solving
 Initial State
 Current situation
 Define the problem
 Goal State
 Desired objective
 Obstacles
 Choices made about limitations
 Strategy choices
 Limited resources
Problem Solving Cycle
 Problem Solving Cycle
Stages of Creative Problem Solving
(Walls, 1926)
– Preparation
– Incubation
– Illumination
– Verification
Bransford & Stein’s Problem Solving Cycle
Deming’s Problem Solving Cycle
 Problem Identification
 Often Difficult
 Sometimes very
difficult to recognize
 “In the dim background
of our mind we know
what we ought to be
doing but somehow we
cannot start.”
(William James, 1890)
 Main Types of Problems
 Well-structured/defined problems
 Clear path to the solution
 Initial states, goal states, constraints understood
 Solution is clearly right/wrong
• E.g., Math problems; Anagrams
 Ill-structured/defined problems
– Unclear and vague
 Dimensions of problem & solutions to problem
are not specified nor easy to infer
• E.g., Finding an apartment; Writing a book
 Cognitive Psychology and the
Computer Metaphor
 “Thetask of a psychologist trying to
understand human cognition is
analogous to that of a man trying to
discover how a computer has been
programmed.” (Neisser, 1966)
 Artificial Intelligence
 Computer Analogy for Human Cognition
 Recreate human processes using computers
 If we can describe what the mind does as
a series of steps, then these steps could be
performed by our symbol processing machine
Information Processing Models

Keyboard Disk Monitor

(Encoding) (Storage) (Retrieval)
Sequential Process
 2 Main Perspectives Problem Solving
1. Newell & Simon’s Artificial Intelligence (AI),
Information Processing Perspective –
2. Gestalt Perspective –
(Duncker, Koffka, Kholer, Luchins, Wertheimer)
 Newell & Simon’s AI
Information Processing Perspective
 Problem Space
 A problem space
includes all the possible
actions that can be
applied to solve a
problem
 Problem solving as
Representation
and Search of a
Problem Space
with a Solution Path
 Newell & Simon’s AI
Information Processing Perspective
 Newell & Simon’s AI
Information Processing Perspective
 Used verbal protocol analysis to reproduce
human domain-general problem solving
strategies or heuristics
 Implemented these domain-general problem
solving strategies or heuristics in a computer
program using production rules
 Created a General Problem Solver (GPS)
 Newell & Simon’s AI
Information Processing Perspective
 Strategiesto Solve Problems
 Algorithms
 Systematic procedure guaranteed to find a
solution
 Heuristics
 Useful rule of thumb based on experience
 Efficient but does not guarantee a correct
solution
 Heuristics
 Heuristics are simple, thinking strategies
that allow us to make judgments quickly
and solve problems efficiently
 Heuristics are less time consuming, but more
error-prone than algorithms.
 E.g., Where was the last place I had my keys?
 Newell & Simon’s AI
Information Processing Perspective
 Domain-General Heuristics for
Problem Solving
 Means-End Analysis w/ Subgoals
 Working Backwards

– when would working backwards often be

useful?
 Means-End Analysis Heuristic

 Compare your current state with the goal

and choose an action to bring you closer
to the goal
 Break a problem down into smaller sub
goals
 May not work if sub goals cannot be
identified
 Working Backwards Heuristic
 Figure out the last step needed to reach your
goal, then the next-to-the-last step, and so on
 Work backwards from goal state
 Example
 You have lost your keys
 Try to remember the last time you used them and
work backwards
 Water Lilly example
 Gestalt Perspective
(Duncker, Koffka, Kholer, Luchins, Wertheimer)
 Gestalt Psychology - stresses the importance of studying
the subjective way in which objects appear in people’s minds,
rather than the objective, physical attributes of the object.

Wholistic: “The whole is different or greater than
the sum of its parts.”
• Combines cognitive, constructive, top-down scientific
approach with Phenomenology (our personalized
subjective experience)
• Emphasis on Context, Assumptions, Expectations
 Gestaltists, Perception, Problem Solving,
Creativity, Cognition, & Learning
Insight – light bulb suddenly going off in one’s head
- Sultan the chimp example
Closure – “Get ‘er done”
 Insight, Problem Solving, & Creativity
 Insight is the apparent sudden solution to a
problem after the problem has been presented
 Sudden rearrangement of elements creates
“insight” (Wertheimer)
 Productive thinking goes beyond previously
learned associations (Wertheimer)
 Three-Process View of Insight
Davis & Sternberg (1984)
 Selective-encoding insights
• Sorting relevant from irrelevant
 Selective-comparison insights
• Make connections to previously learned information
 Selective-combination insights
• Combine elements in a novel way
 Insight, Problem Solving, & Creativity
 Kohler
 Animal Model of Insight
 Sultan stacked boxes to get bananas
 The “Aha!” Experience
Metcalfe and Wiebe (1987)
 Procedure
 Presented insight and non-insight problems
 Given four minutes to solve each problem

 Dependent variable—every 15 seconds provide a:

 Rating of warmth
♦ How close the person believes they are to solving the
problem
 Judgment of the likelihood of solving the problem
 The “Aha!” Experience
 Prediction
 Non-insight problems

♦ Ratings of warmth and likelihood of solving

judgments should increase over time
 Insight problems

♦ Ratings of warmth and likelihood of solving

judgments should be low until solution is
suddenly realized
 Results

As predicted
 Insight, Problem Solving, & Creativity
 Current Debate
 Is insight a special process or just one subtype
of the general process of problem solving?
 The “Aha!” Experience
 Fundamental difference between insight
and non-insight problems
− Metacognition for non-insight problems are accurate and
predictive of actual performance
− Metacognition of insight problems is unrelated (or
negatively related) to probability of solving the problem
 Pattern of ratings of warmth during problem solving may
be used to classify insight or non-insight problems
 Some suggest “Aha” experience is phenomenological
− All problems are solved incrementally we are just unaware
of it, so it appears sudden
 Insight, Imaging, & the Brain
 Brainimaging studies
suggest that when an
insight strikes (the “Aha”
experience), the right
temporal cortex of the
brain is particularly active
(Jung-Beeman et al., 2004).
 Gestalt Perspective and
Obstacles to Problem Solving
 Incorrector Incomplete
Problem Representation
 Mental Set
 Functional Fixedness
 Unwarranted Assumptions
 Lack of domain knowledge
 Gestalt Perspective and
Obstacles to Problem Solving
 ProblemDefinition and/or
Problem Representation
 often crucial to solving problems
 The importance of determining what information
is relevant and what information is irrelevant is
the process of problem representation
 Incorrector incomplete representation
of the problem
 People pay attention to the wrong information
 People need to focus on the right information
 Mental/Perceptual Set
 Seeing or solving a problem in a particular way
instead of other plausible ways, often because
of the context or one’s prior experience
 May lead to adopting an ineffective strategy, thus
hindering or preventing problem solution
 May lead to making unwarranted assumptions

 May hinder or prevent approaching the problem in

a new/novel, more effective manner

 How is Set different from Functional Fixedness?
 How is divergent thinking different from fixedness
and set?
 Functional Fixedness
 An inability to assign new functions, uses, or
roles to elements of a problem
 E.g., Duncker’s (1942) Candle Problem
 Duncker’s (1942) Candle Problem
 Using
these materials, how would you
mount the candle on a bulletin board?
[so no wax will drip on the wall/floor]
Duncker’s (1942) Candle Problem Solution
Duncker’s (1942) Candle Problem
 Transfer of Training or Learning
 Negative Transfer
 Solving prior problem makes it more difficult to
solve later problem
 Positive Transfer
 Solving earlier problem helps to solve later problem
 How is set & fixedness related to transfer,
divergent thinking, & creativity?
Problem Recognizing Isomorphic Problems
& thus Problems with Transfer of Analogies
 Reed (1987) found that participants have
difficulty recognizing that a past problem’s
solution will help them to solve the current
problem
 Difficulty in recognizing crucial commonalities
 Surface features of the problem distract
 Currentresearch focuses on factors that help
the (positive) transfer of solutions
Recognizing Isomorphic Problems
and Transfer of Analogies
 Gick & Holyoak (1980)
 Give participants one problem to read with
a solution
 Give same participants a second problem
which can be solved using a similar solution
 Gick & Holyoak (1980)
 General/Fortress problem:
A dictator ruled a small country from a fortress. The
fortress was situated in the middle of the country and
many roads radiated outward from it, like spokes on a
wheel. A great general vowed to capture the fortress
and free the country from the dictator. The general
knew that if his entire army could attack the fortress at
once it could be captured. But a spy reported that the
dictator had planted mines on each of the roads. The
mines were set so that small bodies of men could
pass over them safely, since the dictator needed to be
able to move troops and workers about, however, any
large force would detonate the mines. Not only would
this blow up the road, but the dictator would destroy
many villages in retaliation. A full-scale direct attack on
the fortress therefore seemed impossible.
 Gick & Holyoak (1980)
 Solution to general/fortress problem:
The general, however, was undaunted. He divided
his army up into small groups and dispatched each
group to the head of a different road. When all was
ready he gave the signal, and each group charged
down a different road. All of the small groups
passed safely over the mines, and the army then
attacked the fortress in full strength. In this way the
general was able to capture the fortress.
 Gick & Holyoak (1980)
 Then participants were asked to solve the
Radiation problem:
Given a human being with an inoperable
stomach tumor, and rays that destroy organic
tissue at sufficient intensity, by what procedure
can one free him of the tumor by these rays
and at the same time avoid destroying the
healthy tissue that surrounds it?
 Gick & Holyoak (1980)
3 groups of participants
 Control group that only tried to solve the radiation
problem
 A group previously given the analogous
General/Fortress problem & solution
 A group given the General/Fortress problem and
told that its solution may help in solving the
radiation problem
Gick & Holyoak (1980) Results
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0

Control Analogy Analogy & Hint

 Incubation
 Time away from a problem may provide new
insight or otherwise facilitate the problem
solving process
 Release from a problem solving set, or functional
fixedness
 Retrieval of new information by changing context
 Recovery from fatigue
 Expertise
 “Knowledge is Power”
 Expertise is Domain-Specific
 Experts have extensive knowledge (lots of big chunks)
that is used to organize, represent, & interpret
information and which facilitates their abilities
to remember, reason, and solve problems
◘ Expertise is an extremely well-learned set
of cognitive abilities and skills
◘ 10 years of extensive practice
 Expertise
 DeGroot (1965); Chase & Simon (1973)
 Participants were chess masters and beginning
chess players
 Studied a chess board that had the pieces
randomly displayed or a chess board with
pieces in the middle of a game.
 Beginners and experts had to recall as many
pieces as they could
DeGroot (1965); Chase & Simon (1973)
Results
DeGroot (1965); Chase & Simon (1973)
Results
 Master chess players and beginning players
recalled a similar number of pieces from
random board configurations
 Master chess players remember significantly
more chess pieces from a game board in play
than did beginning chess players
 Experts extensive knowledge (lots of big
chunks) facilitates their abilities to remember,
reason, and solve problems
 Organizing Information for
Encoding

Break down complex information into broad

concepts and further subdivide them into
categories and subcategories.

1. Chunking
2. Hierarchies
 Attention as a Skill
 Automatic Processing and Automatization
Tends to Occur with practice/experience (many
hours/years) and skill/expertise
 When one is a Novice, Controlled Processing
tends to occur
 After one acquires experience and has practice
to become an Expert, then Automatic
Processing tends to occur
Criteria Automatic Processing
(Posner & Snyder, 1975)
 Often occur without conscious awareness or
control
 Consume little attentional resources and thus
don’t interfere with many other activities or
tasks – “effortless”
 Often demand very little effort or intention –
“effortless”
 Are performed in parallel and are relatively fast
[Controlled Processing is the opposite on these criteria]
 Experts Differ From Novices
 Better schemas
 Well organized knowledge in specific domain
 Less time to set up problem
 Select more appropriate strategies
 Faster at solving problems
 Are more accurate
Experts Vs. Novices
 Creativity
 Definitionof Creativity - Process of creating
something that is original and worthwhile
 Factors Associated with Creativity
 Divergent Thinking

• Generate multiple solutions to problem

• How is divergent thinking related to
set, fixedness, & creativity??
 Intrinsic Motivation (Amabile, 1996)
 Insight, Productive Thinking, Brainstorming, &
Incubation
 Intrinsic Motivation is
Associated with Creativity
Intrinsic Motivation:
The desire to perform a
behavior for its own
sake.

Extrinsic Motivation:
The desire to perform
a behavior due to
promised rewards or
threats of punishments.
 The Social-Cultural
Process Approach to Creativity
 Nothing innately special about creative people
 Hard work, dedication, and experience
leads to creativity
 First become a master; then creativity is
possible (e.g., Weisberg, 1988; Gardner, 1993)
Creative solutions have 2 components
− Novelty
− Appropriateness
 The Social-Cultural
Process Approach to Creativity
 Csikszentmihalyi (1996)
 Must examine historical and social context in which
product is made
 When one achieves balance with context, one
achieves flow
 Flow is the enjoyment we experience when we are
engaged in mental and physical challenges that
absorb us
 Flow
http://www.unrealities.com/essays/flow.htm
http://www.austega.com/education/articles/flow.htm
http://www.ted.com/talks/mihaly_csikszentmihalyi_on_flow.html
http://www.ppc.sas.upenn.edu/csikszentmihalyipowerpoint.pdf
http://education.ucsb.edu/janeconoley/ed197/documents/Csikszen
tmihalyiIfwearesorich.pdf