PSYC 213 Lecture : March 6th Lecture.docx
22 Apr 2012
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Document Summary
When we cannot immediately recall an answer from memory, we have a problem. Admitting that there is a problem at hand is a critical first step towards problem solving. Problem solving involves going beyond the given info and transforming it to get an answer to a question. Problem solving relies on many cognitive processes: Attention - attending to aspects of problem that are most important. Memory - bringing to mind strategies and techniques that have worked in the past. Long thought to be a unique human ability. Koehler - chimpanzees using available resources to get to a not immediately reachable banana - not only humans have problem solving abilities - non verbal. Not a linear progression of steps - depend on context. Analytic approach - breaking the problem into pieces - bottom up. Divergent thinking - generate a number of different ways of solving the problem. Synthesis approach - putting various elements together - top down approach.
