GEOLOGY 002 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Problem Solving, Strebers, Richard Challoner
Document Summary
3 major aspects to problem solving: it is goal-directed, involves controlled processes not totally reliant on automatic processes, a problem can be called a problem if someone lacks the relevant knowledge to produce an immediate solution. We have different types of problems: well-defined problems = problems in which the initial state, the goal, and the methods available for solving them are clearly laid out. The gestaltists were a bunch of german (of course strebers) psychologists. They distinguished between two types of thinking: reproductive thinking: involving the systematic reuse of previous experiences, productive thinking: involving a novel restructuring of the problem (more complex) Problems that require productive thinking are often solved using insight. Insight: sudden restructuring of the problem suddenly realising how to solve the problem (ah-ha experience). We are (often) unaware of these processes because they operate below the level of conscious awareness.
