Psychology 2135A/B Chapter 13: Psych 2135 Chapter 13

• School: Western University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: Psychology 2135A/B
• Professor: Sarah Babcock

Document Summary

Researchers often compare problem solving to a process of search. The branches of options together form the problem space the set of all states that can be reached in solving the problem. It"s often helpful to translate a problem into concrete terms, relying on a mental image. Ofte(cid:374) a pro(cid:271)le(cid:373) re(cid:373)i(cid:374)ds (cid:455)ou of other pro(cid:271)le(cid:373)s (cid:455)ou"(cid:448)e sol(cid:448)ed i(cid:374) the past. Despite the obvious benefits of analogies, people often fail to use them. However, people benefit from analogies if suitably instructed, but spontaneous: uninstructed use of analogies are rare. To locate helpful analogies in memory, people often need to get beyond the superficial features of the problem and think instead about the principles governing the problem. People can use analogies only if they figure out how to map the prior case into the problem now being solved. We can improve problem solving by asking people to pay attention to the problems underlying dynamic.