Stages of Problem Solving

UNIT 3 THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO

PROBLEM SOLVING

Structure
3.0 Introduction
3.1 Objectives
3.2 Approaches to Problem Solving
3.2.1 Traditional Approaches
3.2.2 Gestalt Approaches
3.2.3 Information Processing and Computer Simulation Approach
3.2.3.1 The General Problem Solver
3.2.3.2 Mean end Analysis
3.2.3.3 Wickegren’s General Problem Solving Strategies
3.3 Newell’s Approach
3.3.1 Summary of the Problem Space Hypothesis
3.4 Problem Solving as Modelling
3.5 Let Us Sum Up
3.6 Unit End Questions
3.7 Suggested Readings

3.0 INTRODUCTION
The different forms of thinking behaviour including problem solving vary along
a number of dimensions. The degree to which we are conscious of our thought
processes can vary considerably. We tend to be conscious of the products of
problem solving rather than the processes themselves. Furthermore, even these
conscious products may not be recalled accurately in retrospect by people.
Problem solving tasks can also be more or less directed. Some problem solving
tasks are directed towards specific, well-defined goals, whereas other forms are
rambling and goal-less. Thinking episodes directed at problem solving also differ
in terms of the amount of knowledge that comes into play to achieve .a goal and
these may be knowledge-lean or knowledge-rich. Most of the early research on
problem solving has examined directed thinking in knowledge-lean situations
that have specific goals (i.e. puzzles). Later research considers more knowledge-
rich situations (e.g. expert problem solving). In the present unit we focus on the
various theoretical approaches to understanding the process and nature of problem
solving.

3.1 OBJECTIVES
On completing this unit, you will be able to:
• Explain the theoretical aspects of problem solving;

• Give a historical account of problem solving; and

• Describe the various theories related to problem solving.

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Problem Solving
3.2 APPROACHES TO PROBLEM SOLVING
In this unit, we will examine the theoretical understandings of nature and process
of problem solving from the traditional to the most recent viewpoints. The
theoretical models that are discussed in detail include the traditional models of
problem solving, Gestaltists Theories, Information processing and computer
simulation, The General Problem Solver (GPS), Wickelgren’s general problem
solving strategies and Newell’s approach to understanding Problem Solving.
3.2.1 Traditional Approaches
Traditional approaches explain problem solving in terms of principles of
associative learning derived from the studies of classical and instrumental
conditioning. According to some theorists an individual enters a problem situation
with an existing complex of stimulus response associations as a result of prior
experience. The problem is more likely to elicit some of these associations than
others, with a clear implication that problem difficulty will depend on the strength
of the correct association relative to the strength of other incorrect associations.
In the course of problem solving, the associative complex gets rearranged as
some tendencies are weakened through extinction (failure) and other strengthened
through reinforcement (success). This viewpoint stresses the transfer of prior
learning to the problem situation and to the learning which takes place during
problem solving.
3.2.2 Gestalt Approaches
A different view of problem solving was proposed by the gestalt psychologists.
These theorists emphasised the importance of the structure of the problem situations
and the formation of new combinations of old ideas. They were particularly
interested in how people solve problems by rearrangement of objects. A well known
example is the problem described by Kohler (1925) in his book, The Mentality of
Apes. Kohler hung some fruits from the top of a cage to reach it. The cage contained
several sticks and crates. The solution depended on finding a correct way to rearrange
the objects. According to the Gestalt analysis, solving the problem required the
reorganisation of the objects into a new structure. Gestaltists argued that discovering
the correct organisation usually occurred as a flash of insight. Insight is the sudden
discovery of the correct solution following a period of incorrect attempts based
primarily on trial and error. Insightful solutions seem to occur in a flash.
Gestalt psychologists distinguished between reproductive and productive thinking
(Wertheimer, 1959). Reproductive thinking entails the application of tried and
true paths to solution. The thinker reproduces a series of steps that are known to
yield a workable answer by using rote memory. Productive thinking on the other
hand, requires insight and creativity. According to gestalts view the thinker must
see a new way of organising the problem, a new way of structuring the elements
of thought and perception. A classic problem calling for productive insightful
thinking is the nine dot problem shown below:
• • •

• • •

• • •

Fig. 1: The Nine dot problem

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The task (problem) is to connect the nine dots with just four straight lines, without Theoretical Approaches to
Problem Solving
lifting your pencil from the paper in drawing the lines. To think productively in
this problem situation one must restructure the problem, to throw off the
unnecessary assumption that the lines must lie within the visual boundaries.
Self Assessment Questions
1) Describe traditional approaches to problem solving.
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2) Describe Gestalt approaches to problem solving.
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3) Compare and contrast the traditional and Gestalt approaches.
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3.2.3 Information Processing and Computer Simulation

A number of researchers have tried to program computer to perform tasks that
human beings do. Such computer simulation research has had a profound
influence on psychology of human cognitive processes. The method consists of
programming a computer to work in a specified manner and comparing its
performance to that of human subjects given the same tasks. Researchers
employing computer simulation have made major contributions to the
development of information processing view of problem solving.

A problem requires a person not only to register information from the environment
but also to operate on, modify, or transform that information in some way in
order to reach a solution.

Solving problem also requires the retrieval of both factual and procedural
knowledge from long term memory. Especially for longer problems, reaching a
solution might involve repeated storage and retrieval of information generated
early in the problem for use in later stages. Even this brief listing clearly indicates
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Problem Solving that problem solving is not a single cognitive process but rather involves a number
of activities which need to be properly executed and organised to be successful.

The most promising kind of theory in the early 1980s involves computer
simulation. In the last couple of decades a number of computer simulation theories
of problem solving have emerged. The general problem solver (GPS) developed
by Newell, Shaw and Simon (1958). It introduced a way of looking at problem
solving which has influenced virtually all problem solving theories.

3.2.3.1 The General Problem Solver (GPS)

The program was equipped with the equivalent of:
A limited capacity working memory characterised by rapid storage and retrieval
A large capacity long term memory characterised by relatively low storage and
retrieval
A serial processor that performs one operation at a time
A reliance upon heuristics, rather than algorithms that would require a large
number of high speed calculations.
Newell and his colleagues collected verbal protocols that were used and kept as
a record of people talking aloud as they solved problems. Then they transcribed
these lengthy records carefully to see if they could find general heuristics that
emerged. It introduced a way of conceptualising problem that is adopted in most
contemporary theories of problem solving.

The General Problem Solver (GPS) assumes that the problem solver represents
a problem as a problem space which consists of a set of nodes, each node
corresponding to a state of knowledge about the problem. The problem solver
begins at the initial state of knowledge and seeks to convert it into the goal state
by applying operators, which are actions that are permitted in order to move
from one state of another. Problem solving, then, requires a constructive search
during which the solver builds up a problem space, which leads from the initial
to goal state using a set of allowed operators.

3.2.3.2 Means End Analysis

This was recognised as a general problem solving heuristic which involves a
search for operations that will reduce the difference between present state of
knowledge and the goal state. In particular, means-end analysis involves the
following steps:
Set up a goal
Look for a difference between the current problem state and the goal state.
Look for a method to decrease or eliminate the difference between the two stages.
Set as a sub goal which is the application of that method.
If necessary apply means- ends analysis to apply to the sub goal.
Thus, the main heuristic used in GPS involves setting up goals and sub goals. In
fact, this strategy can be expressed very precisely as a production system, that is,
as a set of if – then pairs stored in the computers memory as production.

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An illustrative geometric problem: Theoretical Approaches to
Problem Solving
The problem is that ABCD is a rectangle; prove that AD and BC are same length.

Steps in problem solving:

Represent the problem as a proposition or in visual form
Determine the goal.
Break down the goal into sub goals.
Select a problem solving technique
Solution is:
It can thus be proven that triangles ACD and BDC are congruent if one could
prove that two sides included angles are equal. (We reason from goal to sub
goal, proving the triangles congruent, from the sub goal to another sub goal
improving the sides and angle equal), and so on, until we reach a sub goal that
we have a ready means of obtaining).

The 3 strategies that we can use to solve this problem are difference reduction,
means-end-analysis, and working backwards and these three strategies are
extremely general and can be applied to virtually any problem.

3.2.3.3 Wickelgren’s General Problem Solving Strategies

Wickelgren’s view of problem solving is based on information processing theories
such as GPS. According to this view, a formal problem contains three types of
information:
A statement of the initial state.
Description of the goal state.
Description of set of operation or transformations.
A solution can be defined as a sequence of state or actions which helps to represent
in a diagram called the State Action Tree. The nodes or branch points on the tree
represent all the possibly different problem states that could result from all the
different action sequences. 33
Problem Solving The branches on the tree represent the possible actions that could be made at the
particular state of knowledge. The given state is represented by the single node
at the top level of the state action tree, and the goal state is represented by the
indicated node in the lowest level of the tree.

For this schematic tree, we assume that from the goal state there are only two
possible actions that the person can take. One of which starts the person on the
path toward the goal, the other of which does not.

Having chosen one of these (thereby leading the person to state level 1), the
person is then faced with a new set of possible actions. Here, we arbitrarily
assume that there are three possible actions that could be taken at either of the
state level 1 nodes.

This successive making of choices goes on and on until the person either reaches
the goal state or finds himself at a dead end. Thinking about state action trees is
the fact that as you get further into a problem (i.e. lower and lower levels in the
tree) the number of possible action sequences increases rapidly. Wickelgren argues
that there are seven general problem solving techniques for searching the state
action tree.
i) Inference: Deducing from the explicitly stated goals givens, and operations
stated in the problem
ii) Classification of action sequences: organising possible sequences of actions
(or operations) that are equivalent as far as the problem is concerned. These
are called equivalence classes.
iii) State evaluation and hill climbing: state evaluation involves defining a
quantitative evaluation function that can be calculated for all possible
problem states and hill climbing involves choosing the action to be taken
next that will have an evaluation that is closest to the goal.
iv) Subgoals: This stage involves searching for sub goals involve breaking down
the problem into sub goals to make it simpler.
v) Contradiction: deriving some inference from the givens that is inconsistent
with the goal state to narrow down the state action tree in a systematic
fashion by eliminating possibilities that could possibly not work.
vi) Working backward: It involves beginning with the goal state and working
backward from it.
vii) Finding relations between problems: finding relations between the new
problems and problems solved previously.
Self Assessment Questions
1) Describe and delineate the characteristic features of information and
computer simulation approach to problem solving.
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 Theoretical Approaches to
2) What do you understand by the term General Problem Solver.? Problem Solving
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3) Describe the Menan end analysis with examples
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4) Put forward in detail the general problem solving strategies of
Wickelgren.
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3.3 NEWELL’S APPROACH

It is very natural to think of problems as being solved through the exploration of
different paths to a solution. Taker maze for example. In this, you start from a
point outside the maze and then progress through it to the centre. On your way,
you reach junctions where you have to choose between going straight on, turning
to the left or right, or turning back. Each of these alternative paths may branch
again and again so that, in the maze as a whole, there are hundreds of alternative
paths (only some of which will lead to the centre). Different strategies can be
used to find one’s way through a labyrinth.

The strategies provide you with a systematic method for searching the maze and
help you to select one from among the many alternative paths.

Newell and Simon used parallels to these basic ideas to characterise human
problem solving behaviour.
They suggested that the objective structure of a problem can be characterised as:
i) a set of states, beginning from an initial state (e.g. standing outside the maze),
ii) involving many intermediate states (e.g. moving through the maze), and
iii) ending with a goal state (e.g. being at the centre of the maze).
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Problem Solving The application of these operators (turn left, go straight etc.) results in a move
from one state to another. In any given state there may be several different
operators that apply (e.g. turn left, turn right, go back) and each of these will
generate numerous alternative states. Thus, there is a whole space of possible
states and paths through this space , and only some of these will lead to the goal
state. This problem space describes the abstract structure of a problem.

3.3.1 Summary of The Problem Space Hypothesis

For any given problem there are a large number of alternative paths from an
initial state to a goal state; the total set of such states, as generated by the legal
operators, is called the basic problem space.
People’s problem solving behaviour can be viewed as the production of
knowledge states by the application of mental operators, moving from an initial
knowledge state to a goal, knowledge state.
Mental operators encode legal moves that can be made. There are also restrictions
which disallow a move if certain conditions hold.
People use their knowledge and various heuristic methods (like means-end
analysis) to search through the problem space and to find a path from the initial
state to the goal state.
All of these processes occur within the limits of a particular cognitive system.
That is, there may be working memory limitations and limitations on the speed
with which information can be stored and retrieved from long-term memory.
Newell’s approach, which is based on this problem space hypothesis, propounds
that the knowledge level rationalises behaviour in terms of the reasons that an
agent has to believe that certain actions will lead to achieving certain goals. In
this sense knowledge is a means to an end, a resource for behaviour.
The goal of problem solving is to select one of the possible actions.

3.4 PROBLEM SOLVING AS MODELLING

More recently, a different view is being explored, namely the view of problem
solving as modeling.

The idea is that problem solving is the construction of situation specific model
or case model.

From a knowledge level perspective the person’s perception of the world is

through knowledge alone. A goal therefore must correspond to the desired state
of ones knowledge about the world.

Consequently this knowledge must refer to the specific systems that the goal is
about. The case model thus summarises the person’s understanding of the
problem, and allows it to eventually conclude that the goal has been reached.

The actions are the means by which the person interacts with the world. Since at
the knowledge level the person’s perception is through knowledge, the interaction
must be viewed as a way of obtaining knowledge about the reality. Thus one
may say that actions of perception and interactions fit in this scheme.
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In the problem solving as modeling, the actions are not the goal of problem Theoretical Approaches to
Problem Solving
solving but are themselves a means to an end. That end is the construction of a
model which will help in eventually achieving the goals. Whether it is the domain
model or task model the construction of the model should be such that it should
lead to the goal.
For instance, in making a domain model, it is not just packaging statements
about the domain, but it should involve augmenting statements with a series of
assumptions about how the information about the systems is connected.
In regard to task model, it embodies assumptions about the meaning of goals.
For example, if a diagnostic task is modeled as a process to generate and test
over components of a system, then one implicitly assumes that the fault one is
looking for can be localised in a component.
Thus, modeling a task corresponding to a goal is to make more precise what one
assumes that goal to mean.
The role of the problem solving method is to tie domain and task models together
in an argument on what accomplishing the task means in terms of the available
models. This is termed as competency theory.
To give an example, a heuristic classification problem solver assumes that the
solution to its problem is within the differential and it is what the problem solver
believes that it can say about the problem. This actually defines its competence.
In addition the competence theory also talks about what rationality means. A
heuristic classification problem solver will use the knowledge and actions
pertaining to rationality to reduce the sise of the differential. This is called
specialised principle of rationality. It contains the basis for all “why” questions
about the system’s behaviour.

This model is the case model and it is obtained from the competence theory
through actions. Specific control regimes (e.g., data-driven or hypothesis-driven
heuristic classification) correspond to different ways of operationalising the
specialised principle of rationality.

The configuration of models, tasks and methods entails a set of assumptions that
together can be interpreted as a model of the problem. The goal of problem
solving is to instantiate this model by making it realistic.
This can be done by making derivations from
i) the case-specific knowledge obtained by the person’s actions and
ii) the assumptions embodied in the domain and task models.
The form of the case model is determined by the selection of problem solving
method.

In this view problem solving is no longer an input-output process (as in KADS-

I). It is also not a means to select actions (as in Newell’s knowledge level
theory). It is also not a model transformation process (as in Components of
Expertise). It is in fact a process of organising knowledge by making assumptions
(i.e., constructing a model) that allow one to conclude (in effect, only assume)
that the task is accomplished.
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Problem Solving Successful problem solving is a matter of making the right assumptions and
exploring their consequences.

Problem solving is thus viewed as the ‘creation’ of a suitable case model and the
interaction with the world is only a resource for this. It is almost a side-effect in
the process of maintaining an internal organisation and identity.
Self Assessment Questions
1) Describe Newell’s approach to problem solving.
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2) What do you understand by the term problem space hypothesis?
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3) Summarise the Problem space hypothesis.
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4) What is problem solving as modeling?
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5) Discuss successful problem solving.
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 Theoretical Approaches to
3.5 LET US SUM UP Problem Solving

Like most of the psychological and cognitive constructs problem solving has
also been construed in different light by different researchers following different
schools of psychology. The more traditional approaches explained problem
solving in terms of principles of associative learning derived from the studies of
classical and instrumental conditioning.

Gestaltists viewed it differently and emphasised the importance of the structure

of the problem situations and the formation of new combinations of old ideas.
Since then we have observed many different approaches to understanding problem
solving in terms of the Information Processing and Computer Simulation
approach, the General Problem Solver (GPS) approach, Wickelgren’s general
problem solving strategies and Newell’s approach which is based on problem
space hypothesis.

As knowledge and research progresses it is likely that one may come up with
more comprehensive theories of problem solving.

3.6 UNIT END QUESTIONS

1) What are the traditional approaches to understand problem solving? Think
of some problems that you can explain based on these approaches.
2) Explain Wickelgren’s approach of general problem solving strategies.
3) Compare the Gestallt approach of problem solving with information
processing approach to problem solving.
4) Newell’s problem solving approach rests on a famous hypothesis in the
literature of problem solving. Name and explain this hypothesis.
5) Critically discuss Newell’s approach to problem solving.
6) What do you understand by the term “General Problem Solver”. Explain
with examples.
7) Do you think that a single approach amongst the approaches discussed in
this chapter is sufficient to explain all kinds of problems and problem solving
that we face.

3.7 SUGGESTED READINGS

Darley, J.M., Glucksberg, S., & Kinchla, R.A. (1991). Psychology. New Jersey:
Prentice Hall.

Feldman, R . S. (2008). Essentials of Understanding Psychology. New Delhi:

Tata McGraw Hill.

Hunt, R. R., & Ellis, H.C. (2006). Fundamentals of Cognitive Psychology. New
Delhi: Tata McGraw Hill.

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Problem Solving References

Galotti , K.M. (2008). Cognitive Psychology In and Out of the Laboratory. Canada:
Nelson Education.

Reed, S.K. (2010). Cognition: Theories and Applications. London: Cengage.

Solso, R.L. (2006). Cognitive Psychology. New Delhi: Pearson Education.

Sternberg, R.J. (2009). Applied Cognitive Psychology: Perceiving, Learning,

and Remembering. London: Cengage.

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