Problem Solving

What is problem?

A problem consists of several basic components

1) An initial state (the situation at the beginning of the
problem)
2) A goal state (the solution to the problem)
3) A set of rules (constraints that must be followed)
4) A set of obstacles (hindrances that must be overcome)
 Types of Problems
Well and Ill defined problems
1) Well defined problems are clear and structured i.e.,
the initial state, goal state and constraints are all understood,
and once you reach a solution, it’s easily assessed. (e.g.,
solving and anagram)

2) Ill defined problems are fuzzy and abstract i.e., the

initial state, goal and constraints have gaps in understanding
leading to difficulty in accessing the solution (e.g., writing a
research paper)
Routine and Non-Routine problem: (familiarity with
procedures)

A routine problem is one that can be solved by applying well-

practiced procedures (e.g., writing exams)

A non-routine problem is one that cannot be solved by applying

well –practiced procedures (e.g., writing research paper)
Challenges with problem solving research

Problem solving is the last hurdle to most cognitive processes

and thus takes much longer time to accomplish. Assessing
problem solving in terms of accuracy rate provides a rather
gross estimate of problem solving proficiency. Measuring
solution times provides some useful information but doesn’t
shed much light on the nature of the processing that occurs
during problem solving.
One Saturday night at a local county dance, 40 people, 20 men
and 20 women showed up to dance. The dance was a contra
dance, in which men and women face each other in lines. From
8-10 pm there were 20 heterosexual couples dancing on the
floor. At 10 pm 2 women left leaving 38 people to dance. Could
the dance called make arrangement so that the remaining
people could all dance together at the same time in 19
heterosexual couples? The dance caller must remain a caller
and cannot take a partner. Answer yes/no giving reasoning
behind answer
--- Gick & McGarry (1992) Learning from mistakes
Journal of Expt Psychol, 18, 623-639
 Verbal protocol: In order to understand the processes of
problem solving, researchers have made extensive use of
verbal protocols – which are reports generated by problem
solvers as they “think aloud” during the solution process. The
limitation with such reports are:
1) not everyone has the verbal ability required to reflect
accurately on what they are thinking
2) there is no way to assess the accuracy of the verbal
report
3) the act of thinking out loud may interfere with or change
the very nature of the thought process being described.
The varied nature of problems: The complexity of problem
solving presents another challenge for researchers. The term
problem can apply to a diverse set of circumstances from
solving math problems to writing a term paper to figuring out an
alternative route home during rush hour traffic.

Marr (1992) distinguishes between five types of problems

a) Transformational: presents the solver with a goal state, the

solver must find the proper strategies that will eventually
transform the initial state to the goal state
2) Arrangement problems – involve presentation of all the
necessary elements to solve the problem; the solver must
figure out how the elements are to be arranged
3) Induction problems – involves giving the solver a series of
exemplars or instances using which they must figure out the
pattern or rule that relates the instances
4) Deduction problems – presents the solver with premises or
conditions and require them to determine whether a
conclusion fits the premise
5) Divergent problems – require the solver to generate as many
solutions as possible to a given problem
 “KIGVIN” – rearrange letters to form another word

Arrangement

Think of as many uses of bricks as you can

Transformational Divergent

Take a look at the number sequence “All professor are caring people” & “All caring
people are good”.
8, 5, 4, 1, 7, 6, 10, 0
Would you accept the statement all professors
What is the next number in the
are good?
sequence?
Induction Deduction
Approaches to the study of problem solving
Behaviorism: Problem solving as associative learning
E.L. Thorndike (1800) conducted the first systematic
study of problem solving using cats.

Thorndike was interested in knowing whether the ability to

solve this confinement problem would appear suddenly as an
insight, or gradually through a process of trial and learning.
He found that the cat learned to solve using trial and error
Thorndike described this learning process with what he
termed as law of effect - which states if a response leads
to a satisfying outcome, the connection between the
response and the situation will be strengthened.
Gestalt Psychology: Problem solving as insight
Gestalt psychology believed that the mind has an inherent
tendency to organize incoming information and these
organizational processes are the defining features of cognition.
Thus rather than defining problem solving as mindless playing
out of associations that gradually build up over time, they
believe it involves restructuring or reorganizing of problem
elements that result in a sudden realization of the solution.
A pioneer study was done by Wolfgang Kohler (1925) with
apes to support gestalt approach to problem solving.
For gestalt psychologists problem solving involves a process
of restructuring whereby problem elements are suddenly
reorganized and seen in a new way. The sudden and
successful restructuring of problem elements is termed, insight
and this is a major focus of the gestalt approach
Cognitive Psychology: Problem solving as information
processing
Just as a computer solves problems by executing
programs that use information stored in some types of
database, humans solve problems by applying mental
processes to representations in memory.
The General Problem Solver:
Newman & Simon (1972) originated the conceptualization of
problem solving as a step-by-step progression from an initial
state to a goal state. They did so within the framework of a
computer program termed as general problem solver (GPS).
The GPS is a general model of human problem solving – one
that can be applied to any problem. This approach minimizes
the “distance” between an initial state and a goal state by
breaking the problem down into a series sub-goals

The sub-goal analysis is accomplished through the application

of operators, which is basically a fancy word for problem-
solving techniques. These techniques are applied (at a micro
level) to reduce the difference between the current state and
the current sub-goal state and (at a macro level) to reduce the
difference between the initial state and the final goal state.
GPS is a notion of problem space – which basically refers to the
problem solvers mental representation of the initial state, the
goal state and all possible intermediate (sub-goal) states, and
the operators that can be applied to reach these sub-goals
Problem Representation
Problem solving involves the process of converting
presented information into some type of internal mental
representation. Within the framework of GPS problem
representation, involves correctly specifying the problem
space – i.e. correctly identifying the initial state as well as the
operators that may be applied within the constraints of the
problem.
Try to solve this problem
Exactly at sunrise one morning, a Buddhist monk set out to climb a tall
mountain. The narrow path was not more than a foot or two wide, and it
wound around the mountain to a beautiful, glittering temple at the
mountain peak. The monk climbed the path at varying rates of speed.
He stopped many times along the way to rest and to eat the fruit he
carried with him. He reached the temple just before sunset. At the
temple, he fasted and meditated for several days. Then he began his
journey back along the same path, starting at sunrise and walking, as
before, at variable speeds with many stops along the way. However, his
average speed going down the hill was greater than his average
climbing speed.
Prove that there must be a spot along the path that the monk will
pass on both trips at exactly the same time of day (Duncker, 1945)
Try to solve this problem
A man bought a white horse for $60 and then sold it
for $70. The he bought it back for $80 and sold it for
$90. What was his net gain (or net loss) in the horse
business? (Maier and Burke, 1967)
Rigidity in Representation
The initial representation of a problem is critical to its
eventual solution. Failure in representation might result from a
number of factors
a) the problem elements may not have received sufficient
attention
b) the problem elements may not have been understood
c) previous experience with similar problems may have
led to encoding the problem elements in a rigid manner
Some of the major hindrances to problem solving arise from
a) Mental set: this tendency to rely on habits and
procedures used in the past is termed mental set. Mental
set can interfere with you ability to solve everyday problems
(e.g.,)

Solve the problem: there are six eggs in a basket, six people
take one of the eggs each. How is it that one egg can still be
left in the basket?

Mental set tends to affect the representation phase of

problem solving, as past experiences leads to an
inappropriate representation of the problem.
b) Functional fixedness: refers to people’s tendency to view
objects in a narrow, fixed sense – i.e. in terms of the typical
functions of the object. One development perspective on
functional fixedness holds that older children are more likely
than younger ones to demonstrate functional fixedness (e.g.,
writing in space with pen)
Try to solve the problem
two-string problem: Knut is left in a room with a chair and a
pair of pliers given the task to bind two strings together that are
hanging from the ceiling. The problem he faces is that he can
never reach both strings at a time because they are just too far
away from each other. What can Knut do?
Knut has to recognize he can
use the pliers in a novel
function – as weight for a
pendulum. He can bind them
to one of the :strings, push it
away, hold the other string
and just wait for the first one
moving towards him. If
necessary, Knut can even
climb :on the chair, but he is
not that small, we
suppose…..
Stereotypes as a threat to problem representation
stereotype threat occurs when a member of a negatively
stereotyped group feels that the stereotype might be used to judge their
behavior thus resulting in a negative judgment that will propagate the
problem. Quinin & Spencer (2001) has men and women solve either
math word problem or numeric/algebraic equivalents of the word
problem
Solve the problem
A sporting goods store sold 64 Frisbees in one week, some for $3 and
rest for $4 each. If recipients from Frisbee sales for the week totaled
$204, what is the fewest number of $4 Frisbees that could have been
sold?
 Or

Solve: 3(64-x) + 4(x) = 204

Results form Quinin and Spencer

Correct Sol % word problem Numeric
Gender
male 20 40

female 8 38
Problem Solution
once the problem has been successfully transformed from
externally presented information into an internal representation,
the next phase of the problem-solving process involves
searching for; testing and evaluating solutions. Within the
context of Newell & Simon’s (1972) IP approach, problem
solution amounts to travelling through the problem space.

Algorithms – are basically a set of rules that can be applied

systematically to solve certain types of problems. A
mathematical formula is a good example of algorithm.
e.g., two short sides of a right angled triangle are 3cm and 4
cm. find the length of the hypotenuse
Algorithms are very powerful problem solving techniques;
applied correctly, an algorithm will always lead to the correct
solution, if one exists.
e.g., solve the anagram “kigvin” using algorithm
there are several shortcomings of using algorithm
a) the exhaustive nature make them overly tedious and
quite impractical
b) there simply aren’t any for most of the problems in our
daily life
Heuristics – are general strategies or rules of thumb, than can
be applied to various problems. Heuristics serve as “shortcuts”
through problem space. Given the strengths and limitations of
human problem solver, along with the fact that most problems
are ill-defined and have relatively large problem spaces,
heuristic problem solving is much more effective.
Solving the anagram “kigvin”
Heuristics say no word in english start with gk, vg or ikn so
these are eliminated and so on…..
Solve
You are purchasing three items at the store, at these prices:

$19.95,
$39.98,
$29.97

About how much money are you spending?

Solution: The fastest way to solve this problem is to round off

and approximate. The first item costs about $20, the second
about $40, and the third about $30; therefore, you are
spending about $90 on your shopping spree.
Means-End-Analysis
The general problem solver developed by Newman & Simon
utilizes the heuristic known as mean-end-analysis. MEA
involves breaking a problem into smaller sub-goals in which
accomplishing each sub-goal moves the solver closer to the
final goal – the problem solution. As the term implies in MEA
the solver systematically attempts to devise means to get to
the each sub-goal’s ends. MEA can be an effective way to
solve transformational problems
Surface vs. Structural Features
One of the primary steps in solving problems by analogies
involve the use mapping between original and new problem.
Gick & Holyoak term this mapping process as schema
induction. Our ability to notice, map and develop schemata
depends on the particular type of similarity. These can of two
types (Gentner, 1989).
a) surface features – are the specific elements of the
problem. If two problems share surface similarities, this means
that the parts of the problem look pretty similar. (e.g.,)
the way paper jams trays on printers
b) structural feature – are the underlying relationships among
the surface features of the two problems. If two problems are
structurally similar, they may look quite different on the
surface but have underlying similarities in terms of their
relationships. (e.g.,)
the dog chased the cat
the cat was chased by the dog
How do experts solve problems?
Experts have something called expertise – exceptional
knowledge and/or performance in some specific problem
domain. Since 1950 expertise is no more viewed as the
product of innate capacities but rather an outgrowth of learning
and repetition over the course of years that produces an
extensive body of knowledge and an extremely well learned
set of skills. Experts are thus skilled memorizers
According to Ericsson & Polson’s 1988 skilled memory
theory – there are several differences between experts and
novices, all to the advantage of experts.
a) the semantic network are richly elaborated in experts
b) experts have quicker and more direct access to long term
memory
c) information is more easily encoded onto long term
memory by experts and the speed of this encoding improves
with practice

Advantages for expert problem solvers

The core of problem solving is memory – the long term
memory that allows for the storage of domain relates general
knowledge and specific episodes and the working memory
that allows for quick and efficient online processing of
problem information.
a) Studies by Chase & Simon (1973), de Groot (1978) point
that experts can instantly recognize problem configurations
based on extensive knowledge & experience base
b) Ericsson & Kintsch (1995) propose the idea of long term
working memory to explain expert advantage in online
processing of problems. This theory states that experts can
bypass the limits of working memory by using the information
of working memory to directly access LTM.
c) Experts problem solvers use general strategies that differ
from those of novice. They tend to search the problem space
in a forward fashion, reasoning from givens towards goals.
d) Experts are much better at picking up on structural features of
problems, and recognize analogous problems when faced with novel
problem
e) Lemaire & Siegler (1995) propose the adaptive strategy model
which distinguish experts from novice on four layers
1) strategy existence – experts have more strategies at disposal
2) strategy base rate – experts in a given domain know which
strategies tend to work and select those strategies
3) strategy choice – refers to experts advantage in discerning which
strategies should be chosen for a specific circumstance
4) strategy execution – refers to the expert advantage in actually
carrying out the strategy in terms of speed accuracy
Expert disadvantages
a) Novices are actually better at understanding randomly arranged problems
than experts.
b) Novice remember more information about specific problems than experts
and this is termed as intermediate effect
c) Experts may actually solve problems using mental set as compared to
novice users
Insight and Creativity
What is creativity? What process lead to creative products?
Wallas (1926) proposed that the process leading up to a creative
breakthrough can be described in terms of four stages
1) Preparation – in which the solver gathers information and makes
initial attempts at problem solution
2) Incubation – which might described as a period of productivity
inactivity
3) Illumination – a stage where the solver arrives at critical insight
4) Verification – in which the solver verifies if the solution will actually
work
Wallas theory has not be accepted in entirety however it has
pointed out two major question in problem solving
1) what is the nature of insight?
2) if sudden breakthrough in problem solving is a reality, can these
be encouraged by a period of incubation
Insight
Insight involves the sudden realization of a problem solution
(or of any key idea necessary to the solution). The problem with
insight is that theorist believe problem solving to be an incremental
process and not sudden realization, another problem lies with the
clear definition and non experimental proof of the existence of
insight by the Gestalt psychologists
Gilhooly & Murphy, 2005 made an observation that even if insight
was a reality if could not be applied to all types of problems. They
distinguished between problems as
1) Non-insightful problems – are those that are likely solved through
incremental process. They require analytical step-by-step processing.
2) Insightful problems – are those in which solutions appear suddenly

Two key assumptions about insightful problems solving are

1) it involves a mistaken assumption that once removed will clear
the way to successful solution of the problem
2) that the solver is hit with the solution suddenly and has what
might be termed as an “Aha!” experience
Insightful problems
Water lilies double in area every 24 hours. At the beginning of
summer there is one water lily on the lake. It takes 60 days for
the lake to become completely covered with water lilies. On
which day is the lake half covered?
A prisoner was attempting to escape from a tower. He found in
his cell a rope which was half long enough to permit him to
reach the ground safely. He divided he rope in half, and tied the
two parts together and escaped? How could he have done this?
Non Insightful problems
three people play a game in which one person loses and two
people win each round. The one who loses must double the
amount of money that each player has at that time. The three
player agree to play three games. At the end of the three games,
each player has lost one game, and each person has $8. what
was the original stake of each player?
Next week I am going to lunch with my friend, visit the new gallery,
go to the social security office and have my teeth checked at the
dentist. My friend cannot meet me on Wednesday, the social
security office is closed on weekends, the dentist has office hours
on tue, fri and sat and the gallery is closed on tue, thurs and
weekends. What day can I do everything I planned?
Removal of a mistaken assumption?
The difficulty of insightful problems is
that they involve one key –but errant-
perception or assumption that if removed,
would lead to an easy solution. One of the
most studied problem in this regard is the
nine-dot problem.
Nine dot problem - connect all the dots with
one continuous line.
Due to the mental set of staying within the
boundary the problem appears unsolvable
According to Kershaw and Ohlsson (2004) three sources of
difficulty are evident in the nine-dot problem
1) perceptual factors – relate to the Gestalt
organizational principles
2) process factors – relate to the information processing
demand of the problem
3) knowledge factors – involves prior knowledge that a
solver brings to bear on the problem
Any/all of these factors might come into play and prevent
people from solving problems
The “Aha!” Experience
another defining feature of the insight experience is
a sudden and tangible feeling of discovery, usually
described as an “Aah!” experience. The issue of what
someone is thinking as they think related to
metacognition. Metacognition refers to a person’s
knowledge of their own thought process. Using
metacognition and warmth ratings while solving
insightful and non-insightful problems, Metcalfe & Weibe
(1987) reported that, accuracy was higher for the later
than for the former.
Intuition as Insight
The issue of whether insight problem solving involves special,
unconscious processes-like sudden restructuring of problem
elements or removal of some mistaken information-still stirs
controversy in the field
Does incubation lead to insight?
One of the most controversial notions within the study of problem
solving is incubation, or the idea that taking a break in problem
solving leads to a quicker solution than does continuing effort. The
idea is that break allows for the elements of the problems to be
reorganized or for unconscious processes to continue to work on the
problem and that this unconscious is limited by conscious work on
the problem.
Can you come up with a saying represented by
each?

YOU JUST ME r|e|a|d|i|n|g|

0
---------------------- Fly night
M.Sc PhD M.D
Smith (1995) suggests that incubation effects do occur, but
only under specific circumstances – namely, when a problem is
doable and when the solver is blocked in some way from the
solution. Smith offers a contextual view of incubation, which is
basically the encoding specificity principle in reverse
the contextual view of incubation states that when
problem solving is stymied, a solution will come more easily if
there is a contextual change from the previous situation
Creativity
creative individuals are able to think “outside the box” – to come
up with new ideas, view old problems from a fresh perspective,
and connect seemingly disparate problem situations.
What is creativity?
experts on creativity generally agree that creative solutions have
two components – novelty and appropriateness (Lubart, 1994 &
Sternberg, 2004). Creative solutions are novel, different from
previous solutions and usually unexpected. The solution of
creative problems must also satisfy the constraints of the
problem at hand; it must fulfill a need and be sensible and useful.
one of the most – cited framework for describing and investigating
creativity was originally proposed by Rhodes, who suggested that
creativity can be informed by a focus on several dimensions,
which he labeled person, process, press and product.
1) person – creativity to some extent is related to aspects of
person / personality. Creative persons are thought to exhibit a
number of personality like – broad interests, appreciation of
complexity, tolerance of ambiguity, self-confidence,
independence and sensible risk taking
Simonton believes that creativity is not always the product of a
particular comfortable environment. If fact creative depends on
diverse set of life experiences
 2) Process – creativity also refers to specific set of
processes. Two contradictory ideas about cognitive processing in
creativity has been proffered –
one view asserts that creativity involves special processes and
abilities like the ability to quickly restructure problem information
and to connect seemingly remote possibilities.
another view contends that creative thinking is the product of the
garden variety cognitive processing as attention and memory.
The creative cognitive approach (smith 2003) argues that the
answer is probably that creative thinking can be the result of
either type of processes or both.
Sternberg & Davidson (1995) cite three processes as
important in reaching creative insights.
1) selective encoding – involves distinguishing between
relevant and irrelevant information in the domain of
expertise. Creative individuals are better at distinguishing
useful information from red herrings
2) selective combination – involves going beyond
discovering and encoding the information to the
combination of the information in new and productive way
3) selective comparison – involves relating new
information to old information in novel ways.
3) press – refers to the notion that creative behavior does not
occur in a vacuum, that it’s subjects to various external
pressures and contextual factors. Creative acts are also
products of interpersonal, disciplinary and socio-cultural
environments. (brainstorming)

4) products – which refers to the outcome yielded by the

creative process be it a painting, poem, design or new
technology. The analysis of creativity from this perspective
is a challenge as its evaluation requires some type of objective
standard
A taxonomy of creative processes and products
Dietrich (2004) proposes a useful scheme that imposes
some order on the disparate research into creativity. Dietrich’s
characterizes creative insights as a product of two distinct
dimensions: processing mode and knowledge domain
1) processing mode – refers to whether creative insight
emerges as result of a deliberate and effortful search, or
whether it emerges spontaneously as an unexpected flash of
insight.
2) knowledge domain – refers to the nature of the creative
insight, and whether it is characterized more by a cognitive or by
a emotional breakthrough
 Processing Mode
Spontaneous Deliberate

Cognitive Kekule’s Dream (Benzene ring) Mapping of human Gemone

Knowledge Domain

Emotional Van Gough’s self portrait Insight during psychotherapy

Try to solve the following problems

1) How could a baby fall out of a twenty-story building onto the ground and live?
2) A man and his son are in a car crash. The father is killed and the child is taken to hospital
gravely injured. When he gets there, the surgeon says, 'I can't operate on this boy - for he
is my son!!!' How can this possibly be?
3) Three cannibals and three anthropologists have to cross a river. The boat they have is
only big enough for two people. The cannibals will do as requested, even if they are on
the other side of the river, with one exception. If at any point in time there are more
cannibals on one side of the river than anthropologists, the cannibals will eat them.What
plan can the anthropologists use for crossing the river so they don't get eaten? Note: One
anthropologist can not control two cannibals on land, nor can one anthropologist on land
control two cannibals on the boat if they are all on the same side of the river. This means
an anthropologist will not survive being rowed across the river by a cannibal if there is one
cannibal on the other side.
4) A police officer saw a truck driver clearly going the wrong way down a one-way street, but
did not try to stop him. Why not?