Transcript Thinking and Problem Solving

Problem
Solving
Chimps and Learning
Chimps and Learning II
Problem Solving
refers to active efforts
to discover what must
be done to achieve a
goal that is not readily
available
What
strategies do we
use to solve
problems?
What obstacles hinder
our problem solving?
Trial and Error
 No
organization, no preparation,
no system…just try everything
and anything until something
works
• Thomas Edison tried thousands of
light bulb filaments before stumbling
upon the one that worked
Algorithm
A
methodical, step-bystep, logical rule or
procedure that
guarantees solving a
particular problem
• How many words can you make
out of the letters
SPLOYOCHYG? Try each letter
in each position, resulting in
907,200 combinations, and then
pick out the words that make
sense. Step-by-step.
Heuristics
 Allows
us to make judgments and
solve problems efficiently by
adding common sense shortcuts
to step-by-step procedures;
speedier, but more error-prone
than algorithms
• How many words can you make out
of the letters SPLOYOCHYG? You
know that no words start with YY, so
eliminate all of those combinations,
as well as all of the YG, YH, etc.
You may miss some real words, but
you get an approximation.
Insight
A
sudden and often novel
realization of the solution to a
problem.
• You’re stuck on a problem for a
long time, then suddenly the
pieces just fall together and you
perceive a solution – “AHA !!”
Representative Heuristics
 Judging
the likelihood of an
answer in terms of how well
it seems to represent, or
match, particular concepts
that we already have
• Looking for the smartest guy in a room
full of strangers? It’s probably the
older guy in the tweed suit with thick
glasses.
• Choosing teams for a pick-up game of
basketball? Pick the tall guy first.
• Searching for a stolen vehicle? Its
probably over in the West Side of town.
Availability Heuristic

Making our judgments based on the
events that are most readily available
in memory
•
Who to date next? Well, don’t date
blondes because your last experience was
a disaster. Where to go to dinner? Don’t
go to The Inn because the last time you
were there it was overcooked.
Confirmation Bias
A
tendency to search
for answers and
information that
confirms one’s own
preconceptions
A
teacher believes that boys
behave more badly than girls, so
she watches over the boys more.
At the end of the day, she has
written more detentions for boys
than for girls, confirming her
original belief.
Fixation
 Only
attempting to solve a
problem from a single
perspective
• The solutions that worked in the
past (mental set) often work on
new problems, and if they don’t,
we get frustrated and give up.
Functional Fixedness

The tendency to think of things
only in terms of their usual
functions
• It’s raining and you don’t have an
umbrella, but you could use the plastic
bag in your car. You can’t get a screw
loose without a screwdriver, but you
could use a coin.
Overconfidence
The
tendency to be more
confident than correct –
to overestimate the
accuracy of one’s beliefs
and judgments
Bias – the tendency for
one’s pre-existing beliefs to distort
logical reasoning
 Belief Perseverance – clinging to
one’s initial conceptions, even
after the bias has been
discredited
 Belief
When we think about
solving a problem, how
do we access
applicable information
in our memory in a
useful manner?
Concepts
A multilevel
classification system
based on common
properties among
items
• IE. We have a mental concept of dogs
based on their common physical traits of
four legs, a tail, fur, and their bark. Dogs
can then be broken down into large breed
and small breeds. Large breed can then
be broken down into herders, hunters,
guard, etc. Herders can then be broken
down into ……
Dog
Fur, Four Legs, Tail, Bark
Large Breed
Over 50 lbs.
Small Breed
Under 50 lbs.
Prototypes
A
mental image or best
example of each concept we
have developed
• We match new items to our
mental prototypes in order to
allow or disallow items into our
concept groups
Dog
Fur, Four Legs, Tail, Bark
Large Breed
Over 50 lbs.
Small Breed
Under 50 lbs.
Our prototype of a “dog” is a
Golden Retriever. A new
animal we meet has four legs,
a tail, fur, barks,
etc……compared to our
mental prototype of a “dog”, it
must also be a “dog”