11 - intro to psych - problem solving

what are the two types of problem

•Adversary problems

•non-adversary problems

what are adversary problems

Two or more people pitting their wits against each other.

In game-playing the problem is to find a winning strategy or the best current move.

Examples include chess, tic-tac-toe and checkers.

what are non-adversary problems

Another person is only involved as the problem setter.

Examples include eight-puzzle, the missionaries and cannibalsproblem and the tower of Hanoi problem

what are the edcucational benefits of problems

teach students to anticpate counter arguemnents

fosters teamwork and shared problem solving

what are the 2 main approaches in explaining problem solving

•The Gestalt approach

•The information-processing approach

what is functional fixedness

a type of mental set, in which we fail to see than an object might have uses other than the normal ones.

what is the Gestalt approach

approaching problem-solving as involving the perceptual restructuring of the problem, resulting in insight

what thinking is needed in order to solve problems

productive thinking not reproductive

evaluation for the Gestalt approach

•doesn’t apply to all aspects of problem-solving.

•The concepts of ‘insight’ and ‘restructuring’ are ill-defined as theoretical constructs.

•a range of experimental evidence

what is the Information-processing approach

analysing cognitive processes in terms of a series of separate stages.

what are the problem solving stages in the information processing approach

Representing the problem

Generating possible solutions

Evaluating those solutions

what are Heuristics

guidelines for selecting actions that are most likely to lead a solver towards a goal, but may not always do so

what is an algorithm

a systematic exploration of every possible solution until the correct one is found.

what are the 2 models for decision making

•COMPENSATORY

•NON-COMPENSATORY

what is compensatory decision making

looking at the benifits and drawbacks of a decision

considering and evaluating all criteria

however it is time consuming

what is non-compensatory decision making

eliminating alternative decisions without evauating

quick

more typical

what are the steps in decision making

§Defining the problem

§Listing the alternatives

§Identifying the criteria

§Weighing the alternatives against the criteria

§Making and justifying the decision

§Reflecting on the decision-making process

what are 2 examples of Heuristics

AVAILABILITY HEURISTIC

ANCHORING BIAS