🧠 THINKING & PROBLEM SOLVING

🧠 THINKING & PROBLEM SOLVING

Front: Focused vs Unfocused thinking
Back:

  • Focused = logical, step-by-step

  • Unfocused = creative, free-flowing

Front: Features of a problem
Back: Initial state, goal state, obstacles

Front: Well-defined vs Ill-defined problems
Back:

  • Well-defined = clear steps/solution

  • Ill-defined = unclear path/goal (more interesting to study)

Front: Why is problem-solving hard to study?
Back: Internal mental processes are not directly observable

Front: What is GPS (General Problem Solver)?
Back: Early AI model that uses means-end analysis

Front: Algorithm vs Heuristic
Back:

  • Algorithm = guaranteed solution, slow

  • Heuristic = faster shortcut, may be wrong

Front: What is problem space?
Back: All possible steps from start → goal

Front: Hill-climbing heuristic
Back: Choose option that gets you closer to goal each step

Front: Means-end analysis
Back: Reduce difference between current state & goal

Front: Working backwards
Back: Start at goal → move toward start

Front: Reasoning by analogy
Back: Solve new problem using similar past problem

Front: Tower of Hanoi demonstrates what?
Back: Problem-solving strategies + planning

Front: Gick & Holyoak (1980)
Back: People struggle to use analogy unless prompted

Front: Experts vs novices
Back:

  • Experts = deep structure

  • Novices = surface features

Front: Mental set
Back: Sticking to old strategies

Front: Functional fixedness
Back: Can’t see new uses for objects

Front: Candle problem shows what?
Back: Functional fixedness