problem solving/ decision making

Question 1

what is problem solving and what does it involve?

Answer 1

overcoming an obstacle to reach a goal.

1. understand the problem (components)
2. generate possible solutions
3. test solutions
4. evaluate results

Question 2

general strategies for problem solving…

Answer 2

• trial and error
• algorithm
• heuristics - means-end analysis

Question 3

what is a heuristic?

Answer 3

a strategy that doesn’t guarantee a solution but they often work and save time… cognitive shortcut

Question 4

algorithms

Answer 4

use knowledge of English to derive solutions (heuristics/ rule of thumb) - don’t try all possible solutions

Question 5

availability heuristic:

Answer 5

probability estimates influenced by how easy it is to retrieve information

(people’s estimates of danger are influenced by past events/ friends and family experiences are easy to retrieve)

Question 6

means-ends analysis for problem solving

Answer 6

towers of hanoi

goals broken into subgoals, working step by step to get closer to goal

Question 7

Hill-climbing - to solve problems

Answer 7

chicken, fox, grain

change the present state of the problem so you are one step closer to a solution

Question 8

creative problem solving

Answer 8

1. divergent thinking
2. analogy

Question 9

Dunker’s Radiation Problem

Answer 9

Doctor needs to destroy a tumor, that can be destroyed using a ray but the ray will also destroy healthy tissue. At low levels the ray will not destroy healthy tissue, but it is not strong enough to destroy tumor.

Teaching of this problem allowed people to form analogy

Question 10

Obstacles to Problem Solving

Answer 10

• mental sets: habits/ assumptions (lunchins jar prob)
• functional fixedness: cognitive bias where people only think to use an object the way it is traditionally used (candle problem)

Question 11

Overcoming Obstacles…

Answer 11

• incubation/ taking a break
• practice divergent thinking

Question 12

successful problem solving…

Answer 12

• analogies, look out for functional fixedness/ mental sets