Conscious Thought and Problem Solving - AP Psychology

The best definition of problem solving is making an active effort to achieve a goal that cannot be easily attained. At times, individuals view this unmet need as a problem and whatever means he or she comes up with to fulfill that need is the solution. The process of coming up with this solution is known as problem solving.

Problems involving structure usually require figuring out the relationship between two elements. Take this analogy problem: women are to men as sweets are to                     . The problem requires you to figure out the implied (i.e. not explicit) relationship between women and men and apply it to sweets. Structural problems are primarily based on relationships between parts.

Problems associated with arranging involve moving parts to fulfill a certain criterion. This manifests in many forms. Puzzles, anagrams, and block building are all forms of arrangement tasks. In the example provided in the answer, the letters are appropriately arranged to make the word “dancing.”

There are many resources at our disposal to solve problems. We can use trial and error, algorithms, deductive reasoning, inductive reasoning, dialectical reasoning, heuristics, forming sub-goals, and similar problems to help us approach the problem at hand. No single one method is measurably better than the other but some are more appropriate for particular problems.

A "mental set" is an obstacle to problem solving which involves fixating only on solutions that have worked in the past. For instance, someone who knows that yelling and throwing a fit has gotten them what they wanted might only use this solution to get they want in the present. Instead, it might be more effective to think of a new solution.

When a person is presented with a problem this problem may be presented with irrelevant information. That is, this information will not be useful when coming up with a solution. This is a common device used in riddles. Teasing out irrelevant information entails figuring out what precisely is being asked of you for the solution.

Trial and error is an appropriate approach to a problem when the number of possible solutions is relatively small. If number of possible solutions were large, then using trial and error would potentially take too long and be ineffective. If someone is presented with five light switches, they might try each one until they find the correct one. If someone is presented with 300 light switches, then trial error might not be the best option.

All of these answers are examples of algorithms. Algorithms are problems involving a step-by-step procedure to get one goal. This is not restricted to just math as one might think. People use algorithms in day-to-day life whether baking cookies using a particular recipe or driving somewhere by using directions.

A succinct and clear definition for cognition could be the following: "thinking, reasoning, remembering or almost any other activity in the brain." Cognition drastically changes throughout our lifetimes and is the object of much psychological study. In other words, the correct choice for the basic and clear definition of cognition is the following: "cognition relates to almost any activity in the brain, particularly thinking, reasoning and remembering."

Making assumptions may make us skip over important information we may need to solve a problem. This can happen in a variety of problems, especially when they involve people. We carry around many preconceived notions about how people and our society work. If we have a problem understanding a certain phenomena in society, it may be due to these kinds of assumptions. For instance, patriarchal society once widely assumed that women were destined for housework and many people didn't understand why women were so happy. They attributed it to their "biology". Instead, it's better understood that women desire just as much as men to participate in and feel like they belong in their society.

Decision-making involves weighing alternatives and choosing between them. The other answers are a part of decision making but are too specific to the methods for our decision making processes. For instance, it isn't just risky decisions that involve weighing alternatives and choosing between them, but all decisions. The other answers are strategies for how we weigh the alternatives at hand.

The economist Herbert Simon noted that people very often do not make rational decisions. This is primarily due to the fact that it is difficult to simultaneously evaluate all possible options and so they tend to only focus on a few aspects of the available options. For instance, some people may be overly focused on what they'll lose in a certain options instead of how much they have to gain.

Additive strategies are commonly used when people are making decisions about their preferences. When using an additive strategy, a person lists the traits of each potential choice, weights them according to importance, adds them up, and determines which one is more appealing based on the result. Another common strategy is a strategy of elimination, which will not be discussed in detail here.

Deductive and inductive reasoning differ in the path used to reach their respective conclusions. In deductive reasoning, the researcher starts with a general statement or hypothesis and examines possibilities in order to reach a specific conclusion. On the other hand, in inductive reasoning, the researcher attempts to make generalizations from specific occurrences.

A heuristic is something commonly used in our reasoning as a general "rule of thumb". These are rules that hopefully guide use to the solution we need. For instance, a student taking a test wants to get a good grade. In order to reach that goal, they may follow the general "rule of thumb" (i.e. heuristic) of doing the easy questions first so they can use their focus for the more difficult problems.

Dialectical reasoning involves going back and forth between opposing points of view in order to come up with a satisfactory solution. This involves fully engaging in each side of the problem. This could be as simple as a person making a pros and cons list for what trip they want to take or as complex as a politician considering all positive and negative consequences of a bill being passed.

An efficient way of solving an analogy problem would be forming sub-goals. For instance take the analogy: "a school is to a student as a company is to a                     .” A sub-goal to reaching the end goal of actually solving the problem would be to figure out the relationship between a school and a student. After this sub-goal is reached, it would be easy to infer that the answer is "employee.”

This is an elimination strategy. An elimination strategy is a decision making strategy where one sets a certain criteria and any options that do not meet this criteria will be automatically be eliminated. Although John deciding where to eat is certainly a form of judgment and cognition, these answers aren't sufficient because they are not as specific to what this process was. An additive strategy is a different type of process all together.

All of these are fallacies that impede one's ability to make decisions based on accurate reasons. The tendency to ignore base rates involves inaccurate correlation rates. For instance, if a person sees a man with motorcycle related tattoos they are likely to think he is a motorcycle owner. Yet they ignore the fact that the large majority of Americans are car-owners. The gambler's fallacy is summed up by the phrase "I'm due for a win!" Minimizing risk involves making a decision because the option is presented in positive terms. Overestimation of the improbable is when a person thinks the chances of an actually rare event are higher than they are.