The Psychology of Problem-Solving

psychologists study the mind and behavior and one topic that's interested them for nearly 100 years is problem-solving by looking at three problems psychologists have studied extensively we can get a little insight into how psychology sheds light on the mind again and again psychologists have found that solving certain puzzles requires seeing things differently [Music] in the candle problem we're given some thumbtacks a candle and a box of matches don't try this at home without an adult present the goal state is to attach the candle to a wall in such a way that we can light the candle without burning the house down again don't try this at home the 9 dot problem was published as a puzzle in the early 1900s and it seems to have been first studied by the American psychologist Norman Mayer in an article he published in 1930 the nine dot problem runs as follows given nine dots in three rows of three connect all the dots drawing through them using only four straight lines the three glass problem involves three glasses an 8-ounce glass a five ounce glass and a three ounce glass we need to make two servings of exactly four ounces each without measuring and without just eyeballing or guessing most people start trying to solve problems using trial and error this is feldheim successful but it does help you to explore what's called the problem space the candle problem was the subject of a study by Gestalt psychologists Karl Duncker in this case the candle is very small but a bigger candle would really help the wax of the candle isn't strong enough to melt it and hold it to the wall [Music] [Music] with the nine dot problem we can start exploring through trial and error making four lines can we run through all the dots it's easy enough to draw four lines but they don't run through all the dots [Music] we can explore the three glass problem a sort of undirected way if we pour liquid from the 8 ounce glass into the 5 ounce glass then we have three ounces one glass and five ounces in another we can pour the five ounces back into the 8 ounce glass and the three ounces into the five ounce glass but we basically just keep rearranging five and three ounces in the various glasses we don't have any way of getting to four ounces [Music] the solution comes when we realize that the matchbox can be used to make a kind of shelf to hold up the candle that is it's not just a box it's possibly something else the inability to see the matchbox as a possible solution was what dunker called functional fixedness seeing an object as only performing one function and not possibly doing something new dunker gave his subject a box of tacks reusing the box of matches instead when dunker presented his research subjects with an empty box and the contents separately they were twice as likely to be able to solve the problem researchers at Stanford found that solving the problem on paper about 23% of students were able to solve the problem when the phrase box of matches was underlined or even just the word box the success rate rose to 55% for those who had the phrase box of matches underlined and 47 for those who had the word box underlined [Music] the solution comes when we see things in a new way from a new perspective or angle [Music] one hint psychologists sometimes give test subjects with a nine dot problem is that it's possible to go outside a square represented by the nine dots if we draw back a bit we get a different view of the problem space psychologists still debate today why the nine dot problem is difficult some problems are difficult because it's almost impossible to list all the possible solutions or pathways the nine dot problem is not this way we can explore the problem space by seeing how few lines we can draw that pass through all the dots not worrying about making one connected line right now if we do this there are at least two good ways to use three lines to cut through all the dots and using diagonal lines we can do it in four if we look at this combination of lines we can realize that four of them will connect outside the space of the nine dots and give us our solution as with the candle problem seeing the problem a certain way prevents us from seeing the solution one problem in our trial and error approach to the three class problem was we were only thinking about what was in the glasses not what wasn't in the glasses if we keep track not only of how much as in the glass but how much extra space is in the glass then we can use that extra space to measure and remove quantities from the other glasses if we pour five ounces out of the eight ounce glass then we have three ounces and five ounces and if we pour liquid from the five ounce glass into the three ounce glass then we end up with two ounces left in the five ounce glass [Music] combining the three ounces in the large glass and the small glass gives us six ounces in one glass and two ounces in another which we can rearrange now we have one ounce of empty space in the smallest class which means if we measure five ounces into the middle glass and pour out some into the three ounce glass we're left with four ounces what's left in the other two glasses can be combined and must of course before ounces so what does psychology have to tell us about problem solving clearly hints are helpful it's also cheering to know that by combining elements of solutions that don't work we can sometimes find a solution that does work we think inside a frame or box indeed the catchphrase thinking outside the box seems to have come from the nine dot problem in some cases we literally need to see what's not there empty space as a positive not just something to be ignored perhaps the most important takeaway is perspective when we look we often don't see that we're seeing things a certain way understanding how seeing is always a specific way of seeing can get us one step closer to that moment of illumination which takes us out of darkness you

Channel: Edward Oneill

Views: 976,967

Rating: 4.4479814 out of 5

Keywords: psychology, cognition, problem solving, problem-solving

Id: vg936IW9i7Q

Length: 8min 18sec (498 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 12 2016

Reddit Comments

[u/adriennemonster]

The glasses problem is bullshit, the rules state you can't eyeball or guess measurements, but that's what's proposed as part of the solution???