Common barriers to problem solving: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 13:29, 19 March 2012

Revision as of 13:30, 19 March 2012

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</ref>Wiley, J. (1998). Expertise as mental set: The effects of ___domain knowledge in creative problem solving. ''Memory & Cognition'', ''24''(4), 716-730. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.biola.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=psyh&AN=1998-10386-011&login.asp&site=ehost-live</ref>

Researchers have discovered and articulated certain mental processes that work to thwart one’s ability to solve a given problem efficiently. This review intends to provide an overview of three common processes that act as barriers to problem solving: confirmation bias, mental set, fixation, and functional fixedness.

Within the field of science there exists a fundamental standard named the Scientific Method, which describes the process of discovering facts or truths about the world through unbiased consideration of all pertinent information, and impartial observation of and/or experimentation with that information. According to this theory, one is able to most accurately find a solution to a perceived problem by performing the aforementioned steps. The Scientific Method is not a process that is limited to scientists, but rather it is one that all people can practice in their respective fields of work as well as in their personal lives. Confirmation bias is in essence one’s unconscious corruption of the scientific method. Thus when one demonstrates confirmation bias, he or she is formally or informally collecting data, and then subsequently observing and experimenting with that data in such a way that favors a preconceived notion that may or may not have motivation. Motivation refers to one’s desire to defend or find substantiation for beliefs (e.g., religious beliefs) that are important to him or her. According to Nickerson (1998), those involved in committing the genocide that occurred from the 1400s to 1600s demonstrated confirmation bias with motivation. However, confirmation bias does not necessarily require motivation. In Wason’s (1960) experiment that examined selective testing, it was discovered that participants would work to confirm hypotheses that they had proposed, which did not support a personally significant belief. In the experiment participants viewed three numbers and were then asked to hypothesize a rule that was used to create the triplet of numbers. When testing their hypotheses, participants tended to only create additional triplets of numbers that would confirm their hypotheses as opposed to attempting to create triplets that would disprove their hypotheses.

Mental set was articulated by the researcher Luchins (1942) and demonstrated in his well-known water jug experiments. Mental Set describes one’s inclination to attempt to solve problems in such a way that has proved successful in previous experiences. However, such methods for finding a solution that have worked in the past may not be adequate or optimal for certain similar problems. Therefore, people must seek to move beyond their mental sets in order to find solutions. When people rigidly cling to their mental sets, they are said to be experiencing fixation. In the 1930s Maier performed an experiment, which worked to demonstrate the phenomenon of Mental Set and fixation. In his experiment, participants to were confronted with a problem, which could be solved by using pliers in an unconventional manner. Participants inability to view the pliers in a way that strayed from its typical use was a mental set. Participants then entered a state of fixation when they could not move past their established mental sets. Likewise, researcher Jennifer Wiley (1998) worked to reveal that persons with expertise in certain fields are at a disadvantage when solving problems that may conflict with their specialized ___domain knowledge. She discovered that expertise works to create a mental set in participants, which in turn fosters fixation.