Psychology Facts

▼ Problem Solving ▼

》 Problem solving in psychology refers to the process of finding solutions to problems encountered in life.

》 The following steps include developing strategies for problem solving and organizing knowledge.

Identifying the problem: While it may seem like an obvious step, identifying the problem is not always as simple as it sounds. In some cases, people might mistakenly identify the wrong source of a problem, which will make attempts to solve it inefficient or even useless.

Defining the problem: After the problem has been identified, it is important to fully define the problem so that it can be solved.

Forming a strategy: The next step is to develop a strategy to solve the problem. The approach used will vary depending upon the situation and the individual's unique preferences.

Organizing information: Before coming up with a solution, we need to first organize the available information. What do we know about the problem? What do we not know? The more information that is available, the better prepared we will be to come up with an accurate solution.

Allocating resources: Of course, we don't always have unlimited money, time, and other resources to solve a problem. Before you begin to solve a problem, you need to determine how high priority it is. If it is an important problem, it is probably worth allocating more resources to solving it. If, however, it is a fairly unimportant problem, then you do not want to spend too much of your available resources into coming up with a solution.

Monitoring progress: Effective problem-solvers tend to monitor their progress as they work towards a solution. If they are not making good progress toward reaching their goal, they will reevaluate their approach or look for new strategies.

Evaluating the results: After a solution has been reached, it is important to evaluate the results to determine if it is the best possible solution to the problem. This evaluation might be immediate, such as checking the results of a math problem to ensure the answer is correct, or it can be delayed, such as evaluating the success of a therapy program after several months of treatment.​

》 Many animals routinely solve problems of locomotion, food finding, and shelter through trial and error. Some higher animals, such as apes and cetaceans, have demonstrated more complex problem-solving abilities, including discrimination of abstract stimuli, rule learning, and application of language or languagelike operations.

》 Humans use not only trial and error but also insight based on an understanding of principles, inductive and deductive reasoning, and divergent or creative thinking Problem-solving abilities and styles may vary considerably by individual.

》 There are many strategies that can make solving a problem easier and more efficient. Two of them, algorithms and heuristics, are of particularly great psychological importance.

》 A heuristic is a rule of thumb, a strategy, or a mental shortcut that generally works for solving a problem (particularly decision-making problems). It is a practical method, one that is not a hundred percent guaranteed to be optimal or even successful, but is sufficient for the immediate goal.

》 Different types of heuristics are used in different types of situations, but the impulse to use a heuristic occurs when one of five conditions is met:

When one is faced with too much information

When the time to make a decision is limited

When the decision to be made is unimportant

When there is access to very little information to use in making the decision

When an appropriate heuristic happens to come to mind in the same moment

》 There are many other ways of solving a problem. The most effective depends on the type of problem and the resources at hand.
Some of these ways include:

Abstraction: solving the problem in a model of the system before applying it to the real system.

Analogy: using a solution for a similar problem.

Brainstorming: suggesting a large number of solutions and developing them until the best is found.

Divide and conquer: breaking down a large, complex problem into smaller, solvable problems.

Hypothesis testing: assuming a possible explanation to the problem and trying to prove (or, in some contexts, disprove) the assumption.

Lateral thinking: approaching solutions indirectly and creatively.

Means-ends analysis: choosing an action at each step to move closer to the goal.

Morphological analysis: assessing the output and interactions of an entire system.

Proof: try to prove that the problem cannot be solved. The point where the proof fails will be the starting point for solving it.

Reduction: transforming the problem into another problem for which solutions exist.
Root-cause analysis: identifying the cause of a problem.

Trial and error: testing possible solutions until the right one is found.