Insight: On the Origins of New Ideas

Description

Research on insight problem solving examines how new ideas are generated to solve problems that initially resist the application of prior knowledge or analogue solutions. In the laboratory, insight problems are designed to create an impasse; overcoming the impasse is sometimes accompanied by a distinctive phenomenological experience, the so-called Aha! moment. Insight: On the Origins of New Ideas presents research that captures these episodes of insight under laboratory conditions and informs models that account for their emergence. Descriptions and analyses of episodes of discovery both in and out of the laboratory are included to provide a general overview of insight. Featuring contributions from leading researchers, the volume debates the relative importance of intelligence and working memory, the development of an alternative interpretation of the problem based on deliberate analyses and heuristics, and unconscious inferences in the emergence of insight. These discussions generate new testable hypotheses to shed light on the cognitive processes underpinning insight, along with concrete methodological recommendations that, together, map a productive programme of future research. This book will be of interest to students and researchers of thinking and reasoning - specifically those interested in insight and creative problem solving. Insight- Front Cover......Page 1 Insight......Page 2 Title Page......Page 4 Copyright Page......Page 5 Contents......Page 6 Notes on contributors......Page 8 Introduction......Page 12 Introduction......Page 19 Routine cognition......Page 20 Semantic processing......Page 23 Application......Page 27 Triggering conditions......Page 30 Summary and implications......Page 34 Notes......Page 35 References......Page 36 Introduction......Page 39 Conclusions......Page 55 References......Page 57 Introduction......Page 62 A model of human problem solving......Page 64 Two main challenges for insight research......Page 70 The task domain of magic......Page 73 The phenomenology of insight: the Aha! experience......Page 79 References......Page 85 Introduction......Page 90 Working memory and insight problem solving......Page 92 Working memory capacity and problem-solving strategies......Page 96 Characteristics of the insight task......Page 98 Situational factors......Page 103 Measurement of working memory capacity......Page 106 Conclusion......Page 108 References......Page 110 Introduction......Page 116 Review......Page 120 Discussion......Page 126 References......Page 128 Introduction......Page 131 Analytical problem solving and reasoning......Page 132 Relationships between insight problem solving and analytical thinking......Page 134 Negative/null correlations of insight with working memory......Page 136 Positive correlations of insight with working memory and analytical thinking......Page 139 Joint analysis of the large-sample data set from three psychometric studies......Page 143 Conclusions......Page 147 References......Page 149 Introduction......Page 154 The Duncker/Gick and Holyoak paradigm......Page 156 Rates of transfer with and without hints......Page 157 The role of similarity between source and target problems......Page 161 The role of abstraction in source processing......Page 164 The role of structure-based processing during solution......Page 172 Conclusions and implications......Page 173 References......Page 176 Introduction......Page 180 Conclusion......Page 197 Notes......Page 198 References......Page 199 Introduction......Page 202 Gestalt theory: insight and creativity......Page 205 Analytic thinking in solving “insight” problems......Page 211 A model of problem solving: analysis in insight......Page 215 An integrated perspective on insight: implications......Page 217 References......Page 224 Index......Page 227