thinking 2: problem solving

algorithims and heuristics
1. algorithms are procedures that garnet a solution to a problem
2. heuristics
  1. Strategy that works under some circumstances but does not guarantee success.
  2. quicker and easier than algorithms but no guaranteed accuracy
  3. works by assumption
how people reason
1. • Deductive reasoning argues from the general to the specific – All men are mortal – Socrates is a man – So, Socrates is mortal • But, we tend to use the reverse process, called inductive reasoning • In inductive reasoning we make generalisations based on individual instances (“the flowers delighted my mom on her last birthday, therefore . . . “) • Advantages and Disadvantages (Hume: drawing uncertain conclusions from limited experience)
hierarchical process of problem solving
1. breaking problems down o subproblems to becomee routine i.e. chunking
experts and novices
1. expertise
  1. Expertise is an unusually high level of acquired knowledge or skill in a particular domain.
2. automaticity
  1. more and faster subroutines, more and bigger chunks
obstacles to problem solving
1. functional fixedness
  1. Tendency to think of things only in terms of their usual functions.
2. mental sets
  1. A mental set narrows our perspective and restricts our ability to try different methods.

Resource summary

	Created by danielle cox about 9 years ago