Problem Solving.

This past week in my Cognitive Psychology class, Prof Moreno began lecturing on problem solving and how we humans go about doing it. He described a bunch of the specifics, but also pointed out something that really struck me even though it may seem obvious:

Sometimes, finding the solution to a problem greatly depends on overcoming the mindset you have when presented with it.

He went on to talk about this in technical terms and in accordance with a mathematical problem, but my mind wandered in another direction.

On a day to day basis, when we are faced with a problem, if we had been having a good day prior to that, we may have a clearer sense of how to resolve the issue at hand. On the other hand, had we been having somewhat of a bad day, we may approach the problem with less patience.

Something else caught my attention (as if I'm not supposed to be paying perfect attention to the entire lecture haha). Prof Moreno described functional fixedness as only being able to see tools for problem solving serving the primary function they do in everyday life. In other words, we are unable to use things for purposes other than what they made for, regardless of their ability to be used in other ways.

So, quick recap- our ability to solve a problem depends on our mental set (the mindset we have when presented with the problem) and our inability to be flexible with the tools we are given.

What if we could get out of such mindsets and be open and clever enough to use tools we were given in new and inventive ways?

What if we could step outside of the box and look at the big picture in order to formulate the best solution?

What if we took this knowledge that has been proven by psychologists and find a way to overcome this natural process?

Perhaps problems would be solved quicker, easier and with longer lasting effects.