An example of effective problem solving strategy is
2019
An example of effective problem solving strategy is
- A.
Not paying any attention to evaluating the solution.
- B.
Functional fixedness – focusing on only the conventional function of an object.
- C.
Response set – getting stuck on one way of representing a problem.
- D.
Means-end analysis – dividing the problem into number of sub-goals.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: D
Concept: Cognitive psychology distinguishes strategies that solvers use (heuristics such as decomposing a problem into sub-goals, or working backward from the goal) from habits of thought that can accompany problem solving (such as not monitoring one's own attempts, viewing objects only in their familiar use, or repeating one representation of a problem).
Application: Means-end analysis is the heuristic of comparing the current state to the goal state at each step, noting the difference between them, and selecting an action or an intermediate sub-goal that addresses that difference — i.e., dividing the overall problem into a number of sub-goals, exactly as the question describes.
Not evaluating a solution at all is the omission of the monitoring/checking step of problem solving — noticing whether an attempted solution met the goal.
Functional fixedness is perceiving an object only in terms of its familiar, conventional use, rather than considering other uses it could have.
A response set (mental set) is repeating the same representation of, or approach to, a problem across successive attempts.
Result: The question asks specifically for the strategy that involves dividing a problem into sub-goals — that is the definition of means-end analysis given in the Application section above.