Overcoming Functional Fixedness Through Categorical Generalization

Challenges are all around us. Sometimes we face easy challenges and other times we face difficult challenges. In order to solve a problem, regardless of its level of difficulty, one must think critically and creatively in order to develop a satisfactory solution. As we try to solve the problems of our daily lives, it is important to examine any and all ideas. From the most mundane to the most radical, it is a healthy activity to express all ideas and do the filtering later. This paper will attempt to discuss and solve a problem I have some personal experience with. “It is one thing to have thinking skills and quite another to use them in everyday situations”

If someone walked up to a random person and asked them to name the first tool that came to mind, they would be more likely to say “hammer” than “shingle froe”. The average Joe has a hammer in their house than a shingle froe since hammer is more commonly used. A single froe is a specialized tool that construction workers use to put shingles on the roof of a house. Prototype theory is the phenomenon that causes people’s mind automatically think of a hammer when asked that question. The prototype theory is the belief where everyone has a mindset of one word relating to another. (Prototype Theory, 2015). Another way the prototype is known as a way a person categorizes their mind (What is Prototype Theory?, 2016). An example would be is when a

The new concept of thinking,

Roger von Oech, the author of A Whack on the Side of the Head, makes an unusual offer that thinking at random will increase the efficiency at which ideas become more abundant. This particular concept is certainly an original way to come up with new, fresh problem solving techniques. Ambiguity in the world can help new ideas flow for anyone when looked at in a creative way.

Functionalism, one of the most influential and widespread theories of mind of our day, proposes a model of human behaviour based on the way certain inputs are processed when the mind is in a given state, to yield certain outputs. This theory concerns itself only what mental states do, rather than the substance with which they are made, or whether they exist at all; this is called ‘multiple realizability’. In other words, the theory is ontologically modest, or flexible, and this enables functionalism to stay compatible with Cartesian dualism or monisms like materialism, an advantage when other theories lose followers due to their ontological preconceptions. The other notable strength functionalism claims is that it avoids some of the pitfalls of its counterpart theory, behaviourism. However each of these apparent strengths has flaws, both in and of themselves and in comparison to other theories of mind. These strengths and their flaws will be assessed in this essay, but allow me first to outline what the functionalist theory of mind proposes.

I can say throughout my youth I was raised on the belief that men are the providers and women are the nurturers of the family which was my understanding of symbolic interactionism of a happy marriage at that time. Nevertheless, as I continued to get older I found my newly divorced mother trying to pull both ends of the spectrum as a provider and nurturer. Furthermore, with the influencing values that were taught to me in my youth I felt as the oldest child I should step up to take the role as a provider while finishing high school. However, my mother felt that she alone could burden the weight of being a single parent. Regardless of our structural-functional beliefs, I came to an agreement with my mother that I would cut both her duties as

Since being discovered, gestalt psychology created vital contributions to the psychology of thinking and problem solving influenced by thinkers, including, Immanuel Kant, Ernst Mach and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. This paper will reflect on the main influences on Gestalt psychology, their contributions, and the principles of perceptual organization.

One example that Irwin and McLaughlin (1970) studied was the fact that Mano farmers were better at sorting out the different shapes of rice than Americans (388). Irwin and McLaughlin (1970) believed that this result was found because the Mano farmers were more inclined to study the shapes of rice than Americans were, and therefore the Mano farmers would have the upper hand on categorizing shapes of rice when compared to the Americans (388).

Every day individuals are faced with many different problems for example deciding what to wear, finding a suitable place to park your car or even completing an assignment. Whatever the problem is, ‘problem solving is defined as any goal-directed sequence of cognitive operations’, as suggested by Anderson (1980, p.257).

The ideal categories tend to be the focus of this hypothesis since the root metaphor is the organic system but the progressive categories are need in order to connect the integrated system with the phenomena it is trying to predict. On the other hand one cannot get rid of the primary categories because that removes the seeking of order within an event and leaves the hypothesis identical to contextualism. Thus this hypothesis can be applied to events but only those with components that that can be integrated into a coherent system leaving it with less scope than a hypothesis like

The, “War on Drugs” has been an ongoing debate in many circles for much longer than most people know. Starting in the late 1800’s, drug regulations and laws have been imposed upon American society and, although they have changed and been manipulated to fit different policies, by different politicians with different agendas, they are still in effect today. These laws and regulations may be in place for the safety of society or, according to some, are a way for the federal government to control the American population. With the many different effects, uses or styles of drugs available both legally and illegally there are countless reasons why these regulations are in place, but equally as many examples of why they are not needed or are detrimental to our culture. The more recent regulations have brought about more negative issues in society than the positive result they were intended for. The initiation of the War on Drugs as a peacemaking criminological approach to drugs in an effort to eliminate illegal drug use has failed resulting in overcrowding and dangerous prisons, increased violence and fatality rates in the underground drug trade and unjustifiable costs to the American taxpayer for the treatment and incarceration of those targeted. A look at a brief history of drugs in America will help put this failure into context.

It is further stated in this article that students are introduced to functional thinking in early stages of schooling. It is taught as a guess and

There are both different advantages and various of disadvantages of using models to produce knowledge in Natural Science and Human Science. According to Theory of Knowledge, “model is a simplified representation of some aspect of the world.” (IBO) It can be a simplified diagram of how a specific system or experiment works, or a long mathematical complicated equation. Those simplified representations further the knowledge in different ways such as understanding and prediction. From the heading, we can see that we have to examine the advantages and limitations of using models to produce knowledge in different areas of knowledge. Hence, in this essay, I will assess the advantages and limitations of using models in the role that they play in producing

Since I was little, I had love for science. It is the subject that interest me because there’s too many interesting topics. Science make us wonder how things work and how the world was made. In science there 's too many hypotheses that can be made into proved theories. Now that I’m in college, it has only reassured to me that I do love science. I’m taking my Biology courses and they are so intriguing to me. One of my classes that I’m really enjoying right now is Biological evolution.

According to Baird and colleagues, mind wandering can enhance creativity goals and problems that were encountered. Creativity finds solutions that are novel, and high quality (Matlin, 2009). J.P. Guilford researched how we measure creativity. Creativity should be measured by divergent production. This research demonstrates the number of different responses that are made for each test item (Matlin, 2009).