Finding solutions to difficult or complex issues using higher mental functions of the brain, creative thinking and strategies. Steps to solve a problem include Identifying and Defining the problem, Examining the options, Acting on plan, and Looking at the consequences. Techniques include TRIZ (based on logic and data, not intuition, focusing on the "contradictions"), Brainstorming (generating a large number of ideas in a group), Synectics (focusing on emotional and irrational components of creative behavior vs intellectual ones), Heuristic methods (based on finding similar problems and solutions, generalization, pattern recognition), and Mind mapping - an effective visual tool for structuring thoughts, organizing ideas in a form of decision trees.
Problem solving is one of fundamental processes of cognition - the process of thinking, gaining knowledge, and using that knowledge. As a higher-layer cognitive process, problem solving interacts with abstraction, searching, learning, decision making, inference, analysis, and synthesis on the basis of internal knowledge representation.
Problem solving is one of fundamental processes of cognition - the process of thinking, gaining knowledge, and using that knowledge. As a higher-layer cognitive process, problem solving interacts with abstraction, searching, learning, decision making, inference, analysis, and synthesis on the basis of internal knowledge representation.
