Question

Consider the following scenario: You are trying to complete a difficult assignment, and you become “stuck” on a specific problem, question, or detail. You are tired, hungry, and frustrated and have difficulty coming to a resolution. Eventually, you give up or take a break and move on to another activity.

Later, while you are cooking dinner, jogging down the street, or taking a shower, the answer comes. Out of thin air, you have solved a problem that you had stopped thinking about. How might this phenomenon be possible?

For this Discussion, you consider barriers to problem solving. You also explain how one might overcome such barriers.

With these thoughts in mind:

Post a brief description of two examples when you encountered barriers to problem solving.

Then explain the steps you took to overcome the barriers in each example.

Finally, explain strategies to enhance problem-solving skills.

Answer 1

some of the barriers to problem solving are:

• Confirmation bias: confirmational. bias is the barrier in which there would be the consideration of various facts about the observation or experiments carried out. This explains that a person would only find a solution as they would carry out various steps.
• Mental set: this had been demonstrated in different forms where there would be presence of a single inclination in trying to solve a problem in a manner that the previous experiments would be tried.
• Functional fixedness: this is the process in which a person would be becoming fixed onto a problem with their attempt to solve it.
• Unnecessary constraints: this takes place when the subject would try and solve a problem on a subconscious basis. This rather forces fhe person to be straining their innovative thinking.
• Irrelevant information: if the person is provided with unnecessary information that does not concern thei problem, it could lead to complicate the question even more, rather than solving it.

Problem solving skills include:

• Evaluation of the situation and all provided information
• Breaking the components into smaller parts
• Considering more than one approach in solving the problem,
• Identification of the ways that are most appropriate.