1 Psychology and human development1.6 Thought and higher cortical functions
1.6.5 Problem-solving strategies
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Written by Resident Doctor Committee · Published
New in the 2027 syllabus
The College added this topic for exams from January 2027.
Organising a solution
Problem representation is how the task is framed: the starting point, the goal and the rules. A wrong representation can make a solvable task look impossible.
Means-end analysis compares where you are with where you want to be, then sets subgoals that narrow the gap.
Hierarchical organisation nests small steps inside a larger plan, so progress can be checked at several levels.
Automaticity means well-practised parts of a task need little attention. This frees attention for the unfamiliar parts.
Obstacles and how to get past them
Obstacle | What it means | What helps |
|---|---|---|
Mental set | Sticking with a familiar strategy when the task has changed | Come up with a genuinely different approach |
Functional fixedness | Seeing an object only in its usual role | Describe its physical properties and other possible uses |
Unnecessary constraints | Assuming limits the problem does not set | Restate the actual rules |
Poor transfer | Failing to recognise a useful analogy | Compare underlying relationships, not surface details |
Incubation means putting a problem aside and coming back to it later. A solution that comes after the break does not prove that all the reasoning happened unconsciously.