No abstract

In a typical problem situation the individual may be successful by attacking the elements deviating from the familiar state of affairs. Some tasks, however, are of a nature demanding totally new lines of attack. In these unfamiliar situations success seems to be independent of ability factors measured by traditional or new types of tests. Maier's Hatrack Problem is an example of an unfamiliar task, where intelligence seems to be of little help. In a group of 100 university students, 46 solved the Hatrack Problem within 30 min. As expected, ability factors did not differentiate solvers and non-solvers. While number of unsuccessful solution attempts were counted, however, a significant difference ( p < 0.001) favoring solvers was found. It is concluded that level of activity, in the sense of constructive attempts at solution, may be an important determinant in the solution of unfamiliar tasks.

The Hatrack Problem was presented to 93 university students, of whom half were given additional instructions to be active, in the sense of making constructive attempts at solution. The added instructions raised level of activity and also increased number of solutions within a 30-min. period. The results are taken to indicate the importance of actively seeking information in unfamiliar tasks.

Following on previous studies which explored problem‐solving in terms of availability of functions, the present experiment considered whether the necessary past experiences for the solution of a problem can be conveyed to subjects by demonstrating to them the functions found to be critical for the solution. The ‘ball problem’ was given to sixty‐five 17‐year‐old school boys. The two critical functions were demonstrated beforehand to twenty boys of whom nineteen solved the problem within the 30 min. allowed. Of the forty‐five boys given no such demonstration only ten attained solution. These results support the conclusion drawn from earlier experiments that a subject will solve a problem if he has the necessary functions available. They also support the more general contention that a fundamental aspect of problem‐solving is uncovered by considering the process in terms of the functions of concrete objects. The results are related to a number of experiments on the effect of hints at demonstration on problem solving.

Scores on a test built on Raaheim's (1974) theory of problem solving and intelligence (the Family Test, Part I) were correlated with scores of divergent and convergent production within the same ideational area (the Family Test, Parts II and III). The results indicate that both divergent and convergent production contribute to the solution of the problem‐solving tasks. To expand the findings to a broader field of intelligence research scores on the tests of divergent and convergent production were correlated with school achievement. Multiple correlations of 0.61 (males) and 0.67 (females) were found between school achievement and the two tests. Comparisons of groups with scores above and below the means of the two tests show that school achievement depends on the combination of divergent and convergent production, suggesting that, although the two types of production reflect two different aspects of intellectual activity, as a rule they work together in the process of intelligent adjustment.