Insight

Abstract

In the century since the Gestalt psychologists introduced insight as a component process of perception and problem solving, researchers have studied the phenomenological, behavioral, and neural components of insight. Whether and how insight is different from other types of problem solving, such as analysis, has been a topic of considerable interest and some contention. In this chapter we develop a working definition of insight and detail the history of insight research by focusing on questions about the influence of the problem solver's prior knowledge, the origins and significance of representational change, and the roles of impasse and incubation. We also review more recent investigations of the neurological correlates of insight, discuss neurobehavioral states that facilitate or inhibit insightful problem solving, and highlight new methods and techniques that are proving useful in extending our knowledge of insight.

The Experience of Insight Follows Incubation in the Compound Remote Associates Task

“…van Steenburgh et al. () have speculated that this effect of positive affect may be due to the ability of positive affect to encourage a broadening of attention (see also Rowe, Hirsch, & Anderson, ). A broad attentional focus has long been known to be associated with creative behavior (e.g., Ansburg & Hill, ; Mendelsohn & Griswold, ).…”

“…People frequently describe solving problems with either an analytic, step‐by‐step process (Morrison, ), or a comparatively unconscious process resulting in unexpected answers (van Steenburgh, Fleck, Beeman, & Kounios, ). In the latter situation people show little ability to predict their sudden insight (Metcalfe, ), yet have great confidence in the solution that seemingly came from unconscious processing (Simonton, ; Smith & Ward, ).…”

Does thinking about coronavirus impact insight and analytical reasoning?

“…Drawing upon the previous study ( Karwowski et al, 2020 ), which demonstrated that even brief information about coronavirus elevates people’s anxiety, we predicted that making coronavirus salient will negatively influence the efficiency in solving tasks that require creative insight yet will not harm analytical thinking. In this study, we operationalized creativity as insight tasks: misleading problems that require restructuring of the problem representation and viewing it from a different angle in order to achieve the solution ( Jason van Steenburgh, Fleck, Beeman, & Kounios, 2012 ). As such, they engage flexible and global thinking mode ( Baas et al, 2011 ).…”

El liderazgo estratégico, la negociación y su influencia sobre la percepción del prestigio en pequeñas empresas

“…Las negociaciones son definidas como un proceso en el que intervienen dos o más partes, que son sometidas a ofrecer y recibir beneficios a través de una transacción, cuya finalidad radica en resolver un conflicto de intereses o tener un acuerdo de negocio entre las partes involucradas (Brett, 2017;Van Steenburgh, Fleck, Beeman, & Kounios, 2012). De acuerdo con Walton y McKersie (1965), se han identificado dos tipos de estrategias de negociación: negociación integrativa y negociación distributiva.…”