Problem solving: The value of obstacles

Synopsis: ‘Speechifying’ enables understanding relationships between objects and things in the surrounding environment.


Obstacles interrupt the normal flow of activity, and their doing so attracts attention. We get to thinking about situations, and become aware of problems in terms of what was and is or should be. We then devise ways of getting around the impediments.

Thought and word

We initiate activity for survival reasons - to adjust to the environment in a new or different way. The break in pattern is the critical stimulus . It activates the thinking process. We:

We initiate activity for survival reasons - to adjust to the environment in a new or different way. The break in pattern is the critical stimulus that alerts us. It activates the thinking process. We:

a) become aware of the problem, and
b) express becoming aware by speechifying.

Thence in words and opinions, our thoughts become known. The meanings attributed to words or drawn from them lead us to concepts associated with problem solving. The connecting link between thought and word grows and changes as our cognitive processes evolve.

Ways of thinking

People of all cultures are able to think critically about issues and find solutions to them. But in the total group, they generally utilize their faculties in either of two very different ways.

· Convergent thinking: This implies a focus on rules and precedence – a dependence on
methods, and procedures independent of the social context. The same conditions always apply. Answers derive from universal theories in a logical, stepwise manner. Like the algorithms that we can look up in a specific ‘book’ of standard received wisdom, they serve solutions processing information to save time, effort and resources.
· Divergent thinking: Divergent thinking is focused on situated learning. This involves observing and reflecting on each unique circumstance. The thinking process is unstructured, providing spatial associations. Solutions lie within the elements of problem, derived by changes in their existing relationships. The local context is determinant, and problem solutions often innovative.

Nonsense talk?

Critical reasoning in problem solving is thought to develop from childhood ‘nonsense talk’. This is the ‘egocentric speech’ that Jean Piaget identified and earlier considered just transitional to socialized speech.

Social scientists Vygotsky et al now believe that nonsense talk instead relates directly to the problem solving process. Observational studies with children show that they tend to verbalize far more than adults do when faced with a problem. The ‘speechifying’ enables their understanding relationships between objects and things in the surrounding environment.

In the course of social interactions, it is a guide to their activities of:

· releasing tension coming up against difficulties or obstructions to goal achievement
· expressing thought and feeling about the issue or problem
· following up action to resolve the specific difficulty or obstruction
· changing direction of activity, if initial outcomes are unsatisfactory.

Egocentric speech in childhood transforms to inner speech in adulthood. The audible verbalizing simply goes underground. Although we become quiet outwardly, inner speech continues its earlier function within the confines of our mind.

In the process of growing up, most adults learn to contemplate issues and problems in silence. They tend to verbalize only afterwards, to offer specific opinions about the situation arising, or solutions to resolving it.

Cont’d 2…integrating differences