PRODUCTIVE THINKING – IS SOLVING A PROBLEM WITH INSIGHT

Gestalt psychologists find it is important to think of problems as a whole. Max Wertheimer

As a Gestalt theorist, Max Wertheimer was interested in perception, but additionally interested in thought. Max
published his ideas in his book "Productive Thinking" (1945) before his death in 1943. [11] Wertheimer was interested
in making a distinction between reproductive thinking and productive thinking. Reproductive thinking is associated
with repetition, conditioning, habits or familiar intellectual territory. Productive thinking is the product of new ideas
and breakthroughs.[11] Productive thinking is insight-based reasoning. Wertheimer argued that only insightful
reasoning could bring true understanding of conceptual problems and relationships. Wertheimer encouraged
training in traditional logic. He believed traditional logic stimulated thinking. However, he believed that logic alone
did not give rise to productive thinking. He believed creativity was also crucial to engage in positive thinking.
In Productive Thinking, similar to his lectures, Wertheimer used concrete examples to illustrate his principles.
Wertheimer used this illustrations to demonstrate the transition from S1, a state where nothing really seems to make
sense, to S2, where everything seems clear and the concept grasped. He points out in "Productive Thinking" that
solving a problem by blind obedience to rules prevents real understanding of the problems. [12] He believes that this
blind obedience forestalls a person from uncovering the solution. [11] Max Wertheimer's ideas of productive thinking
are of continuing relevance in modern ideas of schemas, plans, and knowledge structures today. [13]

They identified two processes: reproductive thinking (consisting of a mechanical application of chains of associations
which have already been learned and reinforced by experience and habits) and productive thinking (a process involving
the creation of something new). Wertheimer (1919/1945) explained that productive thinking starts from a deep
understanding of the phenomenal structure of a problem. This structure will suggest the solution: “…one of the essential
characteristics of a good and genuine solution is that it fits the inner or intrinsic requirements of the problem and is
guided by the direction of the task. The inner requirements of problems are as vectors that originate in the problem and
the direction of the problem that is taken into account in the process of searching for a correct solution is determined by
the directions of these vectors. The relation between a problem and its good solution is the same as the link that joins a
question and its answer: a question intends answers that lay in a certain realm. In this way the question could be said to
have an orientation or intended direction. If the answer given to it also lays in this direction, then the answer might close
the gap opened up by the question. But if it lays in a seemingly unexpected direction, then it is felt to be inappropriate
and not to fit the requirements of a question, as happens when a solution does not fit the requirements or direction of a
problem in a problem situation” (Luchins & Luchins 1970, pp. 85-86). Therefore, understanding the structure of a
problem by detecting its primary and secondary elements and the relationships between them is essential because the
structure not only organizes the problem itself, but also contains gaps or “trouble zones” to be healed which function as
cues for the directions to be followed when seeking the solution. It has to be clarified that for Wertheimer the process of
understanding the structure of a problem is not a cognitive but a perceptual process. Seeing the phenomenal structure
of a problem means also seeing its solution, that is, the operations to be carried out in order to resolve it. According to
Wertheimer (1919/1945), this process consists of the reorganization of the elements of a problem, achieved by dividing
what appears to be a unit and unifying what appears to be separate
 1 - Eight Laws Of Memory

1. The Law Of Comprehension.

This is the simplest, but also the most important. According to the German writer Georg
Lichtenberg, people poorly remember what they read because "they do too little thinking". The
more deeply you grasp what you memorise, the more easily and the more in detail it will remain in
your memory.

2. The Law Of Interest.

"For knowledge to be digested, it must be absorbed with relish," wrote Anatole France. The
interesting and "the appetising" is remembered easily as man does not have to make special efforts,
as the ability to spontaneously memorise comes into play.

3. The Law Of Previous Knowledge.

The more one knows on a certain subject, the more easily one memorises everything new
pertaining to it. Everyone must have noticed that when he opens a book read long ago, he reads it
as if he had never read it before. This means that when he read it for the first time he lacked the
relevant experience and information but by this time he has accumulated them. Thus reading forms
connections between the accumulated and the new knowledge. This is the result of memorisation.

4. The Law Of Readiness For Memorisation.

The reader derives the information he sets out to derive from the text. The same goes for the
duration of memorisation. When one wants to remember something for long, one will remember it
in any case better than when one wants to remember something for a brief while.

5. The Law Of Associations.

This was formulated back in the 4th century B.C. by Aristotle. The concepts which arose
simultaneously summon each other up from the memory bank by association. For instance, the
atmosphere of a room evokes recollections about events which took place in it (or recollection of
what you read staying in it, and this is exactly what you need).

6. The Law Of Sequences.

The alphabet is easy to recite in its regular order and difficult in the reverse order. The conceptions
learned in a certain sequence, when recalled, summon each other up in the same sequence.

7. The Law Of Strong Impressions.

The stronger the first impression of what is being memorised, the brighter the image. The greater
the number of information channels, the more strongly the information is retained. Hence, the task
is to achieve the strongest possible initial impression of the material subject.
8. The Law Of Inhibition.

Any subsequent memorisation inhibits the previous. The learned portion of information must
"settle" before the next is taken up. The best way to forget newly memorised material is by trying to
memorise something similar directly afterwards. This is why school children are advised not to
learn physics after mathematics and literature after history and to learn poetry before going to bed.

Memorisation Advice