Question: Psychology seems to rely extensively on laboratory-based experimentation. Would it be more useful to confine investigations to naturalistic settings?
Answer: This essay fundamentally appreciates differences in defining the nature of problem solving and evaluates the representational, transferability and ecological validity of the laboratory-based studies to real-life problems, by addressing the link between strategies generated to solve hypothetical problems in the laboratory and behaviour outside the laboratory. Insights into the analogical paradox are explained, centring on why analogy is easier in naturalistic settings, yet so difficult in the psychology laboratory.
Problem-solving behaviour maybe tracked from analysing the architectural history of how problem solving is studied. The early work was restricted to games/puzzles like the Tower of Hanoi task. Later research focuses on analogical/scientific ‘real world’ tasks....(short extract)
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- Subject: Psychology
- Course: Research Methods
- Level: Degree
- Year: 2nd/3rd
- Mark: 67%
- Words: 1882
- Date submitted: February 05, 2009
- Date written: Not available
- References: Yes
- Document type: Essay*
- Essay ID: 2949
