A Template for Problem Solving Paul and Elder (2009); prepared f.docx

A Template for Problem Solving
Paul and Elder (2009); prepared for the Critical Thinking
Foundation
To be an effective problem solver:
1. Identify your goals. Regularly re-articulate your goals,
purposes, needs, and values. Use visualization and visuals with
goals to assist with identification and motivation. A problem is
an obstacle to reaching your goals, achieving your purpose,
meeting your needs, and following your values. What will it
look like when the problem is gone?
2. Identify your problems. The problem must be stated clearly
and precisely.
3. Study the problem. Classify the problem. What kind of
problem is it? Where did it come from? When does it occur?
With whom does it occur?
4. Find your control. What parts of the problem are under your
control and influence? What parts of the problem are not under
your direct control and influence?
5. Information is needed to solve the problem. Figure out the
information that is needed to solve the problem. Access and
review this information. Use many sources if possible.
6. Carefully analyze the information needed to solve the
problem. Be careful of fixation and egocentric/ethnocentric
thinking during this process; you might be able to go with what
worked before, but you also might have to try something
completely new. Only make reasonable (reliable and valid)
inferences from this data.
7. Determine options for action. Action is needed to solve
problems. What can you accomplish in the short term? What
will be a long term option for action to solve the problem?
Identify both types of options. Recognize limitations: time,
money, power, culture, et cetera.
8. Evaluate the options for action. Determine the theoretical
strengths (advantages) and weaknesses (disadvantages) of each

option.
9. Adopt a specific action plan. Follow it through. This might
be a direct action for problem solving, or it might be a “wait
and see” plan.
10. Monitor the implications of your actions. Be ready, at all
times, to revise your action plan. Realize the situation might
require flexibility. Be prepared to change your mind, gather
more information, or alter your statement of the problem as you
learn more about the problem.
(adapted for use at SFCC)
3
CHAPTER 6: COGNITION: THINKING and INTELLIGENCE
Cognition: the mental activities associated with thinking,
knowing, remembering, and communicating
“mental activity. . .processing information (organizing,
understanding, communicating)” (Ciccarelli & White, 2015, p.
262).
Piaget’s Cognitive development theory (pp. 299-305)
Assimilation and Accommodation p. 300
1. Sensorimotor stage. Birth to 2 years. Use and organize
senses and movement into schemas (brain and body
interconnected). Six sub-stages.
2. Preoperational stage. 2 to 7 years. The child uses words and
images to represent objects in the world. “Does it through”—

unable to think or “think it through”. Pretend to reality through
observation and responsibility. Two sub-stages.
3. Concrete operational stage. 7 to 11 years. Children can
classify objects into different groups. Centration and
conservation.
4. Formal operational stage. 12 and on (frontal lobe by 25).
Development and refinement of abstract thoughts, logic, and
critical thinking. Wide spectrums of thought—multiple
perspectives for multiple contexts.
Vygotsky: scaffolding and independence “zones of proximal
development”
pp. 307-308
Thinking: the mental manipulation of representations of
information encountered in environments p. 243
Representations:
Analogous (pictures, includes characteristics)
or
Symbolic (words, abstract, intrinsically unrelated,
related through nurture)
Thinking has three goals: reasoning, decision making, and
problem solving
Thinking comes in two basic types: book calls them
“solution strategies”
Algorithms lead to more effective reasoning, decision making,
and problem solving but take time to process (p.
247)

Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi developed the
idea of an algorithm in mathematics
Example: Problem Solving Algorithm (Canvas)
Obstacles to algorithmic thinking:
Cognitive distortions (Canvas)
Linguistic determinism (“bird” but do not know
bird)
Fixation and functional fixedness (pp. 244-245)
The USES test
Heuristics create less effective reasoning, decision making, and
problem solving yet limits time
involvement (p. 248)
“a simple rule that is intended to apply to many situations”
(Ciccarelli & White, 2015, p. 267)
There are six at this time:
Availability Heuristic (p. 257)
Anchoring Heuristic (p. 249)
Simulation Heuristic
Representativeness Heuristic (p. 255)
Working backward (p. 249)
Means-end analysis (p. 250)
Intelligence
Definitions:
ability to learn from and remember experience
ability to adapt (time, place, person, problem)
ability integrate new information into existing
information

ability to acquire and use knowledge to reason,
make decisions and problem solve
ability to use resources effectively
Assessing and measuring intelligence
Aptitude and Achievement tests
Binet and why IQ is starts to become meaningless after 16 (p.
268)
1945 IQ
Reliability and Validity and Standardization (pp. 269-270)
Multiple theories about Multiple Intelligences:
“creative, divergent thinking if often a neglected topic in
the education of young people” (Sternberg, R.)
Gardner, H. (p. 273)
Multiple Intelligences
Nine and tenth on the way (Canvas)
Sternberg, R. (p. 273)
Triarchic
Analytical, Practical, and Creative
Divergent thinking (multiple answers)
Five parts of creativity
Csikszentmihalyi
Salovey & Mayer/Goleman (Canvas)
Emotional Intelligence

In self and, in part, others
label or recognize emotion
understand or attribute emotion
modulate or manage emotion
effectively express emotion in C and B
Dweck file; Roosevelt quote;
http://mindsetonline.com/testyourmindset/step1.php
Genetic and Environmental Influences on Intelligence (p. 276)
Nurture/Nature: Early environmental influences along with the
bloom and prune effect and neural networks
a note on “race”
Nurture: Schooling may lead to intelligence
Nature: Heritability appears to be about 40% although some
ethologists claim up to 70%
The Flynn Effect p. 277 (and a quick anthropology lesson)
Foraging to Horticultural to Agricultural to State = means of
production
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
From Psychology – The Search for Understanding
By Janet A. Simons, Donald B. Irwin and Beverly A. Drinnien
West Publishing Company, New York, 1987

Abraham Maslow developed a theory of personality that has
influenced a number of different fields, including education.
This wide influence is due in part to the high level of
practicality of Maslow’s theory. This theory accurately
describes many realities of personal experiences. Many people
find they can understand what Maslow says. They can recognize
some features of their experience or behavior which is true and
identifiable but which they have never put into words.
Maslow is a humanistic psychologist (third force alert!).
Humanists do not believe that human beings are pushed and
pulled by mechanical forces, either of stimuli and reinforcement
(behaviorism) or of the unconscious instinctual impulses
(psychoanalysis). Humanists focus on potentials. They believe
that humans strive for an upper level of capabilities. Humans
seek the frontiers of creativity, the highest reaches of
consciousness and wisdom. This has been labeled “fully
functioning person,” “healthy personality,” or as Maslow calls
this level, “self-actualizing person.”
Maslow has set up a hierarchic theory of needs. All of his basic
needs are instinctoid, equivalent of instincts in animals.
Humans start with a very weak disposition that is then
fashioned fully as the person grows. If the environment is right,
people will grow straight and beautiful, actualizing the
potentials they have inherited. If the environment (culture,
typically) is not “right” (and mostly it is not) they will not grow
tall and straight and beautiful.
Maslow has set up a hierarchy of five levels of basic needs.
Beyond these needs, higher levels of needs exist. These include
needs for understanding, esthetic appreciation and purely
spiritual needs.
There are many misinterpretations of this theory. One frequent
error people make, without reading Maslow directly this is
bound to happen, is believing all the d-needs must be completed
before moving towards the B-needs. Quite the opposite; all of
these needs are present throughout a lifetime. It is impossible

to satisfy them fully.
Maslow’s basic needs are as follows:
Physiological Needs
These are biological needs. They consist of needs for oxygen,
food, water, and a relatively constant body temperature. They
are the strongest needs because if a person were deprived of all
needs, the physiological ones would come first in the person’s
search for satisfaction. A d-need (means this need is most
clearly emergent when not enough of it is present).
Safety Needs
Safety and security are based on organization and predictability.
Adults have little awareness of their security needs except in
times of emergency or periods of disorganization in the social
structure (such as widespread rioting). Children often display
the signs of insecurity and the need to be safe. A d-need.
Needs of Love, Affection and Belongingness
Maslow states that people seek to overcome feelings of
loneliness and alienation. This involves both giving and
receiving love, affection and the sense of belonging. These are
called the social needs; humans are primates, which means we
will have several, complex social needs. A d-need.
Needs for Esteem
Esteem involves a need for both self-esteem and the need the
esteem a person gets from others. Humans have a need for a
stable, firmly based, high level of self-respect, and respect from
others. When these needs are satisfied, the person feels self-
confident and valuable as a person in the world. When these
needs are frustrated, the person feels inferior, weak, helpless
and worthless. A d-need.
Needs for Self-Actualization
Maslow describes self-actualization as a person’s need to be and
do that which the person was “born to do. A musician must
make music, an artist must paint, and a poet must write.” This
need makes itself felt in signs of restlessness. The person feels
on edge, tense, lacking something; in short, restless and perhaps
bored. If a person is hungry, unsafe, not loved or accepted, or

lacking self-esteem, it is very easy to know what the person is
needing. It is not always clear what a person wants when there
is a need for self-actualization. This is one of four B-needs. B-
needs and Being needs; this means that these are not going to
emerge based on not having them. They will emerge as the
authentic self begins to form.
The hierarchic theory is often represented as a pyramid, with
the larger, lower levels representing the lower needs, and the
upper point representing the need for self-actualization. Maslow
believes that the only reason that people would not move well in
direction of self-actualization is because of hindrances placed in
their way by society. He states that education is one of these
hindrances. He recommends ways education can switch from its
usual person-stunting tactics to person-growing approaches.
Maslow states that educators should respond to the potential an
individual has for growing into a self-actualizing person of
his/her own kind.
Ten points that educators should address are listed:
1. We should teach people to be authentic, to be aware of their
inner selves and to hear their inner-feeling voices.
2. We should teach people to transcend their cultural
conditioning and become world citizens.
3. We should help people discover their vocation in life, their
calling, fate, or destiny. This is especially focused on finding
the right career and the right mate.
4. We should teach people that life is precious, that there is joy
to be experienced in life, and if people are open to seeing the
good and joyous in all kinds of situations, it makes life worth
living.
5. We must accept the person as he or she is and help the person
learn their inner nature. From real knowledge of aptitudes and
limitations we can know what to build upon, what potentials are
really there.
6. We must see that the person’s basic needs are satisfied. This
includes safety, belongingness, and esteem needs.

7. We should refresh consciousness, teaching the person to
appreciate beauty and the other good things in nature and in
living.
8. We should teach people that controls are good, and complete
abandon is bad. It takes control to improve the quality of life in
all areas.
9. We should teach people to transcend the trifling problems
and grapple with the serious problems in life. These include the
problems of injustice, of pain, suffering, and death.
10. We must teach people to be good choosers. They must be
given practice in making good choices.
Adapted for use at Spokane Falls Community College (2013)
Professor Dweck has primary research interests in motivation,
personality, and development. She teaches courses in
Personality and Social Development as well as Motivation. Her
key contribution to social psychology relates to implicit
theories of intelligence.
This is present in her book entitled Mindset: The New
Psychology of Success which was published in 2006. According
to Dweck, individuals can be placed on a continuum according
to their implicit views of where ability comes from.
Some believe their success is based on innate ability; these are
said to have a "fixed" theory of intelligence.
Others, who believe their success is based on hard work and
learning, are said to have a "growth" or an "incremental" theory
of intelligence.
Individuals may not necessarily be aware of their own mindset,
but their mindset can still be discerned based on their behavior.

It is especially evident in their reaction to failure.
Fixed-mindset individuals dread failure because it is a negative
statement on their basic abilities, while growth mindset
individuals don't mind failure as much because they realize
their performance can be improved.
These two mindsets play an important role in all aspects of a
person's life.
Dweck argues that the growth mindset will allow a person to
live a less stressful and more successful life.This is important
because individuals with a "growth" theory are more likely to
continue working hard despite setbacks
For example, children given praise such as "good job, you're
very smart" are much more likely to develop a fixed mindset,
whereas if given compliments like "good job, you worked very
hard" they are likely to develop a growth mindset.
In other words, it is possible to encourage students, for
example, to persist despite failure by encouraging them to think
about learning in a certain way.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carol_Dweck
CHAPTER 5: MEMORY
Memory: nervous system’s capacity to acquire and retain skills
and knowledge for later retrieval
Process of memory: Encoding, storage, and retrieval p. 218
Encoding: putting information in (pp. 218-224)
Distribution and practice influence efficacy of encoding; know
brain parts and function to predict encoding routes
Storing: housing information in the brain and keeping this
information accessible
Lashley, K. (1950) mazes and rats and brains

Synaptic Changes
Stress Hormones and Memory
The Hippocampus (stress = decrease)
The Amygdala (stress = increase)
Retrieval: getting stored information out of the brain p. 255
Retrieval Cues—mnemonics pp. 222-223
Association areas p. 74
Mood congruent memory p. 222
Types of memory: Short-Term Memory (p. 206): Sensory (p.
202) and Working Memory (p. 208) , and Long-Term Memory
(p. 209)
LTM types in detail p. 210
Automatic Processing—implicit, unconscious, procedural
LTM
(unconscious, low effort; often the cerebellum and
basal ganglia for movement)
Effortful Processing—explicit, conscious knowledge,
declarative LTM
(conscious effort needed, procedures and
associations; often the hippocampus)
Improving Memory
Know your brain!
Distribute study time—no cramming
Apply concepts to yourself and others you know
Minimize interference—no multitasking (newspaper and
music)
Mnemonics

Sleep more
Exercise each day
Acetylcholine (nutrition)
Test yourself—use the textbook for this too
Critical Thinking - Essential Intellectual Traits
Intellectual Humility vs. Intellectual Arrogance
Having a consciousness of the limits of one’s knowledge,
including sensitivity to circumstances in which one’s native
egocentrism is likely to function self-deceptively; sensitivity to
bias; prejudice and limitations of one’s viewpoint. Intellectual
humility depends on recognizing that one should not claim to
know more than one actually knows. It does not imply
spinelessness or submissiveness. It implies the lack of
intellectual pretentiousness, boastfulness, or conceit, combine
with the insight into the logical foundations, or lack of such
foundations, of one’s beliefs.
Intellectual Courage vs. Intellectual Cowardice
Having a consciousness of the need to face and fairly address
ideas, beliefs or viewpoints toward which we have strong
negative emotions and to which we have not given a serious
hearing. This courage is connected with the recognition that
ideas considered dangerous or absurd are sometimes rationally
justified (in whole or in part) and that conclusions and beliefs
inculcated in us are sometimes false or misleading. To
determine for ourselves which is which, we must not passively
and uncritically “accept” what we have “learned”. Intellectual
courage comes into play here, because inevitably we will come
to see some truth in some ideas considered dangerous and
absurd, and distortion or falsity in some strongly held in our
social group. We need the courage to be true to our own

thinking in such circumstances. The penalties for nonconformity
can be severe.
Intellectual Empathy vs. Intellectual Narrow-mindedness
Having a consciousness of the need to imaginatively put oneself
in the place of others in order to genuinely understand them,
which requires the consciousness of our egocentric tendency to
identify truth with our immediate perceptions of long-standing
thought or belief. This trait correlates with the ability to
reconstruct accurately the viewpoints and reasoning of others
and to reason from premises, assumptions, and ideas other than
our own. This trait also correlates with the willingness to
remember occasions when we were wrong in the past despite an
intense conviction that we were right, and with the ability to
imagine our being similarly deceived in a case-at-hand.
Intellectual Autonomy vs. Intellectual Conformity
Having rational control of one’s beliefs, values, and inferences.
The ideal of critical thinking is to learn to think for oneself, to
gain command over one’s thought process. It entails a
commitment to analyzing and evaluating beliefs on the basis of
reason and evidence, to question when it is rational to question,
to believe when it is rational to believe, and to conform when it
is rational to conform.
Intellectual Integrity vs. Intellectual Hypocrisy
Recognition of the need to be true to one’s own thinking; to be
consistent in the intellectual standards one applies; to hold
one’s self to the same rigorous standards of evidence and proof
to which one holds one’s antagonists; to practice what one
advocates for others; and to honestly admit discrepancies and
inconsistencies in one’s own thought and action.
Intellectual Perseverance vs. Intellectual Laziness
Having a consciousness of the need to use intellectual insights
and truths in spite of difficulties, obstacles and frustrations;
firm adherence to rational principles despite the irrational
opposition of others; a sense of the need to struggle with
confusion and unsettled questions over an extended period of
time to achieve deeper understanding or insight.

Confidence in Reason vs. Distrust of Reason and Evidence
Confidence that, in the long run, one’s own higher interests and
those of humankind at large will be best served by giving the
freest play to reason, by encouraging people to come to their
own conclusions by developing their own rational faculties;
faith that, with the proper encouragement and cultivation,
people can learn to think for themselves, to form rational
viewpoints, draw reasonable conclusions, think coherently and
logically, persuade each other by reason and become reasonable
persons, despite the deep-seated obstacles in the native
character of the human mind and in society as we know it.
Fairmindedness vs. Intellectual Unfairness
Having a consciousness of the need to treat all viewpoints alike,
without reference to one’s own feelings or vested interests, or
the feelings or vested interests of one’s friends, community or
nation; implies adherence to intellectual standards without
reference to one’s own advantage or the advantage of one’s
group.
Critical Thinking.org pp. 14-15
2
CHAPTER 4: LEARNING
Behaviorism
Learning: a relatively permanent change in organism B due to
experience
Experience, option 1: Associative or Classical Conditioning
(pp. 151-161)
(conditioning means learning a new behavior)
Pavlov’s Experiments p. 155

Office/altoids
Generalization (John Watson—you tube) p. 159
Discrimination p. 161
Learning experience, option 2: Operant Conditioning (pp. 163-
170)
Law of effect—Thorndike p. 164
Pleasure principle—Plato
Skinner’s Experiments at Harvard created the operant
chamber and operant theory
A = Antecedent—environment, correlations, occurs
before the B, trigger, influence, needs to be
controlled for B to occur
B = Target Behavior—increases or decreases in the
frequency of B
C = Consequences—causes and controls behavior,
comes in two main groups and five types (#
below), occurs after the B
Reinforcement, “appetitive” p. 165
Positive Reinforcement
Primary (#1) and Conditioned (secondary)(#2)
Reinforcement
Negative reinforcement (#3)—past, present, future

Punishment, “aversive” p. 165
Positive punishment (#4) “application”
Negative punishment (#5) “removal”
Does not teach correct behavior
Must be swift, severe, consistent p. 165
Must avoid not “catching” or negative
reinforcement occurs
Sheldon/Penny
Classical conditioning is a part of Operant conditioning—
association of antecedent to target behavior, and target behavior
to consequence is critical for success p. 165
Experience, option 3: Observational/Social learning/Vicarious
conditioning
Bandura’s Experiments pp. 189-191
(extensions: nothing, punish, reward)
Elements: attention, memory, motivation, and
neuronal support
Prosocial Observational Learning
Positive, constructive, helpful, socio-competent
Antisocial Observational Learning
Negative, destructive, hurtful, socio-incompetent

Vicarious conditioning
Motivation is essential for learning to occur
UCLA longitudinal research: why do people go to college?
Motivation: a need or desire (factors of differing strength) that
energizes and directs and sustains behavior
“process by which activities are started, directed, and
continued. . .needs or wants are met” (Ciccarelli & White)
p. 179
Five Factors to motivation:
Satisfaction of needs
Drive reduction p. 179
Incentives p. 180
Pleasure principle
Optimal arousal level p. 180
Intrinsic (value, pleasure) and Extrinsic (goal outside self)
motivation (p. 181)
Goals: characteristics (Canvas)
Maslow’s “Hierarchy of Needs” provides an example of a
personality theory and an example of motivation theory
(Canvas)

Cognitive Distortions
A distortion* of thinking is something that may have some truth
to it, but overall is not valid, objective, and reliable. Cognitive
distortions hamper problem solving, reasoning, and decision
making by distorting reality during a subjective mental process.
It takes the focus off the factors that are actually operating.
Synonyms for distortion would include: twisted, contorted,
misshapen, and awry
ALL or NOTHING THINKING (Polarized): You see things in
black-or-white categories. If a situation is anything less than
perfect you see it as a total failure. Phrases include extremes
such as “always/never”, “everyone/no one”.
OVERGENERALIZATION: Your see a single event as a never-
ending pattern of defeat by using the words always or never
when you think about it.
MENTAL FILTER: You pick out a single negative detail and
dwell on it exclusively. One word of criticism erases all the
praise you’ve received.
DISCOUNTING THE POSITIVE (Minimizing): You reject
positive experiences by insisting they “don’t count.” If you do
a good job, you tell yourself that anyone could have done as
well. Watch for the word “just”.
JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS: You interpret things negatively
(or positively) when there are no facts to support your
conclusion. Two common variations are mind-reading (you
arbitrarily conclude that someone is reacting negatively to you)
and fortune-telling (you assume and predict that things will turn
out badly).
MAGNIFICATION (Catastrophizing): You exaggerate the
importance of your problems and shortcomings, or you
minimize your desirable qualities. This is also called the
“binocular trick.”
EMOTIONAL REASONING: You assume that your negative
emotions reflect the way things realty are: “I feel guilty. I must

be a rotten person.”
“SHOULD” STATEMENTS: You tell yourself that things
should be the way you hoped or expected them to be. Many
people try to motivate themselves with should or shouldn’t as if
they had to be punished before they could be expected to do
anything. These statements include words such as “should”,
“must”, “have to”, “need to”.
LABELING: This is an extreme form of all-or-nothing thinking.
Instead of saying “I made a mistake,” you attach a negative
label to yourself: “I’m a loser,”
PERSONALIZATION AND BLAME: You hold yourself
personally responsible for events that aren’t entirely under you
Control.
GRASS IS GREENER: You believe that whatever you have now
is unacceptable and that life would be better “if only” you made
a change. “If only I worked in X department. . .” or “If only I
had X for a supervisor. . .”
Adapted from The Good Feeling Handbook, copyright © 1989
by David D. Burns, M.D. Reprinted by Permission of William
Morrow & Co. Inc.
*Merriam Webster FULL DEFINITION (scroll down) of
distortion
Accessed 11/04/16: http://www.merriam-
webster.com/dictionary/distort

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