Estimated reading time 3 minutes
Table of Contents
Insight Meaning and Examples of Insight Problem Solving #1: Those “Eureka” Moments Can Be Game Changers
Do you naturally problem solve intuitively? Do you want to understand how intuitive problem solving works? Whether you’re in science, engineering, the arts, or business, those “eureka” moments can be game changers. Keep reading Insight Meaning and Examples of Insight Problem Solving to learn how it works.
Insight Meaning and Examples of Insight Problem Solving #2: How Do You Define Insight?
Insight meaning: Insight happens when you have a subconscious awareness and understanding of a circumstance, obstacle, or dilemma.
- It happens through a blend of investigation, knowledge, evaluation, and imagination.
- It can create paradigm shifts that reveal new perspectives on established information.
- Intuitive problem solving enables groundbreaking solutions to happen in art, music, science, or even in social interactions.
Read on to learn how it works.
Insight Meaning and Examples of Insight Problem Solving #3: How Do They Work?
So, now you understand the basic meaning of the word insight, but how does it work? The funny thing about using it for problem solving is that you need to let go and let your mind wander so that it can make connections.
- However, you must do some prep work first.
- You need to learn everything you can about the problem you wish to solve.
- Then, you need to be willing to use your imagination. Much like in Star Wars, you need to “let go and act on instinct.”
The geologist Sarah Andrews describes how she uses it to do her work:
I took in everything I had ever observed and projected myself backward in time, seeing the landscape on which the sands had been deposited before they became rock. (147).
Fernette and Eide Brock explain the mental process that happens as Sarah did her problem solving:
This description reflects several features of episodic construction [i.e., using the part of the brain that deals with personal memories to simulate future outcomes] that we’ve already discussed.
“Taking in everything” means forming memories through observation, so the components of these memories can be used for later episodic construction.
“Projecting myself backward in time” means combining memory fragments through episodic simulation [i.e., using your imagination] into mental scenes that “predict” what the past was like.
In other words, Sarah’s method of geological reasoning involves constructing mental images of past landscapes by recombing memories of personal observations of the current landscape, rather than reasoning in a logical, sequential, step-by-step fashion using abstract principles or verbal or mathematical models. (147).
So, you can see that it’s a powerful problem solving method. However, the next section deals with the drawbacks.
Insight Meaning and Examples of Insight Problem Solving #4: What’s the Drawback?
As you saw in the last section, insight can be effective for problem solving.
- However, because you need to ignore the problem to give your subconscious brain time to solve it, intuitive thinking comes with a couple of issues.
- First, it makes it look like you’re not doing any work.
- Second, people may not trust your conclusions.
The Brocks tell this story:
Sarah shared an example from her own life. One day she was standing by her office window staring serenely out at the mountains while trying to let her mind “ease itself around a problem.”
Her CFO walked by her door, looked in, and saw one of “his people” staring out the window, so he snapped at her to get back to work. Sarah calmly replied, “You work in your way, I’ll work in mine.” (152)
Sarah later said:
What this CFO didn’t know was that staring into space is precisely how we work. It is our capacity to throw our brains into neural and let connections assemble… that makes it possible for us to see connections that others can’t. We relax into the work. (152)
There is another downside to this style of problem solving:
- Some people won’t take the results seriously unless they came from a logical, step-by-step process.
- Indeed, you should doublecheck any intuitive ideas you’ve come up with.
- If you can “show your work,” people will take you more seriously.
Insight Problem Solving Video
Insight Meaning and Examples of Insight Problem Solving #5: Final Thoughts
Here’s a summary of Insight Meaning and Examples of Insight Problem Solving:
- Insight problem solving relies on intuition.
- However, you need to first take in information to lay the groundwork.
- Once you’ve done that, you need to go do something else.
- Have a snack, take a nap, go to the bathroom, or daydream.
- You can do anything that doesn’t distract your mind with too much thinking.
- Be sure to have a pencil and pad of paper handy for when the ideas start popping.
- Respecting intuitive thinking (and also the types of people to whom it comes naturally) will allow employers to enjoy the benefits it brings.
Related Posts:
- Musical Talent and Giftedness
- Color Coding Music for Success
- The Gifted Dyslexic and Intuitive Learning (Part 4)
© 2024 Geoffrey Keith
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