Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Views of Intelligence
- 2 The Theory of Successful Human Intelligence
- 3 Metacognition: Thinking with Metacomponents
- 4 Advanced Problem-Solving Steps
- 5 Cognitive Processing: Performance Components (I)
- 6 Cognitive Processing: Performance Components (II)
- 7 Logical Reasoning and Analysis of Arguments: Performance Components (III)
- 8 Inference and Inferential Fallacies
- 9 Knowledge-Acquisition Components
- 10 Coping with Novelty
- 11 Deciding for Creativity
- 12 Automatizing Information Processing
- 13 Practical Intelligence
- 14 Why Intelligent People Fail (Too Often)
- References
- Author Index
- Subject Index
10 - Coping with Novelty
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 November 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Views of Intelligence
- 2 The Theory of Successful Human Intelligence
- 3 Metacognition: Thinking with Metacomponents
- 4 Advanced Problem-Solving Steps
- 5 Cognitive Processing: Performance Components (I)
- 6 Cognitive Processing: Performance Components (II)
- 7 Logical Reasoning and Analysis of Arguments: Performance Components (III)
- 8 Inference and Inferential Fallacies
- 9 Knowledge-Acquisition Components
- 10 Coping with Novelty
- 11 Deciding for Creativity
- 12 Automatizing Information Processing
- 13 Practical Intelligence
- 14 Why Intelligent People Fail (Too Often)
- References
- Author Index
- Subject Index
Summary
An important aspect of intelligence is the ability to cope with the unknown and the unexpected. Often, new tasks and situations are the ones that most require us to exercise our intelligence. Coping with novelty can take different forms. Sometimes, the novelty is understanding a new task or situation. Other times, the novelty is knowing what to do in a new kind of task or situation. One of the most important mental skills for dealing with novelty is insight.
INSIGHT
In this section of the chapter, we will provide a brief description of the phenomenon of insight and talk about theories that attempt to characterize it.
People have been interested in the nature of insight for many years. It is easy to see why. The greatest discoveries in scientific history were often discovered by insight. Think of Copernicus realizing that the Sun rather than the Earth is the center of the solar system, or Galileo understanding that two objects will fall from a height at the same rate of speed regardless of their weights. On a more day-to-day basis, think of the insights that you have had into your own life. Perhaps you realized that you were truly in love, or that you wanted to change your major and pursue psychology as a career. It would be to everyone's advantage to understand the mental processes underlying insight.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Applied Intelligence , pp. 255 - 290Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2008