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Tower of Hanoi - Practical notes for Experimental Psychology
Experimental Psychology – Practical 2 (4B08PSY)
Kannur University
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TOWER OF HANOI
EXPERIMENT NUMBER : 8
DATE :
INDIVIDUAL EXPERIMENT
EXPERIMENTER :
SUBJECT:
Problem solving in psychology refers to the process of finding solutions to problems encountered in life. Solutions to these problems are usually situation or context-specific. The process starts with problem finding and problem shaping, where the problem is discovered and simplified. Problem solving occurs when a goal must be reached by thinking and behaving in certain ways. Problems range from figuring out how to cut a recipe in half to understanding complex mathematical proofs to deciding what to major in at college. Problem solving is one aspect of decision making, or identifying, evaluating, and choosing among several alternatives. There are several different ways in which people can think in order to solve problems.
Methods of Problem Solving
Trial and Error (Mechanical Solutions) -
One method is to use trial and error, also known as a mechanical solution. Trial and error refers to trying one solution after another until finding one that works. Mechanical solutions can also involve solving by rote, or a learned set of rules.
Algorithms -
Algorithms are specific, step-by-step procedures for solving certain types of problems. Algorithms will always result in a correct solution if there is a correct
solution to be found and you have enough time to find it. Mathematical formulas are algorithms. When librarians organize books on bookshelves, they also use an algorithm: Place books in alphabetical order within each category, for example. Many puzzles, like a Rubik’s Cube, have a set of steps that, if followed exactly, will always result in solving the puzzle. But algorithms aren’t always practical to use.
Heuristics -
Unfortunately, humans aren’t as fast as computers and need some other way to narrow down the possible solutions to only a few. One way to do this is to use a heuristic. A heuristic, or “rule of thumb,” is a simple rule that is intended to apply to many situations. Whereas an algorithm is very specific and will always lead to a solution, a heuristic is an educated guess based on prior experiences that helps narrow down the possible solutions for a problem.
Insight –
When the solution to a problem seems to come suddenly to mind, it is called insight. humans, insight often takes the form of an “aha!” moment—the solution seems to come in a flash. A person may realize that this problem is similar to another one that he or she already knows how to solve or might see that an object can be used for a different purpose than its original one, like using a dime as a screwdriver.
Stages Of Problem Solving
1. Define the problem
Diagnose the situation so that your focus is on the problem, not just its symptoms. Helpful problem-solving techniques include using flowcharts to identify the expected steps of a process and cause-and-effect diagrams to define and analyse root causes.
2. Generate alternative solutions
Tower of Hanoi
The Tower of Hanoi (also called the Tower of Brahma or Lucas' Tower and sometimes pluralized as Towers, or simply pyramid puzzle) is a mathematical game or puzzle. It consists of three rods and a number of disks of different diameters, which can slide onto any rod. The puzzle starts with the disks stacked on one rod in order of decreasing size, the smallest at the top, thus approximating a conical shape. The objective of the puzzle is to move the entire stack to the last rod, obeying the following simple rules:
Only one disk may be moved at a time. Each move consists of taking the upper disk from one of the stacks and placing it on top of another stack or an empty rod. No disk may be placed on top of a disk that is smaller than it.
With 3 disks, the puzzle can be solved in 7 moves. The minimal number of moves required to solve a Tower of Hanoi puzzle is 2 n − 1, where n is the number of disks.
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
On October 2013, Maryann M. Byrnes & Herman H. Spitz conducted an experiment with groups of children and adolescents of average intelligence, at every age from 6 to 18 years, and college students of slightly above average intelligence were presented with two-disk and three-disk versions of the Tower of Hanoi problem. Criterion was two successive solutions in the minimum number of moves. Results shows that, ability to reach criterion on the two-disk problem increased to near-perfect performance at age 8. On the three-disk problem, there were two transition periods—one between 7 and 9 years of age, the other between 11 and 14 years of age. The incorrect first move was the largest source of error on the three-disk problem.
On February 1942, Suzanne V Borys & Barbara A Dorans conducted an experiment with the
Tower of Hanoi task to assess problem solving ability in 6-, 7-, 8-, and 10-year-old nonretarded children and mentally retarded young adults of varying maturational ages and they gradually reduced the number of moves required for solution until subjects could solve the 3-disk tower-ending problem. Although all groups experienced difficulty with the standard 7-move problem, all but the trainable retarded group readily solved the 6-move problem. The trainable group did not reach a comparable level of success until the 4-move problem. On the 7-move problem the retarded groups performed at the level of nonretarded groups that were maturationally 112 to 3 years younger. Results indicated that subject groups differed in the strategies they used to solve the problems.
AIM
To measure the process of reasoning through the analysis of subject’s behaviour while solving similar problems of increasing difficulty.
METHOD
Name of the Experimenter:
Subject Details;
Name :
Age :
Gender:
Educational Status:
Materials Required
Pyramid puzzle or Tower of Hanoi
Stop watch
Writing material
Cicarelli, S. & Meyer. G. E. (2008). Psychology. New Delhi: Pearson Education
Meyer. G. E. (2008). Psychology. New Delhi: Pearson Education
Tower of Hanoi - Practical notes for Experimental Psychology
Course: Experimental Psychology – Practical 2 (4B08PSY)
University: Kannur University
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