Norman R. F. Maier

Acceptance and Quality of Solutions as Related to Leaders' Attitudes toward Disagreement in Group Problem Solving

An experiment was designed to test the hypotheses that (1) disagreement in a discussion can lead either to hard feelings or to innovation depending upon the attitude of the discussion leader; and (2) acceptance will depend upon the leaders perception of disagreement as well as upon the decision reached. The test situation utilized a role-playing format in which a foreman attempted to induce three subordinates to accept a change in work methods. Measures of the negative vs. positive effects of disagreement were obtained by the frequency with which the discussion leader reported having problem employees vs. idea men in his group. The results showed that when the foreman most often reported having problem employees, solutions were least likely to be innovative and acceptance was relatively low. When the foreman perceived his subordinates as idea men, innovative solutions increased and satisfaction with the solution was greatest for all concerned, despite the fact that all persons involved had to change their initial positions. Although previous research has indicated that satisfaction is a function of influence over the decision, regardless of its quality, this experiment supplies evidence that the quality of the solution can introduce a further source of satisfaction. This occurs when a solution is one that resolves differences and integrates differing viewpoints to form a new and better product.

Delayed Reaction and Memory in Rats

*Accepted for publication by Walter S. Hunter of the Editorial Board, November 19, 1928. 1Many thanks are due Professor John F. Shepard for criticizing the manuscript.

Locating the difficulty in insight problems: individual and sex differences.

This experiment was designed to determine whether difficult problems can be made easier by manipulating a major obstacle. Standard and supposedly simplified versions of 6 insight problems were used. 311 male and 233 female Ss were given 3 of the standard versions and 3 of the simplified versions of the problems. The results showed that the supposedly helpful manipulations had limited value. For males, the standard versions of only 3 of the problems were significantly more difficult than the simplified versions; for females, there were differences on 3 problems (2 in the same direction as the males) but none reached significance. The problems were analyzed individually for sources of failure of the manipulation. Results suggested that a single hint cannot provide significant improvement since a problem appears to be difficult for different people for a variety of reasons. Chance factors also play a part in successful problem solving. Results also confirmed earlier findings showing that hints or suggestions which seem helpful when the solution is known may serve as distractors to an individual attempting to discover the solution. Implications of the results for upgrading problem solving through training are discussed.

RELIABILITY OF REASONS USED IN MAKING JUDGMENTS OF HONESTY AND DISHONESTY.

57 Ss were asked to observe 4 role-playing situations involving a student-professor interview and a question of honesty or dishonesty. After each interview Ss were asked to: (1) judge the honesty of the student involved and (2) list his behaviors which contributed to the judgment. An interaction was found between judging ability and deceiving ability, with some cases harder to detect than others, and some judges better than others. Individuals made more correct choices than chance would predict. However, the reasons given for judgments were very much the same for those making correct and incorrect judgments, as well as for very good and very poor judges. Almost all information could be interpreted either in favor of or against the student. It appears that, when evidence is lacking, decisions will be made and defended but that observers do not use logic in arriving at the decision.

Attempts to Predict Success on an Insight Problem

18 predictor variables were related to a pass-fail criterion of success on Maiets Hatrack Problem (Maier, 1945), a problem requiring insight. The correlations of all 18 predictors with the criterion were uniformly low and insignificant, pointing up our inability to predict success on an insight problem. It is suggested that insight problems may require different abilities for their solution than “other” problems. The fact that consistent relationships fail to appear when insight problems are used as the experimental task further supports this suggestion. An explanation based on the assumption that blind trial and error is the type of mental process engaged in by a person when trying to solve an insight problem, was evaluated. The behavioral data indicated that this explanation was inadequate in explaining performance of Ss on this problem because Ss tended to approach the problem in a selective manner (persisted in directions), and increased time for search did not increase the number of correct solutions produced.

Attention and Inattention in Rats

*Received for publication by K. S. Lashley of the Editorial Board, November 19, 1929. 1The author wishes to express his thanks to Lester J. Waldman of Long Island University for his conscientious assistance throughout the experiments.

Are good problem-solvers also creative.

The purpose of this experiment was to determine whether Ss, superior in solving difficult problems having objectively correct solutions, also achieve solutions rated “creative” or superior for a problem with several possible answers. To avoid the issue of sex differences, only female Ss were used (96 from a university and 55 from a junior college). Four difficult objective-type problems were used to measure problem-solving ability and the “Changing Work Procedure” (CWP) problem was used for the subjective measure. The case produces 3 types of solutions. One type, called Integrative, was regarded as “creative” and “superior” in previous studies. The results showed a significantly better performance on all problems for the university than the junior college sample. Ss who reached the Integrative solution solved significantly more of the objective problems, and an increasing trend for Integrative solutions with increasing success on objective problems was evident for both populations. It is concluded that superior problem solvers also generate solutions that are rated as creative when several solutions to a given problem are possible.

Test of the Concept of “Availability of Functions” in Problem Solving:

135 male college students solved Maiers Hatrack Problem (Maier, 1945) in an experiment designed to evaluate Saugstads “availability of functions” concept. Saugstad has stated that Ss will solve any problem if they have the necessary functions available. The data indicated that: (1) Ss failing to solve the problem had the necessary or relevant experiences, (2) Ss who solved and those who did not solve the problem had very similar experiences, and (3) selecting the relevant experience resulted in the immediate solution of the problem by a majority of Ss. Contrary to Saugstads contention, Ss will not necessarily solve a problem if they have the essential functions or past experiences. Recognizing experiences as relevant to a problems requirements, selecting experiences from a given repertoire, fragmenting experiences into parts, and recombining parts of experiences into solutions are functions that seem essential, yet are excluded when problem solving is regarded as a form of generalized learning. Three groups of problem solvers, differing in their degrees of success with the Hatrack Problem, had strikingly similar available functions, but differed in the way they selected from their past experiences when confronted with the problem of finding uses for the pole structure.

DOES TRAINING WITH DIFFERENTIAL REINFORCEMENT ON SIMILAR PROBLEMS HELP IN SOLVING A NEW PROBLEM

An experiment to determine, for achieving correct solutions to the Hatrack Problem whether prior experience on a simpler version of the problem helps and the effects of positive and negative reinforcement. After 30 min., 50.0% of the 30 Ss with no experience but only 25.0% of the 60 Ss with experience on the simpler version solved the problem (p < .05). Positive and negative reinforcement showed no differential effects for 30 Ss receiving each. Previous experience may inhibit productive problem solving by providing too many false directions. Principles of reinforcement developed for learning are limited in their applicability to problem-solving behavior.

Increasing innovation in change situations through leadership skills

A role-playing format was used to determine the effect of skill training in the use of leadership acts previously found to be critical. These were: (1) the degree to which the discussion issue is posed as a problem rather than a solution and (2) the readiness to share available data. Trained leaders were not permitted to make suggestions or to favor a solution. Their role was to accept ideas without evaluating them. The problem situation involved a foreman who would like to have three crew members change their work procedure so as to increase production. In 25 groups the leader was trained in the two above-mentioned leadership skills, and in 29 groups the leader was untrained. The solutions were of three types: (1) Old method, or refusal to change; (2) New method, indicated by the time-study data; and (3) an Integrative method which assimilates the facts and feelings of conflicting parties and, in addition, requires innovation. The Trained leader groups produced 68.0% Integrative solutions in contrast to the Untrained leader groups 10 3% The acceptance of their group decisions were significantly higher than in the Untrained groups, and the members of the Trained leader groups perceived their leaders in a more favorable light. The important variable in the Trained leaders was their skill rather than their knowledge.