I would like to solemnly open a new series of posts on Steemit entitled "Insight". Insight will be a place where I will share with you some psychological knowledge provided in an accessible way. I intend it to be a scientific knowledge based on empirical research and/or widely accepted theoretical models. You will NOT find in this series of guidebooks like "10 tricks how to accomplish success" or "5 tricks how to force people to like you". Human psyche is too fascinating to deal with such trivial things! Enjoy the adventure of discovering true psychology without immersing yourself in tons of textbooks!

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Okay, okay, but what exactly insight is?

"Houston, we have a problem..."

Imagine such a situation: you are facing a very complex problem. It can be a mathematical task, logical or logistical problem, something related to combining facts, a puzzle or a jigsaw - the nature of the problem may vary. In any case, the task is surpassing you, it seems impossible to solve, you may have the impression that it has no point and there's no good answer.

Incubation

After many attempts of solving the problem, growing frustration and fatigue, you give up. You either give up further dissolution or you may decide to take a longer break for yourself and you completely break away from the task. This break in solving the problem is called incubation. It is crucial because it "loosens" rigid, problem-oriented cognitive processes, while allowing more stimuli to enter our perceptual field.

Insight

Incubation (almost) always precedes insight. Insight* is a sudden change of perception of the problem, which leads to an in-depth understanding of the problem and usually to a quick solution. In other words we are restructuring the problem itself, which turned out to be a bit different from what the mind suggested earlier. You have probably experienced something like this many times - it is accompanied by a sudden feeling that could be described as "uh-huh!". Archimedes discovering the fundamental law of hydrostatics and shouting the famous "Eureka!" has certainly experienced insight.

*Insight in the therapeutic context has a slightly different meaning, but we'll get to this another time.

How does psychology explain this phenomenon?

As it is often the case in psychology, it has not been possible to unequivocally answer what processes are behind the phenomenon of insight. There are three main positions, each in some way valuable and enriching our knowledge:

Position 1: continuous reference to experience

According to this position, the processes behind insight do not differ significantly from "ordinary" problem solving, and the impression of suddenness of experience is illusory. The individual is always looking for knowledge and experience in his/her memory in order to find inromation which can help restructure the problem or divide it into a list of problems. There may also be an attempt to modify one's own experience so that it fits the problem (that is, we try to give things we know a new meaning in the context of the problem). Most of these processes can happen unconsciously, which gives the illusion that it "falls from heaven".

Position 2: simplifying the problem

Really difficult problems, especially scientific ones, are extremely complex. Number of "objects" (mental representations) that our mind must hold in working memory is extremely large. Therefore, according to scientists who support this position, the key to insight is the mechanism of problem simplification. This is caused by two processes:

• taming the problem - learning and remembering various elements of the problem and the links between them, so that it is easier to describe and recall in memory.
• selective encoding - a gradual forgetting of less important, useless information on the problem that only hampers its resolution.

As a result of many of these "tame and selecting encoding" cycles, the problem is simplified so much that it calmly fits into short term memory, making it seem trivial and easy to solve :)

Position 3: opportunistic assimilation

Third position underlines the role of the incubation phase. During incubation, although we are not working on the problem for the moment, our senses are sensitive to any information that concerns it in any way. So when in the perceptual field an accidental information which can help appears - our mind grabs it and quickly "puts the pieces together". This mechanism is called opportunistic assimilation.

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Brain teaser!

Try to connect all the dots with four straight lines without taking your hand off the monitor. You can also draw dots and try to do it without breaking the pen off. It can be difficult to solve without insight!

Sometimes what block us in solving the problem are unnecessary information about the problem (which we think we need to use and combine with the rest of the information) or our internal assumptions, which do not appear in the instruction!

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Remember, it is worthwhile to take a few minutes of break from thinking strongly about the problem, as it may help us to solve it!

When and how did you experience insight?