THE EFFECT OF FAILURE IN SIMILAR AND DISSIMILAR TASKS ON THE CONTINUATIONOF A PROBLEM SOLVING SET

92 Pages·03.082 MB·English

by  LEWIN, CYNTHIA

Sponsoring Coinmitte: Professor J. G. Rockwell
Assistant Professor J. I . S u lliv a n and
Professor D„ Barnard
THE EFFECT OF FAILURE IN SIMILAR AND DISSIMILAR TASKS
ON THE CONTINUATION OF A PROBLEM-SOLVING SET
CYNTHIA LEWIN
Submitted in p artial fu lfillm e n t of the
requirements for the degree of Doctor of
Philosophy in the School of Education of
New York U n iversity
3 ^
t 1*1*8is aacep-toA
"’PT 1 p 'iqct
1951 ' ' • •"
The student hereby guarantees that no part of the dissertation or document
which he has submitted for publication has been heretofore published and (or)
copyrighted in the United States of America, except in the case of passages
quoted from other published sources; that he is the sole author and proprietor
of said dissertation or document j that the dissertation or document contains
no matter which, if published, w ill be libelous or otherwise injurious, or
infringe in any way the copyright of any other party; and that he will defend,
indemnify and hold harmless New York University against all suits and proceed­
ings which may be brought and against all claims which may be made against
New York University by reason of the publication of said dissertation or docu­
ment*
TABLE OP CONTENTS
Page
TABLE OF CONTENTS 1
TABLE OF TABLES i l l
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv
Section I
CHAPTER X THE PROBLEM o oooooooooooooeoeo* 1
General Statement of the'
Problemoo«oooooe«#o 1
Previous In v estig a tio n s• • • • 1
D iscussion of the S p ecific
Problems In vestigated 7
D efin itio n of Terms 0».............. 9
CHAPTER II PROCEDURE
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o e o o 0 0 H
S 11
U b J O C t S o o o o e o e o o o © o o * o * © CO
Experimental Grouping»0.„ , • 11
Pr ocedure o©oo*o*o©oo#©ooo © © 14
Problems Used in th e ...........
Procedure o >©«© *®o 22
0 0
CHAPTER III RESULTS 00000000000000000*900 © © 35
Interpolated F a ilu r e ................. 35
Interpolated Sim ilar and
D issim ilar M aterial, 36
Interpolated Failure and
Non-Failure in Sim­
ilar and D issim ila r
Ta S RS 000009000000 90 37
E ffect of Any Interpolated
Ms ter ia © 38
1 0 0 0 0 0 * 0 0 0 0
Data Ralat-ing to Time Taken
for Solution of the
Problems * 40
0 0 0 0 * 0 0 0 00
Q ualitative Dataco.ooo.o©*© 42
CHAPTER IV SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS # . 47
Summary of In v e stig a tio n » * 47
0
Conclusionsoocoooooooooooo# 48
I
S e c tio n II
CHAPTER V THEORETICAL IMPLICATIONS,.... 51
E a rly Roots of Motiva­
tional Theory. 51
M otivation in Theories of
Learning..oeoe.**..# 54
S p ecific Theoretical Impli­
cations of the Present
Study, o , . , . . . ............ 70
A Current Controversy,.... 72
Suggestions for Puture Ro-
S68rcho,ooceooo,.eoo 75
Im plications for Education 77
A P PE 111) IX Iooooo . . 02
0 0 0 0 0 0 00 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 0 0 0
APPEND IX I I . o e oe 84
o o o o o o o ooo ooo o o , , e o , . o o e e o e .
TABLE OF TABLES
Table Page
I Experimental Conditions. . . . . . ............ . . .. 13
II The Mean I.Q.'s and Mean Ages of the
Sub-Croups Studied, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
III The Percentage of Subjects Who Solved
Problems , C and #9 by the
0 3 4
E-Method. ............................... 85
IY The Number of Subjects in Each Group Who
Solved C and C by the E-Method and
3 4
Failed #9.............
8 5
V The Mean Time in Seconds fo r S o lu tio n
of the Problems o.. 00000. .ooo.o...oo 88
i i i
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I t is w ith pleasure that I acknowledge the
a ssista n c e and guidance o f P rofessor J. 0. Rockwell,
who headed th e sponsoring committee for this thesis,
Dr= Jo J. S u lliv a n and P rofessor J. D. Barnard, who
served on the committee. Their cooperation and keen
judgment have made th is th esis a stimulating exper­
ien ce.
I am a ls o gra tefu l to the Bureau of Reference,
Research and S t a t is t ic s of the Board of Education of
the C ity of New York and to the three public school
p rin cip a ls who perm itted th is study to be conducted.
iv
CHAPTER I
THE PROBLEM
general Statement of the Problem
The purpose of this investigation was to study the
effects of fa ilu re in similar and dissim ilar task s in te r ­
polated in a series of problems on the continuation of a
problem-solving set.
Previous Investigations
Luchins reports that when one method o f so lu tio n i s
1
employed to solve a series of problems, there is a tendency
for individuals to repeat this method on subsequent prob­
lems that can be solved in a more direct and sim ple manner.
The term E instellu ng has been used by Luchins to d escrib e
this tendency. This phenomenon has also been referred to
as mental set or problem-solving set. The high le v e l o f
sign ifican ce of Luchins’ results corroborated "the hypo­
thesis suggested by the preliminary experiments o f
Wertheimer, Zener, and Duncker that a tendency to so lv e
, " 2
1. AoS Luchins, The Effect of Elnstellung on L earning.
0
Doctoral dissertation. New York UniversTty, 1939-
2. Ib id . , p. 79-
- 2 -
a problem in a particular way would resu lt from its
continued usage in a series of problems.
One of the main concerns of investigators in the
area of set has been the e ffe c t o f interpolated material
on the s t a b ilit y or strength of a problem-solving set.
Luchins in h is e a r lie st workl studied some of the condi­
tions which might weaken or abolish the tendency to repeat
an habituated method. The tendency to use the same method
was decreased by the introduction of interpolated material
which could not be solved by the previously successful
method. A sig n ifica n t decrease in the percentage of solu­
tions by the habituated method was noted. In a later
paper2 , further experiments were reported in which
varying conditions of time and content of the interpola­
ted m aterial were introduced. The resu lts were that the
introduction of time, add ition al content or instructions
in the se r ie s of problems disrupted the problem-solving
set. This corroborated Luchins e a rlie r findings. Again,
1
the use of interpolated m aterial operated to decrease
the occurrence of the habituated method of response.
C hristie designed an experiment Mto test the hypo­
thesis that fru stration would increase the rig id ity of
a problem -solving set in a situ a tio n which could not be
1. Ib id .
2. A.S. Luchins, "Mechanization in Problem Solving,"
P sychological Monographs. 54 (1942), pp. 1-95-
- 3 -
solved by use of the 3 et."T U tiliz in g the terms employed
in this study, h is c e n tra l hypothesis was that in te rp o la te d
m aterial associated w ith fru s tra tio n operates to in­
crease the s ta b ility o f a problem -solving set. In his
study, the experim ental group was given an interpolated
problem which was not so lv ab le. The control group was
given interpolated m a te ria l which was solvable. The in ­
evitable failu re of a l l su b je cts in the experimental
group was considered to produce fru stra tio n , i . e . , "The
experimental group was considered to be fru strated ; the
control group was co n sid ered not to be fru stra te d ."2 On
a subsequent problem, w hich could not be solved by the
previously su ccessfu l m ethod, the experimental group
took a sig n ific a n tly lo n g er period of time to reach
the solution.
C h ristie ’s r e s u l ts are "considered to bear out th e
research hypothesis re g a rd in g the effect of fru stra tio n
on the s ta b ility of a problem -solving set. ”3 He re fe rs
sp ecifically to f r u s t r a t i o n interpolated a fte r a sta b le
1. J. R. C h ristie, The E ffe c ts of F rustration Upon R ig id ­
ity in Problem S o lu tio n . Doctoral d isse rtatio n .
U niversity of C a lifo rn ia , 1949*
2. Ib id . , p. 31.
3. Ib id . , p. 49•
- 4 -
set has been established and its e ffe c t on subsequent
methods of solution used, and not to the effect of frus­
tration on the establishing of the se t. These findings
are a n tith etica l to those reported by Luchins.
The explanatory bases of these altern ate hypotheses
is determined by the d ifferen t th eo retical orientations
of the two authors cited . A fundamental premise of
C h ristie’s experimental hypothesis is that ’’where there
is an increase of m otivational energy in a situ a tion in
which a cognitive structure has been establish ed which
does not conform to the objective situ a tio n , there is
an increase in r ig id ity or non-adaptiveness to the ob­
jective situ a tio n His experiment u t iliz e s frustration
. ” 1
as the means by which m otivational energy is increased.
C hristie asserts that any increase in m otivation should
serve to produce th is e ffe c t.
According to Luchins2 , when a sp e c ific problem is
accepted by the subject as part of a unitary set-up,
i . e . , as part of one te s t or a series of the same kind of
problems, the persistence of an habituated response is
favored.
Ib id . . p. .
5 2
2. A. S. Luchins, The E ffect of E instellu ng on Learning.
Doctoral d isserta tio n . New York UniversTTy, 1939.