How to solve problems (Wayne Wickelgren)

([ bandwagon effect [the tendency for people to adopt certain behaviors, styles, or attitudes simply because others are doing so.],
   herd mentality [the tendency for people's behavior or beliefs to conform to those of the group to which they belong.
"the herd mentality of the investment community"]  
   groupthink [the practice of thinking or making decisions as a group in a way that discourages creativity or individual responsibility.
    "there's always a danger of groupthink when two leaders are so alike"] ])

([ when some thing is hard to figure out ... ])
([ when it is hard to figure out, you simplified (chunking) ])
([ when it is hard to figure out, you draw a map ])
([ when it is hard to figure out, you make a chart ])
https://usefulcharts.com/
([ when it is hard to figure out, you make a flow chart - a flow chart is a figure that shows relationship between each entity in the diagram as far as you can figure out what is going on ])
([ when it is hard to figure out, you step back to see the bigger picture ])
([ when it is hard to figure out, you look for where is the money ])
([ when it is hard to figure out, you follow the flow of the money ])
([ when it is hard to figure out, you monitor the [flow rate] of the money ])
([ when it is hard to figure out, you step away from the problem ])
([ when it is hard to figure out, you sleep on [it] ])
([ when it is hard to figure out, you go work on some thing else ])

([ this stepping away from the problem(s) (or sub-problems) (this is a process - like learning is a process - refer to as the learning process) and coming back to them later is best done after you and your partner have reached an impasse (a situation in which no progress is possible) and saturation [The mind has three elementary phases it goes through when it's thinking: saturate, incubate, and illuminate.]; there are at least two reasons why the step away method seems to work; one, after chunking, consolidation and information saturation, when you go do some thing else or you sleep on it, the subconscious mind is working mysteriously in the background; two, when you go do some thing else - a relaxing activity in the vegetable garden [nature] maybe - or a quiet walk in the woods, the mind becomes unstuck or forget some parts that was causing the deadlock; the mental block that was there disappeared; the method is not guarantee to work; however, from mining through historical data and the stories of creative problem solving [CPS] practices -- from math to poetry disciplines -- that pattern ... . ])
   ____________________________________
1974
Wickelgren, Wayne A 1938-
How to solve problems
1. mathematics─problems, exercise, etc.
2. problem solving
QA43.W52

pp.65-66
Incubation
p.65
When you have been going around in circles and wish to do something different to try to solve a problem, probably the most frequently given piece of advice is to put the problem aside for several minutes, hours, or days, and work on something else or get a good night's sleep before coming back to the problem.

p.65
   I must confess that incubation is not one of my favorite problem-solving methods, primarily, I suppose, because, when one is forced to use it, it indicates that all the other general problem-solving methods have failed.
p.65
However, when you have tried a large number of approaches to a problem with no success, there comes a point at which even the most skilled problem solver should undoubtedly put the problem aside for a few hours or days and come back to it later.
p.65
This is true even though a skilled problem solver may still be able to generate new ideas concerning how to solve the problem.

p.65
   Psychologists do not understand why incubation is useful in solving problems.

p.65
On the contrary, there are too many possible mechanisms for the beneficial effects of incubation on problem solving.

pp.65-66
   First, you may be quite generally fatigued after you have worked on a problem for a long time, and coming back to it in a fresher state of mind seems likely to be beneficial (though again we do not understand the mechanisms of general intellectual fatigue or the need for sleep and so on).

p.66
   Second, there may be more specific intellectual fatigue or interference in the use of your memory because of the large number of incorrect actions you have taken in trying to solve the problem.

p.66
The passage of time filled with intervening activities provides an opportunity for these interfering memories to fade away.

p.66
   Third, when you come back to the problem, you have an altered memory and new set of things on your mind as a result of the intervening activity.  These new associations and new cues may well result in the retrieval of new ideas from memory concerning how to solve the given problem.  This explanation is probably the single most plausible reason for the success of the method of incubation.  

p.66
   There is a fourth, somewhat more exotic possibility, namely, that a person's mind goes on unconsciously working the problem all during the long incubation period.  Either because the unconscious mind has a long time to work on the problem or because something special is added by unconscious problem solving, the problem manages to get solved in this way, when conscious problem solving has failed.  

p.66
 In any event, the unconscious problem solving may modify memory in a manner that facilitates conscious problem solving at a later time.  There is not one shred of evidence for this explanation of incubation, whereas the first three possible mechanisms are all extensions of previously established psychological principles.

p.66
Nevertheless, many psychologists believe in unconscious problem solving.  I am very skeptical on the matter, but that is primarily a matter of philosophical preference.

p.138
Whenever there is a single, clearly, and completely specified goal stated in the problem, you should seriously consider the possibility of working backward.

Wayne A. Wickelgren, How to solve problems, 1974
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