Abstract
Complex problem solving (CPS) has emerged over the past several decades as an important construct in education and in the workforce. We examine the relationship between CPS and general fluid ability (Gf) both conceptually and empirically. A review of definitions of the two factors, prototypical tasks, and the information processing analyses of performance on those tasks suggest considerable conceptual overlap. We review three definitions of CPS: a general definition emerging from the human problem solving literature; a more specialized definition from the “German School” emphasizing performance in many-variable microworlds, with high domain-knowledge requirements; and a third definition based on performance in Minimal Complex Systems (MCS), with fewer variables and reduced knowledge requirements. We find a correlation of 0.86 between expert ratings of the importance of CPS and Gf across 691 occupations in the O*NET database. We find evidence that employers value both Gf and CPS skills, but CPS skills more highly, even after controlling for the importance of domain knowledge. We suggest that this may be due to CPS requiring not just cognitive ability but additionally skill in applying that ability in domains. We suggest that a fruitful future direction is to explore the importance of domain knowledge in CPS.
Highlights
Complex problem solving (CPS) has emerged over the past several decades as an important construct in cognitive psychology, and is viewed as an important applied skill in education and in the workforce [1,2]
CPS has been criticized as an area of cognitive science that lacks a good definition, one that might serve to classify tasks as indicators of complex problem solving; this lack may have contributed to a lack of progress on the construct [8]
We demonstrate that there is a strong relationship between fluid ability (Gf) and complex problem solving (CPS) skill, both conceptually and empirically
Summary
Complex problem solving (CPS) has emerged over the past several decades as an important construct in cognitive psychology, and is viewed as an important applied skill in education and in the workforce [1,2]. Measures of problem solving or CPS have been included in several cycles of the Program for International of Student Assessment (PISA) [3,4,5]. CPS has been criticized as an area of cognitive science that lacks a good definition, one that might serve to classify tasks as indicators of complex problem solving; this lack may have contributed to a lack of progress on the construct [8].
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