Cat Hicks
It seems intuitive that the more experience you have solving problems in a given domain, the better you'll be at pushing the boundaries of the solution space and finding novel paths forward.
But did you know there's a paradox hidden inside of the benefits of all that "prior experience?"
Cat Hicks
Cognitive effects like these are fascinating glimpses into the strategies our minds use, that are often adaptive, but can lead us toward accidentally foreclosing on solution spaces too soon. Thinking about this dynamic makes me think about the gift of the beginner's mind, and whether we value those who try to bring it to our workplaces.
Cat Hicks
I'm also thinking about how celebrating diverse problem-solving techniques could be one way to break through inflexible thinking. We should be really careful about defaulting to conformity on this. In fact, exposure to solutions that break our defaults is very likely one of the reasons supportive, safe collaboration is such a predictor of innovation outcomes for teams.
Cat Hicks
Sometimes, prior experience, and the strong associations it creates for our minds when a *new* problem shares the same context as old problems, can push our minds toward reaching for familiar, suboptimal solutions and ignoring better ones.
And experts can get hit quite deeply with this bias, even in their own problem-solving domains. The familiarity of old successful solutions can actually block us from recognizing novel, unexpected solutions.
Cat Hicks
For example, in one set of studies, highly experienced chess players were given a series of problems that required a similar solution type. Next, they were presented with a problem that could be solved with either a suboptimal or less familiar but better solution. Most players failed to find the newer solution.
Findings like these have led some psychologists to argue that sometimes, highly reinforced solutions create "the inflexibility of expertise."
Cat Hicks
One of the possible drivers of this has been termed the Einstellung effect: "when the first idea that comes to mind, triggered by previous experience with similar situations, prevents alternatives being considered" (Bilalić et al., 2008). We repeat previously successful solutions, even when there's a more adaptable, successful solution waiting.
Cat Hicks
Psychologists have observed this effect across a surprisingly large number of domains: in motor movements (has a familiar learned sequence ever stymied you when the interface of a well-used tool changed?), in looking at how people study reading material, and in solving reasoning and experimentation puzzles (look up the "water pouring puzzle" which according to wikipedia I also found out are called a "Die Hard with a Vengeance puzzles"??? I need a Die Hard rewatch to confirm).
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