Matyushkina, A. A.

Background. The research is devoted to the study of solving difficult problem situations of thinking on the material of real-life problems. A real-life problem is a special object of thinking in the approach of S.L. Rubinstein, K.A. Abulkhanova-Slavskaya. The relevance of the topic is determined by the need to identify the conditions within the problem-solving process that contribute to a more effective resolution of difficult life problems.

Objective. The goal is to analyze the dynamics of intellectual emotions in solving real-life problems.

Study Participants. The study involved 90 participants: 57 women and 33 men aged 18 to 57 years, (M = 32.29; Me = 32; SD = 9.93) specialists from different professional fields who had experience in successful solving real-life problems.

Methods. The participants were offered to participate in an interview, aimed at investigating the process of solving a real-life problem. It included questions about their content and the experienced intellectual emotions at each stage of the solution and also subjective-evaluation scales to measure the expression of intellectual emotions.

Results. In the process of problem-solving related to real-life contradictions, the need to find a fundamentally new solution is activated. This need is experienced by the subject in the form of intellectual emotions corresponding to the stage of problem-solving. The process of successful resolution of the life problems is connected with the characteristic patterns of intellectual emotions dynamics, reflecting experiencing of the cognitive need to find an absolutely new solution. The expressed experience of confidence at the final stage of solving a life problem accompanies the success of solution. The most successful solution in comparison with a less successful one is determined by more pronounced surprise at the stage of problem understanding and by confidence at the stage of making a final decision and its implementation.

Conclusions. Intellectual emotions represent to the subject the potential success of the solution, performing regulatory functions. Successful problem solving, based on understanding the contradictions of real life, is characterized by special patterns in the dynamics of experiencing intellectual emotions.

Background. The problem of criteria for evaluating solution success is one of the most important for psychology of creative thinking. Evaluation of the solution by the subject during the process of thinking in the form of «confidence / doubt» can be criteria and basis for subject’s experiencing potential success or failure, which leads to continuation or stop in solving.

The objective. The study was to research the dynamics of intellectual confidence / doubt at different stages of problem-solving process.

Sample. The study involved 66 university students, specialists and non- specialists in relation to the content of the tasks.

Methods. The subjects solved 8 problematic tasks of scientific and artistic content with hints and estimate interest and confidence at different stages of solving with subjective scales. The following methods were used for intellectual characteristics “Raven’s Progressive Matrices”, “Complex Analogies”.

Results. 6 types of dynamics of intellectual confidence were identified, which correlated in various ways with the success of the solution. Successful solution of problematic scientific situations for specialists is associated with confidence at every stage, for non-specialists it is associated with doubts at the stages of understanding the problem and the formulation of solution. For problematic situations of artistic content solved by non-specialist, the following types of dynamics are associated with successful solution: «doubt — doubt — confidence», «confidence at all stages»; the latter was also observed with an unsuccessful solution. For this reason 2 types of confidence were identified: (1) reasonable, based on hints, leading to a successful solution, and (2) non- reasonable, without relying on a hint, not leading to a successful solution.

Conclusion. The procedural criteria to evaluate solution are the intellectual emotions of confidence or doubt that regulate the process of thinking. Depending on the stage of solution and the content of the task, intellectual confidence changes in different ways for specialists and non-specialists, performing the function of a preliminary assessment and regulation of solving process.

The article presents an empirical study of the depth of thinking - personal characteristics reflecting the process of understanding of the problem; object – the solution of problem situation with artistic content, actualizing productive thinking; goal – to identify the level of problem solving in correlation with its success. The theoretical basis – the ideas of Gestalt theory and the Matyushkin’s theory of problem situations about productive thinking and evaluation its success. The study shows that the depth of thinking reflects the levels of understanding of the sense of artistic works – from a misunderstanding to clear and explicit understanding of the sense of the work in accordance with the author’s intention. The levels are the basis for evaluating the success of problem solving. From the object of thinking the depth is determined by artistic genre: the greatest depth of thinking requires dramatic genre. There is the positive correlation of the success of the solutions for two types of problem situation with artistic content – understanding of the sense of the film and the story by fragments – with the dramatic and comedic content. There is negative correlation for the success of the solutions of problem situations of emotionally opposite genres – comic and dramatic – for two types of problem situations.

The article presents an empirical study of the conditions for actualization of intuition in creative problem solving. Intuition is considered (in the context of the theory of problem situations) as a special form of a preliminary understanding of sense of the problem situation (creative problem), providing opportunities for further prognosis of solution. The special material of this study — fragments of artistic films of different genres. Subjects were required after viewing a short fragment of the film to guess the finish of the film as a whole. The study shows that significant conditions for actualization of intuition in solving this type of problem tasks are: the stability of interest to the solution, the type of prompt (genre, accidental prompt), intellectual and personal possibilities of the subject (“depth” of thinking; “semantic potential” — similar to the problem an emotional experience).

This article presents the views of the author of the theory of problem situations on the process of creative problem solving (A.M. Matyushkin). In the article there are comparative analysis of the problem situation and creative problems; identifi es structural, procedural and contextual diff erences. In this case we can consider the creative problem as a specifi c object of thinking, generating new phenomenology. Empirical studies of creative problem solv- ing in the context of real professional activities of subject (using the interview method) revealed a number of process features. So, for the subject of creative thinking, along with the subjective criteria of novelty of the process and the result, expressing his interest to problem, are important the objective criteria of novelty and signifi cance for creative product and possibilities for it profes- sional realization.

The article presents three lines of theoretical and experimental research A.M Matyushkin and his scientific school. The first line is connected with the study of motivational-emotional regulation of thinking, the development of the idea of ​​the subject's activity in the formulation and solution of thinking tasks, his cognitive activity. The second line is devoted to the study of intellectual, creative, personal possibilities of subject. The third line is aimed at studying the conditions under which it becomes possible to a real creative thinking, opening the new (subjectively and objectively). 

In the article is submitted the comparative analysis of the problem of understanding and research of the creative thinking, describing three approaches: the personal meanings theory of thinking (O.K. Tikhomirov), the theory of problem situations (A.M. Matjushkin), approach of Ya.A. Ponomarev. The affinity of maintenance of these theories is shown in aspect of statement of researching questions to study the creative thinking and their decisions.