It may just me… But I truly enjoy those proud moments when I finally get to “OH!” or “AHA!” Those eureka moments definitely come with a little boost to the self-esteem and confidence. But getting there can be a long and strategic road of problem-solving to get across that threshold of uncertainty.
Gestalt theories to get to an “Aha!” moment it boils downs to a two-step process. To start, you must “represent” the problem in the mind. Then reorganize the representation you first created. This can involve, mentally forming and reforming different representations of a problem until the right form is chosen. Adding these mental pieces deciphering out the parts of the problem is the Gestalt process to problem solves the most reasonable way to you. Once this method is finally figured out it becomes an “AHA!” moment.
Cite:
Goldstein, E. B. (2015). Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research and Everyday Experience, 4th Edition. [CengageBrain Bookshelf]. Retrieved from https://cengagebrain.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781305176997/
I too wrote my final blog about problem solving. I can also relate to that “Aha moment,” or feelings of relief and excitement when discovering solutions to the many obstacles that life presents you with daily from the small easier issues to greater dilemmas that are more challenging and take longer to solve. The first step in this process is defining the problem to determine what exactly is standing between you and the goal. Per lesson 13, well defined problems have a clear answer while ill-defined problems may have many different possible answers. I found it interesting that not as much research has been conducted by cognitive psychologists on the latter type of problem as those tend to be more difficult to solve. As you pointed out in your post, when solving a problem, we need to represent it in our mind. Although, this process will look differently based on the type of problem. Additionally, to get to “eureka” you need to be mindful of obstacles to problem solving as described in our text and lesson commentary, which I elaborated on in my post. You should check it out: http://sites.psu.edu/psych256fa1602/2016/11/19/problem-solving/
On another note, your post title encouraged me to search the origin of the quote. I completely forgot it is a line from one of my favorite childhood musicals, My Fair Lady. However, it supposedly originated as a joke about the British King George. You learn something new every day!
References
Penn State World Campus (n.d.). Lesson 13: Problem Solving. Retrieved November 30, 2016 from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1804143/modules/items/21169401