An activity aimed at closing the cognitive gap en route to a goal by employing acts or processes neither immediately nor obviously suitable towards this end. Problem-solving has been studied in psychology in the form of puzzles, overcoming obstacles and inventing
constructs or devices. Problem solving underlines nearly all means-ends
decisions whether in
government , the
management of enterprises or the design of equipment in engineering. The contemporary emphasis on finding technological solutions to human
problems is the principal motor for the
growth of
technology but also the principal source of ecological disequilibria (
see equilibrium, ecology ) and of many human problems and social instabilities (
see stability ) . (
Krippendorff )
