Eureka, epiphany, the lightbulb turning on… all of them are expressions that refer to the same phenomenon: insight learning
This term refers to that situation in which, suddenly and without expecting it, we see the relationships between two things that, apparently, did not have one.
Insights have been fundamental in the development of science and humanity itself throughout its history, since great discoveries and inventions are not mere products of trial and error, but also of sudden revelation. Let’s see it below.
What is insight learning?
In psychology, insight learning is that phenomenon that occurs when we have a sudden understanding of a cause-effect relationship in a specific context. It is new knowledge that is generated by introspection that is, having certain knowledge in our memory that, suddenly, we see that they could be related and give us a new vision and understanding of reality.
Actually, an insight is knowledge that arises in our mind on its own, from the relationship of two separate concepts, ideas and knowledge. It can also be the result of observing an everyday phenomenon from a new perspective or paying attention to something that, normally, we did not pay much attention to. Insight learning gives rise to the ideas behind popular expressions such as “a light bulb goes on,” “eureka moment,” and “having an epiphany.”
The main psychological school that studied insight was Gestalt, although the first to investigate this type of learning was the psychologist and linguist Karl Bühler. According to Bühler, insight is one of the fundamental processes of learning and can be found in species other than ours, especially in higher primates, as evidenced by studies carried out by Wolfgang Köhler.
In the human species, this phenomenon has been responsible for much of the creativity, culture, and technological and scientific development that differentiates us from other animals.
Types of insight
The idea of insight learning has aroused much interest since it was proposed during the first half of the 20th century. Although it is not a closed classification, today it is considered that there are three main forms of this type of learning: model breakdown, contradiction and connection. We look at them in more detail below.
1. Insight by model breakdown
The human mind tends to categorize and interpret the world based on its past experiences. When we encounter any situation, we unconsciously search our memory for some memory, learning or experience that will help us know how to overcome it, especially if we see in that situation some aspect that is familiar to us.
The use of heuristics is a quick and efficient way to process known information, ideal for dealing with everyday problems, but what happens when the situation is completely new and unknown? In this case we continue searching for information in our memory to see if we have something that will help us get through the problem, but it doesn’t work for us here. Heuristics can make us ignore certain information or try to resolve the new situation in an ineffective way
In this case, insight will occur when the person abandons their usual thinking style. For new situations it is not useful for us to think and act in the same way as in everyday contexts. We need to think differently, and the use of heuristics is negative since it can make us overlook information or make us try to solve the new situation in an ineffective way. It is necessary to break with the model, change your mentality.
It is this type of insight that we can often see in word games, puzzles, riddles and other brain games, in addition to being the type of insight behind creativity and the testing of new strategies.
2. Contradiction
Another type of insight learning is that which occurs when we detect a contradiction in a family situation, a situation that until recently seemed totally normal and coherent to us. When we detect such a discrepancy, we begin to wonder what other aspects could be wrong in a model, situation or knowledge that we possess.
This implies take a critical view of the reality that, until that moment, we assumed as true It is true that it does not have to be wrong, but by seeking information that fails we can ask new questions and establish new opinions.
There can also be a change in our belief system when we see that what we believed in was not as true as we thought. We question whether our vision of the world is correct and we look for new data.
3. Connection
Finally we find the most common type of insight learning: connection. As its name indicates, this is established from the connection between two or more pieces of knowledge suddenly, relating data that do not seem to be related to each other but that, By associating them, we obtain new knowledge
We are able to apply what we have seen in a situation and transfer that information to a new problem that we did not know how to solve before.
What are the benefits of insight learning?
At this point we can understand the importance of insight learning. This type of learning based on revelations and epiphanies allows us to make discoveries that would not be available to us otherwise.
As we have commented, this type of learning has been fundamental for the history of humanity, since many inventions, findings and novel ideas have arisen from “eureka moments”. Knowledge through insights makes us move forward suddenly, while trial and error is a more tedious and long process
But like everything good in this life, insights have a problem: they are totally uncontrollable and sudden. In fact, since they arise spontaneously and without us assuming that it is going to happen to us, they are called epiphanies as if they were a religious revelation. We will never know when we will have one of these crucial moments to expand our knowledge and have new ideas.
However, and despite its uncontrollability, There are people who have a greater tendency to experience these phenomena It is believed that insight learning is characteristic of people with high intelligence and would be related to lateral thinking, that is, the ability to observe situations from perspectives that are very different from how others see them.
This does not mean that there are people who are incapable of experiencing this type of learning. We are all capable of learning through insights, it is just true that Greater intelligence can increase the chances of experiencing them Furthermore, it is possible to train the ability to have insights by promoting a critical spirit, observing all the details of the situation in which we find ourselves and asking ourselves all kinds of questions, even in situations that we think we know.