How Insight Is Done: A Cognitive Ethnography of Problem-Solving in Action
摘要
This chapter provides detailed empirical demonstrations of first-order problem-solving through fine-grained qualitative analysis of participants working on insight problems with physical materials. Using ELAN to code video recordings with temporal precision, the chapter documents moment-by-moment interactions between participants and manipulable objects while solving matchstick arithmetic, triangle of coins, and anagram problems. These analyses reveal how solutions emerge not from mental restructuring occurring within individual minds but from physical restructuring that creates new perceptual affordances and action possibilities. The chapter explicitly draws parallels with ethnomethodology’s respecification project, transforming insight from a cognitive phenomenon requiring special explanation into an observable practice that participants accomplish through learnable methods of material engagement. By documenting the sequential organization of problem-solving actions, the chapter demonstrates how the “praxis of insight” can be studied as what participants actually do it rather than inferred from aggregate performance measures.