ABSTRACT
This chapter offers a possible solution to two main challenges in insight research: how to assess the occurrence of insight and which tasks to use. As a first step towards a more unified research agenda, this chapter proposes three defining criteria of true insight. Moving away from the discussion about what may or may not constitute an “insight problem” and towards fully integrating the phenomenology of insight, we suggest a pragmatic two-step strategy for task selection, combining a priori structural task analyses with self-reports of Aha! experiences. With the aim of standardizing the measurement of the multifaceted Aha! experience, we outline an easily adoptable rating scale method to assess the four key aspects of pleasure, suddenness, certainty, and relief. Specific methodological recommendations for the assessment of Aha! are given. Five current problem sets – magic tricks, matchstick arithmetic, compound remote associates (CRAs), anagrams, and rebus puzzles – are compared with regard to how well they fulfill the two task-selection criteria. The approach proposed here can ideally be applied to large problem sets, yet is also feasible for individual problems. We embed this approach in a new model that differentiates between monotonic and nonmonotonic problem solving, based on the correctness of the initial problem representation.
