Insight learning: what it is, types and characteristics

Let's see what insight learning is and how it allows us to adapt to life's challenges.

Eureka, epiphany, light bulb, etc. are all expressions that refer to the same phenomenon: insight learning..

This term refers to a situation in which, suddenly and unexpectedly, we see the relationship between two things that, apparently, did not have one.

Insights have been fundamental in the development of science and of humanity itself throughout its history, since great discoveries and inventions are not merely products of trial and error, but also of sudden revelation. Let's take a look 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 particular context. It is a new knowledge that is generated by introspection, i.e., having certain knowledge in our memory, we suddenly see that we have a sudden insight.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 a knowledge that arises in our mind by itself, from the relationship of two separate concepts, ideas and knowledge. It can also be the result of looking at an everyday phenomenon in a new light or paying attention to something that we would not normally pay much attention to. Insight learning gives rise to the ideas behind popular expressions such as "light bulb going off," "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 our own, 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 first 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 breaking, contradiction and connection. These are discussed in more detail below.

1. Insight by Model Breaking

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 to 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 fast 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 keep looking for information in our memory to see if we have something to get us out of it, but here it doesn't work for us. Heuristics can make us overlook certain information or try to solve the new situation ineffectively..

In this case, insight will occur when the person abandons his or her usual style of thinking. For new situations, it is not useful to think and act in the same way as in everyday contexts. We need to think differently, and the use of heuristics is a negative thing 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, to change our mentality.

It is this type of insight that we can often see in word games, puzzles, riddles and other games of ingenuity, as well as being the type of insight behind creativity and the testing of new strategies.

2. Contradiction

Another type of insight learning is the one that takes place when we detect a contradiction in a familiar situation.We have been able to identify such a discrepancy, a situation that until recently seemed totally normal and coherent to us. Upon detecting such a discordance, we begin to ask ourselves what other aspects might be wrong with a model, situation or knowledge we possess.

This implies taking a critical view of the reality that, up to that moment, we had assumed to be true.. True, it does not have to be wrong, but by looking for information that fails we can raise new questions and establish new opinions.

There may also be a change in our belief system when we see that what we believed in is not as true as we thought. We question whether our view of the world is correct and seek 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 in a sudden way, relating data that do not seem to be related to each other but that, but, 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 utilities 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 mentioned, this type of learning has been fundamental to the history of mankind, since many inventions, discoveries and novel ideas have emerged from "eureka moments". Knowledge by insights makes us move forward suddenly, while trial and error is a more tedious and time-consuming process..

But like everything good in life, insights have a problem: they are totally uncontrollable and sudden. In fact, as they arise spontaneously and without us being able to guess 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, despite their uncontrollability, there are people who have a greater tendency to have epiphanies, 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 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. greater intelligence can increase the possibilities of experiencing them.. Moreover, it is possible to train the ability to have insights by fostering a critical spirit, observing all the details of the situation in which we find ourselves and asking all kinds of questions, even in situations we think we know.