Analogical discoveries. Identifying similarities to solve problems

Sometimes the solution of a novel problem is achieved by transferring a strategy derived from a familiar situation which is similar to that problem, even though it concerns a different domain. This is the case of the so-called ´analogical problem-solving . Analogical problem-solving is a process of which artistic intuition, historical reconstruction, scientific discovery, and technological invention take advantage; it occurs in everyday thinking and in instruction where it allows to clarify concepts which are difficult to understand and to foster the development of creativity. It is an interesting ´crossroad both with intersections of some main theoretical constructs of psychology and with an overlapping of various mental functions. The book reports a series of experimental investigations whose aims were threefold. They were designed to assess empirically the influence exerted on analogical problem-solving by factors which research had neglected, to give a detailed picture of the processes underlying analogical problem-solving, and to test the psychological reality of some theoretical constructs.