INSIGHT (PSYCHOLOGY): TYPES, INSIGHT LEARNING - PSYCHOLOGY - 2025

An insight in psychology is the sudden understanding of a cause - effect relationship in a specific context. Usually this is new knowledge generated through introspection. At a certain point, a new understanding is created, often leading to an experience also known as an "epiphany" or "eureka moment."

The phenomenon of insight was first studied by the psychologist and linguist Karl Bühler. For this researcher, it is one of the fundamental processes of learning, which is even shared by some species of higher primates. However, it would be especially developed in humans.

The insights generated by insight can be achieved in different ways. Thus, sometimes it is the connection of different pieces of information that was already owned.

In others, the change of point of view leads us to discover something new about the situation we are studying. The main psychological school that studied the insights was the Gestalt.

Types

Since the discovery of this phenomenon in the first half of the 20th century, many investigations have been carried out in this regard. Today, it is widely considered that there are three main forms of insight learning. However, some experimenters believe there could be more.

What are the main types of insight? According to the prevailing currents in psychology, they would be the following: model breakdown, contradiction, and connection. We will see each of them below.

1- Insight by model break

One of the basic functions of our mind is to categorize the world based on our past experiences. Thus, when we encounter an unknown situation, we unconsciously search our memory to know what is the best way to act.

This skill is very useful to deal with everyday problems. However, in some situations the use of this way of thinking (known as "heuristic") can lead us to ignore certain information or to try to solve what is happening in an ineffective way.

In this case, insight would occur when the person abandons their usual way of acting or thinking and suddenly discovers the appropriate response to the situation. This can be seen often, for example, in riddles, word games or puzzles.

On the other hand, model break insight can also occur in situations where we have to use creativity to solve a problem.

Example

“One morning when she was eating breakfast, Laura's ring slipped off her finger and fell into a cup full of coffee. However, the ring did not get wet. Why".

In this puzzle, our previous experience tells us that if an object falls into a cup of coffee, it must necessarily get wet.

What we are not seeing is that we have assumed without realizing that the coffee is already prepared and is in a liquid state. But what if it were coffee powder, to which the milk has not yet been added?

When the person arrives at this discovery on his own, an insight occurs by breaking the model.

2- Contradiction

The second type of insight appears when we are able to detect a contradiction in a situation that until now seemed totally normal to us. From there, the person can begin to consider what is really going on, and learn something new about what is happening.

Insight by contradiction can also occur when we find information that contradicts our previous beliefs on an issue. Thus, despite the fact that before we were totally sure of something, it is possible that we begin to wonder if our vision of the world is correct.

Example

The most famous example of insight by contradiction is the story of a police officer who was involved in the arrest of a car thief.

Before learning that a robbery had occurred, the officer noticed that the driver of a new BMW was throwing the ashes of his cigarette on the floor of the vehicle.

This small gesture caused the policeman some suspicions, since who would dirty his own car in that way, or a rented one? The man decided to follow the vehicle, and ended up taking an active part in the arrest of the thief.

3- Connection

The last type of insight occurs when we are able to relate two pieces of information that are apparently not connected to each other. In this way, we are able to apply what we see in a situation to a problem that we did not know how to solve previously.

On many occasions, this type of insight occurs when observing nature, or the solutions that have been given to certain situations that have nothing to do with the one that concerns us.

Example

One of the clearest examples of insight by connection is the invention of helicopter blades. In the early days of aviation, most researchers tried to create flying machines using wings like those of birds. However, the first aircraft to fly autonomously used propeller technology.

Where did this idea come from? Nothing more and nothing less than the observation of the seeds of certain trees, which have a shape similar to that of the blades, and which are capable of floating for long periods of time for this reason.

Insight learning

Insight learning allows us to make discoveries that would not be available to us otherwise. The problem is that they are uncontrollable: you cannot have an epiphany of this type voluntarily.

For some researchers, insight learning is characteristic of people with high intelligence. Thus, they would be related to lateral thinking, the ability to observe situations in different ways than how others see them.

However, we are all capable of this kind of learning. The advantage is that, contrary to what happens with those that are produced by trial and error, the new knowledge suddenly takes us a lot towards the solution of our problem.

The good news is that it is possible to train the ability to have insights. In general, the best way to do this is to foster a critical spirit, practice observation, and ask ourselves new questions in familiar situations.

References

1. "Insight Learning" in: Psychstudy. Retrieved on: June 26, 2018 from Psychstudy: psychstudy.com.
2. "The Different Forms of Insight" in: Psychology Today. Retrieved on: June 26, 2018 from Psychology Today: psychologytoday.com.
3. "Insight Learning" in: Study. Retrieved on: June 26, 2018 from Study: study.com.
4. "3 Paths Revolutionary Thinkers Take Before They Arrive at Insights" in: The Emotion Machine. Retrieved on: June 26, 2018 from The Emotion Machine: theemotionmachine.com.
5. "Insight" in: Wikipedia. Retrieved on: June 26, 2018 from Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org.