An important aspect of intelligence is the ability to cope with the unknown and the unexpected. Often, new tasks and situations are the ones that most require us to exercise our intelligence. Coping with novelty can take different forms. Sometimes, the novelty is understanding a new task or situation. Other times, the novelty is knowing what to do in a new kind of task or situation. One of the most important mental skills for dealing with novelty is insight.

INSIGHT

In this section of the chapter, we will provide a brief description of the phenomenon of insight and talk about theories that attempt to characterize it.

People have been interested in the nature of insight for many years. It is easy to see why. The greatest discoveries in scientific history were often discovered by insight. Think of Copernicus realizing that the Sun rather than the Earth is the center of the solar system, or Galileo understanding that two objects will fall from a height at the same rate of speed regardless of their weights. On a more day-to-day basis, think of the insights that you have had into your own life. Perhaps you realized that you were truly in love, or that you wanted to change your major and pursue psychology as a career. It would be to everyone's advantage to understand the mental processes underlying insight.