Editorial: Problem Solvers and Thinkers

Dion, Theon, and the Many-thinkers Problem

My solution to the problem of Dion and Theon (Burke 1994a) employs the doctrine of sortal essentialism.1 Jim Stone (2002) objects to my solution and proposes to weaken the doctrine so as to block my employment of it. Others question a different element of my solution: the maximality of personhood and thinkerhood. After opposing Stone's weakening of sortal essentialism, and responding in a preli...

Collaborative Problem-Solving Between Optimistic and Pessimistic Problem Solvers

Better Writers, Better Thinkers

Many chapters in this book provide a good sense of what writing to learn is and how it works. I will explain in this chapter how I use writing-to-learn techniques to help students to think through an idea more clearly. Two aspects of writing to learn are very important: it helps students to understand content better, and it shows them that writing is a process with various stages. When students...

Groups of diverse problem solvers can outperform groups of high-ability problem solvers.

We introduce a general framework for modeling functionally diverse problem-solving agents. In this framework, problem-solving agents possess representations of problems and algorithms that they use to locate solutions. We use this framework to establish a result relevant to group composition. We find that when selecting a problem-solving team from a diverse population of intelligent agents, a t...

Editorial: The Macroprolactin Problem

Human prolactin (PRL) is synthesized as a prehormone with a molecular weight of 26,000 kDa. When the preprolactin is cleaved, the resulting polypeptide has a molecular weight of 23,000 kDa, and this monomeric form accounts for the majority of total PRL. Serum also contains a 50,000-kDa form that is termed big PRL and another species with a molecular weight of greater than l00,000 kDa, which is ...