External and internal instantiation of abstract information facilitates transfer in insight problem solving

Abstract

Four studies were conducted to examine how instantiation of abstract statements facilitates solutions to insight problems. The first two experiments explored the effects of external instantiation (adding a concrete example to the abstract source information) on transfer. Providing an example along with the abstract source statement fostered transfer of analogous solutions. Moreover, adding a complete concrete instantiation to an abstract statement produced greater transfer than adding only specific items to illustrate the abstract terms. The second two experiments examined the effects of internal instantiation (encouraging learners to generate their own concrete examples of the abstract information) on transfer. This factor, too, facilitated problem solving. Generating examples to instantiate the abstract statement yielded even better transfer than simply informing participants of the relationship between the abstract statements and the target problems. These findings suggest that both external and internal instantiation facilitate transfer by promoting mental processes associated with implementing the source analogs. © 2000 Academic Press.