Insight

For other uses, see Insight (disambiguation).

Insight is the understanding of a specific cause and effect within a particular context.[citation needed] The term insight can have several related meanings:

  • a piece of information
  • the act or result of understanding the inner nature of things or of seeing intuitively (called noesis in Greek)
  • an introspection
  • the power of acute observation and deduction, discernment, and perception, called intellection or noesis
  • an understanding of cause and effect based on the identification of relationships and behaviors within a model, system, context, or scenario (see artificial intelligence)

An insight that manifests itself suddenly, such as understanding how to solve a difficult problem, is sometimes called by the German word Aha-Erlebnis. The term was coined by the German psychologist and theoretical linguist Karl Bühler. It is also known as an epiphany, eureka moment, or (for crossword solvers) the penny dropping moment (PDM).[1] Sudden sickening realisations often identify a problem rather than solving it, so Uh-oh rather than Aha moments are seen in negative insight.[2] A further example of negative insight is chagrin which is annoyance at the obviousness of a solution that was missed up until the (perhaps too late) point of insight,[3] an example of this being Homer Simpson's catchphrase exclamation, D'oh!.

  1. ^ Friedlander, Kathryn J.; Fine, Philip A. (2016). "The Grounded Expertise Components Approach in the Novel Area of Cryptic Crossword Solving". Frontiers in Psychology. 7: 567. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00567. ISSN 1664-1078. PMC 4853387. PMID 27199805.
  2. ^ Hill, Gillian; Kemp, Shelly M. (2016-02-01). "Uh-Oh! What Have We Missed? A Qualitative Investigation into Everyday Insight Experience" (PDF). The Journal of Creative Behavior. 52 (3): 201–211. doi:10.1002/jocb.142. ISSN 2162-6057.
  3. ^ Gick, Mary L.; Lockhart, Robert S. (1995). "Cognitive and affective components of insight". In Sternberg, Robert J.; Davidson, J.E. (eds.). The nature of insight. MIT Press. pp. 197–228. Retrieved 2017-11-13.