ESHS/HSS Annual Meeting

Making Problem Situations: from Psychology to Design

• In Event: The Sciences of the Artificial: Modern Science and Design Expertise

English Abstract

In this paper, I trace the historical development of “problems” as they were staged by researchers in the sciences of mind, computation, and design. Across three episodes, I focus on how and why those researchers staged problems, and how their approaches elicited critique. By tracing conceptual and practical continuities from Thorndike’s comparative psychology to Herbert Simon's work on artificial intelligence and design, I show how problem situations were first created in laboratories, for animals and humans, then translated into programs run on stored program digital computers, and then used to conceptualize design expertise. I argue that despite their claims to have created situations representative of neutral, naturally-occurring problems, these researchers’ work highlights problems’ artificiality and their intersubjective character. I conclude by considering how this history informs our understanding of contemporary "solutionism" and design practices.

Author

• Henry Schmidt