Describe How And How Did You Interpret The Problem

 How did you interpret the problem? My first interpretation of the problem presented in the activity was that it was completely impossible. I had formed a conceptual block because no matter what I tried it seemed I was unable to provide a decent solution or a way to getting all three animals across without one being eaten by the other. I did think back of other activities and past memories of shows and puzzles that I thought would assist me in obtaining a proper solution, but it did not work at first. I then decided to evaluate the activity thoroughly in hopes to possible produce an efficient strategy for the animals to get across safely without being eaten. I knew you stated it was possible therefore I continued.
 What strategy did you use and how did you evaluate your progress?
The first strategy I used was trial and error.
I took paper and proceeded to find any option available by writing down all the different ways to get the animals across without one of the animals getting eaten but, when this procedure was evaluated progress was not achieved successfully. Information retrieval was not working because I was unable to provide a solution from previous known activities. I then turned to the sub-goal strategy to help me take steps to achieve the right answer. I was able to decipher on how to get all three of the animals across the river safely without being eaten by using the means-end analysis. The way I did this was recognizing that all animals were ok as long as somewhere was there at all times. Therefore, I took the cat across went back for the mouse went to the other side to drop off the mouse but also picked the cat back up so it did not eat the mouse. I then dropped the cat back off and picked up the dog to take him across to be with the mouse. After the mouse and dog were safely across I went back for the
cat.
 Did you encounter any obstacles while solving the problem? I did encounter many different obstacles before finding a proper solution because I had a mental set of functional fixedness. I was unable to get the animals across one by one not matter what way I had tried until I brought one back. It took me a very long time to process the fact that as long as the raft was there no animals would get eaten, and that I was able to bring the animal back to the other side to wait. I tried over and over again the same way because I was unable to notice a different technique to get them across. Every time they would get eaten and I started thinking it had to be impossible! I then began to brainstorm with my fiancé and children before coming to the appropriate solution after hours of trying different strategies and procedures.
 Were you aware of this thought process as you worked through the problem? I do not believe I was completely aware of this process at first, but as I look and think back now I guess I may have been more aware then what I had originally thought I was. After I had figured out the thought process and worked through the problem successfully I did have a hindsight bias because I thought that now knowing the solution it seemed inevitably and predictable to being right from the beginning. If I were to have to work another one of these types of problems I will definitely be looking on the outside of the box to find different solutions instead of just getting stuck on one way as I originally had.
References:
http://corptrain.phoenix.edu/rm_dev/river.html
Morris, C. G., & Maisto, A. A. (2002). Psychology: An introduction (12th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.