#9209. Accident and agency: a mixed methods study contrasting luck and interactivity in problem solving

November 2026publication date
Proposal available till 14-05-2025
4 total number of authors per manuscript5500 $

The title of the journal is available only for the authors who have already paid for
Journal’s subject area:
Philosophy;
Psychology (miscellaneous);
Experimental and Cognitive Psychology;
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Abstract:
Problem solving in a materially rich environment requires interacting with chance. Sixty-four participants were invited to solve 5-letter anagrams presented as movable tiles in conditions that either allowed the participants to move the tiles as they wished or only allowed random shuffling (without rearranging the tiles post shuffling) thus contrasting pure luck with an interactive model. We hypothesised that shuffling would break unhelpful mental sets and introduce beneficial unplanned problem-solving trajectories. However, participants performed significantly worse when shuffling, which suggests luck plays less of a role than has been previously suggested.
Keywords:
chance discovery; interactivity; luck; Serendipity

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