Eureka effect

Aha is a term from psychology and refers to the sudden recognition of characters and contexts such as the sudden insight into the solution of a problem. In psychological research to inspect it often emerges as a characteristic that sets in after supposedly consummate knowledge process.

The term was coined by the German psychologist Karl Bühler, who defined it as follows:

" A strange occurring in the course of thinking pleasurable fitting experience that sets in a first opaque connection with sudden insight. "

A recent theoretical approach of eye-opening experience comes from four defining characteristics of: First, the eureka moment comes suddenly. Second, the solution of a problem can be applied in liquid form. Finally, it resolves the eye-opening experience positive affect (the mentioned Buhler desire emphasis ). Fourth, a person who experiences a sudden insight, the accuracy of the solution is satisfied. These four properties are not detached by this approach, but interconnected, because high processing liquid, especially if it occurs suddenly and unexpectedly, leads both to a more positive affective evaluation as well as to judgments of higher accuracy or truth of statements.

The vernacular refers to the occurrence of an eye-opening experience as " The penny has dropped. "

Although epiphanies occur universally, there is no name for it in many languages ​​. The German term is therefore taken in other languages ​​, so by the French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan in his theory of the mirror stage. In the English language, the terms " Eureka effect" and " aha be! effect " are used synonymously.