An efficient way of solving an analogy problem would be forming sub-goals. For instance take the analogy: "a school is to a student as a company is to a __________.” A sub-goal to reaching the end goal of actually solving the problem would be to figure out the relationship between a school and a student. After this sub-goal is reached, it would be easy to infer that the answer is "employee.”

The best definition of problem solving is making an active effort to achieve a goal that cannot be easily attained. At times, individuals view this unmet need as a problem and whatever means he or she comes up with to fulfill that need is the solution. The process of coming up with this solution is known as problem solving.

When a person is presented with a problem this problem may be presented with irrelevant information. That is, this information will not be useful when coming up with a solution. This is a common device used in riddles. Teasing out irrelevant information entails figuring out what precisely is being asked of you for the solution.

This is an example of using a similar problem to solve a current one. The woman who owns the dog had a problem getting the dog to "stay" at the park. Her solution to that problem was dangling a treat in front of him. Now she has a problem getting him to sit. She remembers the similar problem of getting him to stay and tries out the same solution.

Using similar problems to solve current ones can often be an effective way of coming up with good solutions.

Making assumptions may make us skip over important information we may need to solve a problem. This can happen in a variety of problems, especially when they involve people. We carry around many preconceived notions about how people and our society work. If we have a problem understanding a certain phenomena in society, it may be due to these kinds of assumptions. For instance, patriarchal society once widely assumed that women were destined for housework and many people didn't understand why women were so happy. They attributed it to their "biology". Instead, it's better understood that women desire just as much as men to participate in and feel like they belong in their society. 

The economist Herbert Simon noted that people very often do not make rational decisions. This is primarily due to the fact that it is difficult to simultaneously evaluate all possible options and so they tend to only focus on a few aspects of the available options. For instance, some people may be overly focused on what they'll lose in a certain options instead of how much they have to gain.

All of these are fallacies that impede one's ability to make decisions based on accurate reasons. The tendency to ignore base rates involves inaccurate correlation rates. For instance, if a person sees a man with motorcycle related tattoos they are likely to think he is a motorcycle owner. Yet they ignore the fact that the large majority of Americans are car-owners. The gambler's fallacy is summed up by the phrase "I'm due for a win!" Minimizing risk involves making a decision because the option is presented in positive terms. Overestimation of the improbable is when a person thinks the chances of an actually rare event are higher than they are.

Functional fixedness is a tendency to only think of an object's most common use when presented with a problem. For instance, if you are trying to open up an old-fashioned Coke and need a bottle-opener you may be so focused on finding a bottle-opener as opposed to using your keys. Your keys would work just as well, but because you are so focused on using it to open the door you don't think of its alternative use. 

Researchers have identified several mental obstacles to our problem solving/reasoning processes. Functional fixedness, mental set, and making assumptions, and irrelevant information are just some of many. Although their precise definitions won't be defined here, the commonality they share is a misdirection in focus and to an extent being stuck on what has worked in the past.

A "mental set" is an obstacle to problem solving which involves fixating only on solutions that have worked in the past. For instance, someone who knows that yelling and throwing a fit has gotten them what they wanted might only use this solution to get they want in the present. Instead, it might be more effective to think of a new solution.