RESEARCH OBJECTIVES WERE (A) TO DEVELOP A BATTERY OF INSIGHT-PROBLEMS FOR USE IN PROBLEM-SOLVING RESEARCH, (B) TO REPLICATE A TRAINING EXPERIMENT IN ORDER TO DETERMINE WHAT A SUBJECT MIGHT HAVE LEARNED IN A SPECIFIC SITUATION WHICH COULD INFLUENCE NONSPECIFIC SITUATIONS, AND (C) TO ATTEMPT TO TEACH SUBJECTS STRATEGY WHICH WILL ALLOW THEM TO TRANSFER SPECIFIC KNOWLEDGE TO NONSPECIFIC PROBLEM-SOLVING SITUATIONS. THREE EXPERIMENTS WERE DEVISED--(1) AN EXPERIMENTAL GROUP OF 20 RANDOMLY SELECTED COLLEGE STUDENTS WAS GIVEN A HINT AS TO HOW THE BATTERY OF PROBLEMS COULD BE SOLVED, WHILE A SIMILAR CONTROL GROUP WAS NOT. THE EXPERIMENTAL GROUP WAS MORE EFFECTIVE, (2) THE SECOND EXPERIMENT CONCERNED ORIGINALITY OF RESPONSE TO A BATTERY OF PROBLEMS AND INVESTIGATED TRANSFER EFFECTS FROM THE FIRST EXPERIMENT, AND (3) EXPERIMENT THREE INVESTIGATED WHETHER SUBJECTS COULD BE TAUGHT TO GIVE THEMSELVES HINTS. THE HYPOTHESIS EMPHASIZED THE STRATEGIES PEOPLE EMPLOY. IT WAS EXPECTED THAT ONE COULD INDUCE NONSPECIFIC TRANSFER BY TEACHING STRATEGIES. IT WAS CONCLUDED THAT ONE CANNOT TEACH STRATEGIES WITHOUT ALSO PROVIDING SUBJECTS WITH A NEW OBJECTIVE WHICH IS SERVED BY THOSE STRATEGIES. THE ASSUMING PROCESS IS BASIC TO ONGOING COGNITIVE PROCESSES. A THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE AND INSTRUCTION WHICH TAKES INTO ACCOUNT ASSUMPTIONS IS NECESSARY FOR DEALING WITH THE NATURE OF KNOWLEDGE AND THE PROCESSES INVOLVED IN ITS ACQUISTION, RETENTION, AND UTILIZATION.