What You See Is What You (Don’t) Get: A Comment on Funke’s (2014) Opinion Paper

of assessment instruments for complex problem solving (CPS), computer-simulated microworlds (CSMs) and minimal complex systems (MCSs), might require different types of causal cognition. CPS denotes the ability to successfully deal with new, intransparent, and dynamically changing problem situations (Funke, 2001) and is considered one of the most important skills of the 21st century. Given the recent attention CPS has received from both academic and educational stances, for instance, through the Programme for International Student Assessment, which tested CPS in 15-year-old students across more than 40 countries (OECD, 2014), the topic addressed by Funke (2014) is both timely and of high relevance. In this commentary, we will elaborate on the difference between specific CPS assessment instruments used in a variety of research fields (e.g., experimental psychology, educational assessment) and CPS as the underlying attribute, and we will offer a view that diverges from Funke’s (2014). We will express our hope that different CPS assessment traditions that are reflected in CSMs and MCSs will converge toward a generalizable understanding of CPS as an unobserved latent attribute (i.e., a psychological concept) that is of relevance to researchers from a number of fields including experimental psychology and individua