Psychologists call this the productive struggle: the idea that working through difficult problems builds resilience, confidence and deep understanding. Canadian-American psychologist Albert Bandura, a pioneer in motivation research, called it mastery experience – the boost in confidence that comes from figuring something out on your own.
I love the idea of a "productive struggle". I was told that if something is hard then that means you are learning something. For me, working through something, like a tough math problem, builds confidence and understanding. I lose that experience if I let AI solve that for me. I liked this detail because it reminded me why struggling is an important part of developing intellectually and becoming more resilient.