Final answer:
Encapsulation in OOP means bundling data and methods in a single unit and using a controlled interface to protect data integrity and security. It prevents direct access to an object's data, thereby avoiding accidental or unauthorized data manipulation.
Step-by-step explanation:
Encapsulation in Object-oriented Programming (OOP) is the concept of bundling data and methods that work on that data within one unit, for instance, a class in programming. This design principle addresses problems related to data security and integrity by restricting direct access to an object's internal state. Instead, encapsulation exposes specific methods as a public interface to interact with the object's properties, commonly known as getters and setters.
The problem that encapsulation addresses is the accidental or unauthorized manipulation of an object's data by external functions or classes, which can lead to inconsistent or unpredictable behavior. To solve this, encapsulation provides a controlled interface, ensuring that data remains consistent and that the internal workings of the class can change without affecting outside code that depends on it.