Answer: the tendency to think of things only in terms of their usual functions
functional fixedness
Functional fixedness is a type of cognitive bias that involves a tendency to see objects as only working in a particular way. For example you might view a thumbtack as something that can only be used to hold paper to a corkboard.
Functional fixedness is kind of a mental shortcut that helps you reduce how much you have to think in order to accomplish certain tasks.
Duncker (1945) used the term functional fixedness to refer to a situation in which a problem solver cannot think of using an object in a new function that is required to solve the problem. Another example of rigidity occurs when a problem solver uses a well-learned procedure on a problem for which the procedure is inappropriate.
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Functional fixedness is a type of cognitive or psychological bias that impacts your ability to be creative. It's the tendency to view objects only in a particular way. Someone with functional fixedness is unable to realize that something can be used on multiple occasions and it can perform other functions as well.
Functional fixedness is based on a mental set or a specific way of looking at a problem. Brainstorming meaning training and looking at objects as parts instead of whole objects can all help ...
Functional fixedness is practical in everyday life and crucial in building expertise and specialization in fields where it's important to come up with quick solutions. But like we saw in Duncker's experiment this type of cognitive constraint is the enemy of creativity. Function...