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Functional fixedness is a cognitive bias that limits a person to use an object only in the way it is traditionally used. The concept of functional fixedness originated in Gestalt psychology , a movement in psychology that emphasizes holistic processing.
A specific form of mental set is functional fixedness, in which someone fails to see the variety of uses to which an object can be put. [3] [6] [9] An example would be someone who needs a weight but fails to use an easily available hammer because their mental set is to think of a hammer as for a specific purpose. [6]
In psychology, rigidity, or mental rigidity, refers to an obstinate inability to yield or a refusal to appreciate another person's viewpoint or emotions and the tendency to perseverate, which is the inability to change habits and modify concepts and attitudes once developed.
Functional fixedness, a tendency limiting a person to using an object only in the way it is traditionally used. [16] Law of the instrument, an over-reliance on a familiar tool or methods, ignoring or under-valuing alternative approaches. "If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail."
Functional fixedness is the tendency to view an object as having only one function, and to be unable to conceive of any novel use, as in the Maier pliers experiment described above. Functional fixedness is a specific form of mental set, and is one of the most common forms of cognitive bias in daily life.
Karl Duncker, another Gestalt psychologist who studied problem solving, [45]: 370 coined the term functional fixedness for describing the difficulties in both visual perception and problem solving that arise from the fact that one element of a whole situation already has a (fixed) function that has to be changed in order to perceive something ...
Ash Perez recently tried some new things. He got a haircut at a barbershop, bought his first suit, learned to grill and asked his close friends what it means to be a man –– all at the age ...
Functional fixedness is the tendency to ascribe specific functions to respective objects. Dunker sees functional fixedness as a "Mental block against using an object in a new way that is required to solve a problem", as described in his cognitive performance test, known as the candle problem.