Talk:Functional fixedness

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The creation of this page is a group project of Dr. Kent Norman's Spring semester 2006 course, Thinking and Problem Solving, at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Comments by Kent Norman[edit]

Good start. A few things need to be cleaned up. 1. Einstellung is "habituation" and may not be directly functional fixedness. 2. Are the images free to use? What about techniques to avoid functional fixedness?

Change the section "Experiments" to "Examples in research" or something like that. Also, I would add a sentence or two to the definition at the beginning to clarify things. Changes, "Sources" to "References".

Final Comments 11 May 2006 by Kent Norman[edit]

The opening definition should be a little longer to get the point across, otherwise the article is well written. The placement of the picture is a problem causing the contents to be a long box at the left. I am concerned about whether the images are in the Public Domain or not. I think that would have to draw them yourselves rather than use scanned images from a book. Group total = 47/50.

How Is This A Bias?[edit]

Surely the best use for an object is the very use for which it was designed? 86.40.16.16 (talk) 14:46, 26 September 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, but the point is that the object may have additional uses other than the one for which it was designed - and 'functional fixedness' is the tendency to be so blinded by the main or intended purpose, that these additional uses are overlooked. A ruler is for measuring distances - but it makes a handy edge for drawing straight lines. A pocket calculator is for doing arithmetic, but you can enter someone's phone number and store it into the calculator's memory if you're worried about forgetting it. These additional uses require us to exercise a degree of mental flexibility that demands that we bypass our tendencies towards functional fixedness. SteveBaker (talk) 04:14, 28 September 2014 (UTC)[reply]