A notable real-world instance of overcoming functional fixedness took place during the Apollo 13 mission. Following an explosion that compromised the spacecraft's systems, the astronauts were threatened by rising carbon dioxide levels from malfunctioning filters. To solve this, engineers at Mission Control developed a method for the astronauts to construct a temporary air filter using available, non-traditional materials like plastic bags, tape, and air hoses. This innovative solution, which ultimately saved the astronauts' lives, is a famous example of creative problem-solving under extreme pressure.

Apollo 13 Mission as an Example of Overcoming Functional Fixedness

In Duncker's classic experiment on functional fixedness, participants are provided with a candle, a book of matches, and a box of thumbtacks (as shown in Figure A). The challenge is to mount the candle on a wall so that it doesn't drip wax on the surface below. The solution, depicted in Figure B, involves emptying the thumbtack box, using a thumbtack to attach the box to the wall as a shelf, and then placing the candle inside it.

Duncker's Candle Problem Experiment (1945)

An experiment with the Shuar group in Ecuador explored cultural effects on functional fixedness. Participants were presented with a problem involving a bear and a rabbit separated by a river and were asked to find a solution using various objects. The intended solution was to use a spoon as a bridge. The study found that when the spoon was presented in a context that highlighted its normal use, participants took significantly longer to identify its potential as a problem-solving tool. This experiment provides evidence that functional fixedness is a widespread cognitive bias.

Shuar Group Experiment on Functional Fixedness

Based on the following scenario, identify the specific cognitive barrier that is preventing the individual from solving their problem and explain *how* this barrier is demonstrated.

The Loose Screw Problem

Functional fixedness is a cognitive bias and a specific type of mental set that restricts a person to using an object only in its traditional manner. This fixation on an object's conventional function can impede problem-solving by obscuring novel uses. Research has shown that functional fixedness is a cross-cultural phenomenon, experienced by individuals in both industrialized and non-industrialized societies.

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People have a tendency to focus in on a specific part of a problem which can prevent them from solving that problem.

Fixation

A mental set is a cognitive obstacle where an individual persists in using a problem-solving strategy that has been successful in the past, even when it is no longer effective for the current problem. This reliance on familiar methods can prevent the discovery of new, more appropriate solutions.

Mental set

Spielman, R. M., Jenkins, W. J., & Lovett, M. D. (2020, April 22). Psychology (2nd ed.). OpenStax. https://openstax.org/books/psychology-2e/pages/1-introduction

OpenStax Psychology (2nd ed.) Textbook

What Gestalt psychologists call the reforming/reframing of a problem to help find a solution. This is useful to overcome fixation and generate insight.

Restructuring

Fixation on a familiar function of an object. It can prevent people from finding a solution. The candle problem and two string problem are canonical examples.

Functional fixedness

Functional Fixedness

Subjects are asked to determine how to get exactly some amount water, given three jugs with a certain capacity. After solving similar problems using a particular method, subjects only found the optimal solution 23% of the time, compared to all of the subjects when not solving similar problems before hand. This shows how prior experience can create mental sets.

Water jug problem (and solution)

Set shifting is an executive function that allows a person to switch between two or more different tasks or mental perspectives.

Set Shifting

This example illustrates a mental set through a scenario where a person is in a room with four doorways. Because one specific doorway has always been open in the past, the person repeatedly tries to exit through it, even though it is now locked and three other doorways are open. This demonstrates how past experience can create a mental block, causing someone to persist with a familiar but currently ineffective solution.

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