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.

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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

Several cognitive obstacles can act as roadblocks to effective problem-solving and cloud decision-making skills. Common barriers include a mental set, functional fixedness, and various cognitive biases.

Roadblocks to Problem Solving

Goldstein, E. B. (2014). Cognitive psychology: Connecting mind, research and everyday experience. Nelson Education.


Cognitive psychology: Connecting mind, research and everyday experience

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

Functional fixedness

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.

Functional Fixedness

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.

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