Functional Fixedness and Its Effects

Functional fixedness, also known as cognitive bias, is defined as “a cognitive bias that limits a person’s ability to use an object in more ways than it is traditionally used and affects an individual’s ability to innovate and be creative when solving challenges.” Functional fixedness is a cognitive bias that limits a person’s ability to be creative when solving challenges.

This means that we are unable to see how to use an item in another way than the way society has defined the item’s use. This can also be applied to individuals as well. You can always think of a certain person as the individual who performs a certain activity, but they could also perform other tasks that could be beneficial for themselves and you. You just have to allow them to get outside of the box you created for them.

Functional fixedness beginnings

Karl Duncker was a German psychologist. He defined functional fixedness as the mental block that people display when they need to use an object in a new way to fix a problem. He was able to illustrate this way of limited thinking through an experiment.

Individuals in Duncker’s experiment were unable to finish a task as they could not utilize items outside of their original purpose in order to solve a problem. Participants in this experiment were provided with a book of matches, a candle, and a box full of thumbtacks. Participants needed to light the candle so that when it was lit the wax would not drip on the table. Most individuals could not solve this problem……

• What would you do?
• How would you accomplish this challenge?

Find answer below.

The actual answer is to remove all the tacks from the box, use the box as a shelf, use tacks to attach the box top to the wall, set the candle in the box top, and light the candle.

Functional fixedness limits us

Unable to see other uses for people, items, or constructs

Functional fixedness is costly in all areas of our life, but when you are unable to see past the original intent of something; you become regimented. If you always see the library as a place where you borrow books from and not as a place that you can use for the other resources like computers and fax machines, you could miss out on all the other uses for the library. Sometimes an individual is seen as their certain profession. People then can miss the additional aspects of that person’s personality. If you consistently see your time during the day as the only time you can complete a certain task, you limit researching other uses for your time or not performing other things that can be done during that time as well.

Moving beyond functional fixedness allows you to be able to see other uses for everything in your environment. Moving beyond it allows you to be able to dream. People who accomplish great things operate well beyond functional fixedness because they do not limit themselves or their environment.

Continue to perform the same routine

Functional fixedness results in performing the same routine over and over. As a mompreneur (a mother who is an entrepreneur), I thrive on routine a lot. I enjoy planning and having things occur based on my plan. But I can not allow my routine to limit me from discovering other activities to perform with my family or investigate other methods to do things.

Having the same routine for days, months, and even years does provide a level of stability; however it prevents growth and progress.

Functional fixedness is detrimental

Decreases creativity

Can you think back to when you were a child and how vivid your imagination was? You could use any and all items as toys or something to make something fun to do. This is why parents always talk about their kids playing with boxes more than playing with the toys that come out of them. Children are endless with their creativity until society changes their thinking process and starts to tell them this item is for this and this item is for that.

What would happen if we allow our creativity to remain free and childlike?

Functional fixedness doesn’t allow us to see beyond what is in front of us and how we are taught to interact with something. It limits how creative we can be in problem solving and thinking of new ways that a situation can be resolved.

Inability to try new things

If you allow yourself to be controlled by functional fixedness, you will not try new things. You will allow something new to pass you by. This new thing could possibly be the exact thing you were looking for.

Conquer functional fixedness

Complete brain games and puzzles

This suggestion sounds like something a doctor would provide to a patient to aid with the mental acuity. These items work the same for functional fixedness. They require you to use a different thought pattern than you usually would in your normal activities. You have to vary your problem solving skills to find a solution. These activities require you to have to think about an outcome to an issue you might not have encountered before.

Play with children

Children are not limited by functional fixedness the younger they are. Imagination peaks between 3 and 5 years of age- those pre-school years. Playing and interacting with young children when you are any age allow you to be able to ‘think outside of the box.’ You can enter their world of pretend.

My favorite movie of all time is Sandlot. This movie is full of imagination and childhood dreams. In order to solve a problem, the friends have to think of many ideas that could possibly work.

As a mother of three children, I have seen them be curious and imaginative. Every day items can become completely different than their original intent like a tunnel made out of a chair or a tent out of a sheet. And the ideas do not end there. The same chair can then become a castle and the sheet can become a dress. Items can have more than one use and not even the item’s intended use. Original functions do not limit them at all. Their imaginations allow them to live free, create, and learn.

Try something new

To break out of functional fixedness, you should try to do something you haven’t done before or try to do something in a new way. New experiences cause you to think differently. New brain pathways are created.

Can you get break-free from functional fixedness? Is it possible?

I challenge you to do something different today. Think about an object you use everyday and what else you could use it for. Like your television remote; could it be a door stop, a paper weight, a drum stick? Use your brain in new ways in order to allow your creativity to develop even more. Think of new solutions to the same problems.

Functional fixedness can affect how we see people in our life, items, and constructs. Because of this, functional fixedness can affect how we interact in our environment and the thought we have about the world overall. We sometimes see a person as only a caregiver or only a teacher. We can even do that to ourselves sometimes, which then causes us to limit what we can accomplish. If you only see yourself for the person you are today, you will not even attempt to try and succeed in another area. You will not try to gain knowledge to better yourself and change your present situation.

Moving away from limiting yourself by functional fixedness, you can see alternatives to a problem even when it is difficult. You can see opportunities when others may see no way out.

I was introduced to this term by an individual I follow on X (Twitter). There can be a good exchange of ideas on that platform if you follow individuals who fit with what is in line with your own interests. Follow Find Your Flourish on Twitter. I post daily over there about my own thoughts, productivity tips, my daily life, and other things that come up. Follow and say hi!

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Interested in how I use a routine in my life to get things done so I can do what I enjoy with those I love? Check out this post.

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Be you, be well, be focused! Find Your Flourish! |Shanna|