托福口语 Task 3

In psychology, the concept of 'functional fixedness' refers to a cognitive bias that limits a person to using an object only in its traditional or intended way. This mental block prevents individuals from seeing alternative uses for familiar objects, thereby hindering problem-solving and creativity. Functional fixedness often arises because we become accustomed to an object's standard function, making it difficult to think beyond that framework. Overcoming this bias requires conscious effort to reframe the object's potential purposes, a process known as 'defunctionalization'.

Professor: Now, let me illustrate this with a classic experiment. Participants were given a candle, a box of thumbtacks, and a book of matches, and asked to attach the candle to the wall so that it burns without dripping wax on the floor. Most struggled. They tried tacking the candle directly to the wall, but it fell. They tried melting wax to stick it, but that failed. The solution, of course, is to empty the thumbtack box, tack the box to the wall, and place the candle inside. The participants failed because they saw the box only as a container for tacks, not as a potential platform. This is a perfect example of functional fixedness—they couldn't break away from the box's typical role.