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 the way it is traditionally used. This mental block prevents individuals from imagining alternative uses for familiar items, thereby hindering creative problem-solving. When faced with a novel challenge, people often fail to see beyond an object's typical function, even when a simple restructuring of its use could solve the problem. Overcoming functional fixedness requires a deliberate shift in perspective.

Professor: 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 a wall so that it could burn without dripping wax on the floor. Many struggled. They tried tacking the candle directly to the wall, but it fell. Then they tried melting wax with the matches to stick it, but that failed too. The solution was to empty the thumbtack box, tack it to the wall as a shelf, and place the candle inside it. Most people failed because they saw the box only as a container for tacks—functional fixedness at work. Once they realized the box could be a platform, the problem was easily solved.