托福口语 Task 3

In psychology, the concept of 'functional fixedness' refers to the tendency to perceive an object only in terms of its most common use, thereby limiting the ability to see alternative functions. This cognitive bias often hinders problem-solving because individuals fail to think creatively about how an item could be repurposed to meet a novel challenge. Overcoming functional fixedness requires mental flexibility and the ability to reassess an object’s properties beyond its typical purpose.

Professor: Let me illustrate this with a classic experiment. Participants were given a candle, a box of tacks, and a book of matches, and asked to attach the candle to a wall so it could burn properly. Most people tried to tack the candle directly to the wall or melt wax to stick it, but those failed. The solution was to empty the tack box, tack it to the wall, and use it as a shelf for the candle. The participants who succeeded were those who saw the box not just as a container for tacks, but as a potential platform. This shows how functional fixedness—seeing the box only as a holder—blocked the obvious solution until they broke that mental set.