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 functions for familiar items, thereby hindering creative problem-solving. When faced with a novel challenge, people often fail to see beyond an object's typical purpose, even when a simple unconventional use could solve the problem effectively.

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. Most people tried to tack the candle directly to the wall or melt wax to stick it, but failed. The solution was to empty the thumbtack box, tack it to the wall as a platform, and place the candle inside it. The participants couldn't see the box as anything other than a container for thumbtacks—that's functional fixedness. Once the box was empty, they still saw it as a 'thumbtack box,' not as a potential shelf. Only those who overcame this mental block succeeded.