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 seeing alternative uses for familiar objects, thereby hindering problem-solving. When faced with a novel challenge, people often fail to repurpose items because they are fixated on their typical functions. Overcoming functional fixedness requires creative thinking and the ability to break free from conventional associations.

Professor: Let me give you a classic example from my own research. In one experiment, participants were given a box of thumbtacks, a candle, and a book of matches. Their task was to attach the candle to a corkboard so that it could burn without dripping wax on the floor. Most participants tried to tack the candle directly to the board or melt wax to stick it, but both failed. The solution was to empty the thumbtack box, tack it to the board as a shelf, and place the candle inside. However, many people couldn't see the box as anything but a container for thumbtacks. That's functional fixedness—they were so used to the box's normal role that they couldn't imagine using it as a platform. Only when they overcame that mental block did they succeed.