If you are in the business of creating new things or creative problem solving, understanding and overcoming functional fixedness can open new possibilities for you.
If you’re new to the concept of cognitive biases, check out our Intro article Intro to Cognitive Biases for the Curious Creative. It’s a great place to start.
In this 3-part series we will learn about 3 cognitive biases.
Now, on to our first cognitive bias: functional fixedness.
What Is Functional Fixedness?
Let’s start with a puzzle that was created to test creativity. It’s a brain teaser from 1935, but it explains this bias beautifully.
Brain Teaser Fun
Imagine you’re in an empty room. You’ve got:
- a book of matches
- a box of thumbtacks
- and a candlestick
Task: Attach the candle to the wall so that when you light it, no wax drips on the floor. You can only use the objects pictured above.
Think about it, and when you’re ready to see the answer, tap or click on the dropdown below:
Disclaimer: Psychologists gave the same test to 68 undergraduates at Stanford University, and only 23% got it right.
See Answer
Answer: Use a thumbtack to mount the box to the wall. Place the candle in the box, which will catch all of the wax when the candle is lit.
How did you do? Did you think of trying to stick the candle into the wall with a thumbtack? Melt a bit of wax and use it as glue? Those answers, while creative, do not solve the problem of catching the melted wax.
Why Is the Candlestick Problem Difficult for So Many?
Most likely: functional fixedness.
Functional fixedness is a kind of mental block that limits us to using an object only in the way that it is traditionally used. In the case of the candle problem, we only think of the box as a container for the tacks, and nothing else.
How are this brain teaser and functional fixedness related to creative work?
Most “new” creations, whether they are music, works of art, or practical products, are not entirely new concepts. Often, they are only creative repurposing of existing material. You could even make a good argument that Everything is a Remix.
Again, if you are in the business of creating new things or creative problem solving, understanding and overcoming functional fixedness can make your job easier.
How To Overcome Functional Fixedness
The most effective way to overcome functional fixedness is a process called the “generic parts technique.” In one experiment, people trained in this technique solved 67% more problems than those who were not:
Starting with a whole object, such as the candlestick in the problem above, mentally break the object down into parts. For each part, ask yourself these two questions:
- “Can I divide the part further?” If so, then do it.
- “Does the name and description I give the part imply a use?” If so, give it a more generic name or description. Usually that means describing its shape or the material it’s made of.
Applying the Generic Parts Technique
Let’s apply the technique to the candlestick: A candle is made of a wick and a cylinder of wax.
Wick: Can I divide the part further? Yes: A wick is a string of twisted fibers.
Cylinder of wax: Can I divide the part further? Not really, but it’s important to note that the shape is a cylinder.
Does its name (“wax”) imply a use? Kind of, yeah.
We know wax is used for candles. So let’s describe it more generically by asking ourselves what we know about wax: It’s a pliable material. It’s easily-melted. You can burn it. It’s water-resistant.
Now we’re getting somewhere! Using that description, we could think of many other uses for the wax: We could melt it down and use it to seal an envelope, re-cast it into a different shape, temporarily hold something in place, give an object a waterproof coating, etc.
This technique is also very useful for DIY’ers and WFH’ers around the house. If you’re in a pinch and don’t have a specific part or tool at hand, you can often come up with a temporary solution using other components.
I’ve used this technique to temporarily keep our shower caddy from sliding off the shower head using an empty toilet paper roll and cling-wrap, to circulate air through a stuffy room, and to solve various computer programming problems.
With time and practice, you can train yourself to apply the generic parts technique quickly. Overcoming functional fixedness opens your mind up to many new creative possibilities!
Learn how the Additive Bias may be getting in your creative way in Part 2.