AP PSYCHOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Functional fixedness is what’s called a cognitive bias . This means that your brain is used to thinking of a particular thing in a specific way, which limits your ability to think of it in a new or innovative way. Functional fixedness is deeply ingrained in your brain-so much so that it can show up on an imaging test.

Detailed explanation-2: -Blockbusting is the conscious strategy to identify and overcome this functional fixedness. Key blocks are perceptional, emotional, cultural, and intellectual blocks. A typical perceptional block is stereotyping, where one can only look at something in a preconceived way.

Detailed explanation-3: -Functional fixedness is a type of cognitive bias that involves a tendency to see objects as only working in a particular way. 1 For example, you might view a thumbtack as something that can only be used to hold paper to a corkboard.

Detailed explanation-4: -Functional fixedness is commonly used to describe why an individual develops an inability to use an object in more ways than it is traditionally intended to be used, as function fixedness impairs their creativity.

Detailed explanation-5: -Cognitive biases such as functional fixedness keep designers from seeing the full range of solutions to a problem and affect the ideas that are generated and considered. The inability to recognize alternative approaches and uses of elements constrains creativity, and thus limits ideation and problem solving.