Hello bloggers,
For this blog I would like to dig into the concept of functional fixedness. Because our brain often times identifies objects as having one single purpose, we can fail to see the alternative uses of that object. This is what causes functional fixedness; we have difficulty conceptualizing that one object's purpose can be used for another. The book yields an example of functional fixedness by providing the following scenario: you need to pound a nail in, but you don't have a hammer. Well, the answer is simple, why not just pound it in with your shoe? When our brain processes our shoe, our brain sees it as an object that is used solely (no pun intended) for walking when in fact it could do a perfectly fine job at pounding in the nail.
Because of functional fixedness I am intrigued as to what we miss everyday. Are we using our daily resources to their full potential? It makes me think about what different uses of objects we miss in daily situations. What problems remain unsolved? Even though the answer could be right in front of us. It is a strange concept to think about, especially because we are in the intelligence part of psychology. Is our ability to avoid functional fixedness correlated with intelligence? What do you guys think? Also, can you think of any alternative uses of objects in your life that you missed because of functional fixedness?
I see your point, and I believe that is it very valid. I guess in some way, our ability to avoid functional fixedness can be correlated to intelligence. I see it more as "street smarts" rather than "book smarts," which is usually what we think of when we think of intelligence. Being clever, in my opinion, is a trait that not everyone is capable of having , and thus not seeing the full potential of our daily resources.