Mental Sets & Functional Fixedness In Psychology

Sometimes when you try to solve a problem you can’t seem to find the solution no matter how hard you try.

In psychology these difficulties to problem solving are known as obstacles, of which there are two main types :

• Mental Sets

• Functional Fixedness

By becoming aware of these obstacles you will be able to look out for them the next time you are stuck on a problem, which hopefully should increase the likelihood that you solve it.

Mental Sets & Problem Solving

A mental set involves using something that worked for you in the past, to solve a problem you are presented with now. In other words, using the same approach on different types of problems.

Mental sets can make it easier for you to solve a problem, or harder for you to solve a problem.

For example, if you want to enter a room you have a mental set which tells you how to open a door. As a result, you try to push or pull the door in order to get it open.

What you have done here is used an approach that worked for you in the past (pushing or pulling the door), to open a new door you have never seen before (solve a new problem).

Now let’s look at an example of how a mental set can make it more difficult for you to solve a problem.

Mental Sets Which Hinder Problem Solving

Read the following and then answer the questions.

Mental Set 1

There are six eggs in a basket.

Six people take one of the eggs each.

How is it that one egg can still be left in the basket?

Mental Set 2

What occurs once in June, once in July and twice in August?

 

Mental Set 1 Answer

The 6th person took the basket as well as the last egg still inside.

Mental Set 2 Answer

The Letter U.

Explanations

If you worked out the correct answers to these problems then well done! You are obviously very good at solving lateral thinking type questions.

If you didn’t work out the correct answers don’t worry, these questions were deliberately designed to make it difficult for you to find the right answer. Here’s why…

Mental Set 1

In the first question you are told that six people take one of the eggs each. So your mental set makes you think of six people taking the egg out of the basket.

Your mental set probably did not tell you that you could take the basket with the egg in it. As a result, you were left confused as to why there could still be an egg in the basket if everyone had taken one.

Mental Set 2

In the second mental set you might start thinking about what the months have in common, or particular things of note which occur in those months.

Your mental set does not tell you to look at what “occurs once” in the letters of the months, which causes you to approach the problem from completely the wrong angle.

False Assumptions

In both of these examples the mental set was created by an implication.

In the first example the implication is that each person takes the egg out of the basket.

In the second example, the implication is something that happens during those months.

These mental sets which interfere with your ability to find the solution are known as false assumptions, because they create a belief that is not correct.

A well know example of how mental sets can make it harder to solve a problem can be found the Wright Brothers.

In order for them to create an airplane, they had to break the mental set that in order to fly you need to have wings which flap like a bird.

Many people before the Wright brothers had attempted to fly by making flapping wings, but were unsuccessful in their approach. Again, their mental set hindered their ability to find a successful solution to a problem.

Functional Fixedness & Problem Solving

Functional fixedness involves thinking about something only in terms of its functionality, rather than new ways in which it could be used.

For example, the American space agency NASA wanted to find a way for astronauts to be able to write notes in space. The trouble was that in space ink pens didn’t always work upside down.

After much research and millions of dollars, NASA eventually designed a pen that could be used in space even if the astronauts were upside down.

The Russians were also looking for a solution to this problem. What did they do? They used a pencil, and by doing so saved themselves millions of dollars in the process.

This example of functional fixedness shows how we can have mental sets for various items, which only allow us to use that item in a particular way (the way it was designed to be used). This then fixes our attention on that purpose, and excludes all others.

Problem Solving Summary

• A mental set is a way of using something that worked in the past, to solve a new problem we are presented with.

• Sometimes mental sets can make it easier for you to solve a problem.

• Mental sets can also make it more difficult for you to solve a problem, by giving you a false belief as to how something should be.

• Functional fixedness causes you to see something only in the way it was meant to be seen, and prevents you thinking of alternative uses or explanations.

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