Leila's young son has accidentally locked himself in his room. Leila is trying to figure out how to unlock the door. Unfortunately, she doesn't realize that her butter knife could be used to unlock the door. This illustrates ___________.
A)parallel processing
B)operant conditioning
C)functional fixedness
D)cognitive dissonance

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Functional fixedness is a cognitive bias that limits a person's ability to see alternative solutions to a problem due to their preconceived notions about the tools or objects they are using. In this scenario, Leila is only thinking of traditional methods to unlock the door and does not consider using a butter knife as a potential solution, demonstrating functional fixedness.

Leila's Young Son Has Accidentally Locked Himself in His Room