Aaron's mother was filling up a bottle with water from a water purifier. He had often seen her switch hands as her arms became tired. He took out his mother's cutting board and balanced it on the sink under the water purifier so that the bottle could be placed on it. His mother was very surprised that the board could be used for any purpose other than chopping fruits and vegetables. In this scenario, Aaron's mother's mindset would be known as ________.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Aaron's mother demonstrated functional fixedness, a cognitive bias that limits a person to using an object only in the way it is traditionally used, which in this case was seeing the cutting board solely as an item for chopping fruits and vegetables, not considering its potential to assist in other tasks like supporting a bottle under a water purifier.

Aaron's Mother Was Filling Up a Bottle with Water from a Water