Holly was in her mother-in-law's kitchen preparing lunch for the family. When she was ready to dish up the soup, she searched all the cupboards and drawers for a ladle but couldn't find one. She decided to wait until her mother-in-law returned to ask her where the ladle was, leaving the soup in the stove pot. Her mother-in-law later explained that the ladle had been broken, so she told Holly to use a coffee mug to "spoon" the soup into bowls. Holly's ability to solve the "dish up the soup" problem was hindered by which of the following obstacles?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Holly was unable to think of the coffee mug as a tool to serve soup because of functional fixedness, which is the tendency to think of an object only in terms of its typical use. She was looking specifically for a ladle and could not see the coffee mug as a viable alternative.

Holly Was in Her Mother-In-Law's Kitchen Preparing Lunch for the Family