Tristan is trying to hang a picture on his dorm wall and has found a nail but cannot locate a hammer.Although he searches his dorm room,he eventually gives up on hanging the picture because he can't find anything to pound the nail into the wall.What Tristan failed to consider was that he could have used a shoe or his baseball bat to pound the nail into the wall.Tristan has experienced what obstacle to problem solving?
A)Salience of surface similarities
B)Mental set
C)Functional fixedness
D)Availability heuristic

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Tristan's inability to think creatively about alternative uses of the objects in his dorm room represents functional fixedness, which is the tendency to think of objects as only functioning in their traditionally assumed way. Tristan was limited by his perception of the shoe and baseball bat as items for their specific uses, rather than seeing them as tools that could be repurposed to solve his problem.

Tristan Is Trying to Hang a Picture on His Dorm