A group of participants has just completed a series of problems involving water jars. In each problem, the participants needed to fill the largest jar, pour from it once into the middle-sized jar, and then pour from the largest jar twice into the smallest jar. The participants are now given a new problem, which cannot be solved via this procedure. We would expect that the participants will:

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The participants are likely to have difficulty with the new problem because they have become locked into the procedure they had used successfully in the previous problems. This is known as cognitive fixation or functional fixedness, where a person becomes fixated on a familiar procedure or use of an object and cannot see alternative solutions or uses. Therefore, option B is the best choice.

A Group of Participants Has Just Completed a Series of Problems