Functional fixedness blocks creative solutions requiring atypical object use

Evidence

In this classic test of creativity, individuals are presented with three objects on a table placed next to a cardboard wall: (1) a candle, (2) a pack of matches, and (3) a box of tacks. The task is to attach the candle to the wall so that the candle burns properly and does not drip wax on the table or the floor. The solution demands the ability to literally think outside the box: By emptying the box of tacks and then tacking it to the wall, the box of tacks becomes a candleholder. The solution is considered a measure of “insight creativity” (Schooler & Melcher, 1995) because it involves the ability to overcome a barrier to creativity called “functional fixedness,” the common belief that objects can be used only for their typical function. — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 2223

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clear definition of ‘insight creativity’ via the classical Duncker candle test and ‘functional fixedness’.
• XREF: Connects to design-thinking and problem-solving literature (divergent thinking, Don Norman’s affordance concepts). — connects to: Functional language dissolves concepts by identifying things with their functions — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man: Studies in the…, 399; Subject and object letting-go of fixed positions liberates previously imprisoned philosophical energy; Blocking formal entrenchment hydraulically increases functional substitutes — Daryl Levinson and Benjamin I. Sachs, Political Entrenchment and Public Law, 431