Monique routinely uses a shredder to shred her paper mail into confetti-sized pieces of paper. When packing her glassware to mov
e into a new apartment, she runs out of protective Styrofoam packing material. Suddenly, Monique remembers about the shredded junk mail confetti which she could use as packing material. From the above scenario, it can be concluded that Monique has:
Functional fixedness: The Functional fixedness is a type of cognitive bias which is responsible for looking at objects as working only in a specific way. It allows or hinders a person to use any object in the way it is traditionally being used.
Karl Duncker refers to functional fixedness as a mental block that hinders a person to use an object in a variety of new ways that can be required to solve a specific problem.
A person can overcome functional fixedness by making attempts at recombination, like the generic parts technique.
From the scenario given in the question above, it can be concluded that Monique has overcome functional fixedness.
