Instead of forcing creativity, recognise when the structure itself is limiting new ideas, writes Barbara Salopek Functional fixedness is a cognitive bias that limits our ability to see novel uses for ...

Differences in the tool use of non-human primates and humans are subject of ongoing debate. In humans, representations of object functions underpin efficient tool use. Yet, representations of object ...

FUNCTIONAL FIXEDNESS Functional fixedness is a cognitive bias that limits our ability to think creatively and find innovative solutions. It occurs when we view objects, concepts, or situations in a ...

Scissor is made for cutting, a cotton swab can only be used to clean the ears and to hold onto a bunch of paper, we typically need a paperweight. What is that one thing that is common in our usage of ...

“Thinking outside the box,” has become the annoying phrase we hear in commercials and bad business meetings. It stems from an actual psychological concept called functional fixedness. Funnily enough, ...

Any five-year-old has no trouble turning an old blanket and a couple of chairs into an impenetrable fort. But as we get older, knowledge and experience increasingly displace imagination and our ...

"We shape our tools and thereafter our tools shape us." Marshall McLuhan The most challenging aspect about innovating is rooted in a concept called fixedness. Fixedness is the inability to realize ...

Hacking is often misunderstood as simply “breaking into computers.” But at its core, hacking is something broader and more fundamental: Hacking means making a system do something it was not meant to ...