W10_lec1 Flashcards
(20 cards)
What is functional fixedness?
It’s the tendency to rely on past experiences, making it harder to see alternative uses for familiar objects.
Who proposed the concept of functional fixedness?
Duncker (1945)
Why is functional fixedness problematic for insight problems?
Because insight problems require novel thinking, not based on past solutions.
What experiment by Maier (1931/1968) addressed functional fixedness?
The two-rope problem—participants had to tie two ropes hanging from the ceiling together.
What did Maier’s (1931/1968) two-rope experiment show about functional fixedness?
Participants often failed without a hint; subtle cues like seeing someone swing a rope helped overcome fixedness.
What did Defeyter & German (2003) study?
Whether functional fixedness increases with age and experience.
What is the “pre-utilization” condition in the Defeyter & German study?
Children saw a box already used as a storage device, biasing their use of it.
What were the results of Defeyter & German’s (2003) study on children and functional fixedness?
Children in the pre-utilization condition (where the box had been used) were less likely to use it functionally in a new way, suggesting fixedness increases with experience.
What is insight in problem solving?
A sudden and often unexpected realization of a solution.
What was the finding of the Number Reduction Task (sleep and insight)?
Participants who slept were more likely to discover the hidden shortcut (insight), demonstrating that sleep promotes insight.
What is the Microgenesis of Insight?
A study of how insight develops over time.
What did Ellis et al. (2011) find about eye movements and insight?
Eye movements showed early knowledge of the solution, even before participants gave the answer—evidence of subconscious insight development.
What was observed in Spivey et al. (2003) using eye-tracking during Duncker’s radiation problem?
Eye-movement patterns predicted successful insight, suggesting attentional focus shifts before conscious awareness.
What was the key result from Thomas & Lleras (2007)?
Guiding participants’ eyes in motion patterns aligned with the solution increased the likelihood of solving the problem—”moving your eyes moves your thoughts.”
What is the Remote Associates Test (RAT) used for, and what were the findings?
It measures convergent thinking. Storm & Patel (2014) found performance is sensitive to mental blockers, and incubation (taking breaks) helps improve results.
What is the Unusual Uses Test (UUT)?
A test of divergent thinking where participants list as many uses as possible for a common object (e.g., brick).
How did Baird et al. (2012) design their study on incubation and UUT?
Participants did UUT, took a break (either demanding, undemanding, rest, or none), and then repeated UUT.
What did the UUT study find?
Undemanding breaks led to better preformance on creative tasks, supporting the role of mind wandering.
What did Storm & Patel (2014) find about creativity and memory interference?
Generating new uses (divergent thinking) led to reduced recall of previously studied uses—suggesting forgetting aids creativity by reducing interference from old ideas.
What was the difference between the “Thinking” and “Baseline” groups in Storm & Patel’s study?
The Thinking group (who generated new uses) recalled fewer studied uses than the Baseline group, highlighting a trade-off between creative generation and memory recall.
