Exploring the Depths of Thought: Fixation

Hey family!

So we ended yesterday's blog-isode by talking about a well-known study, which showed how mental set can make people rigid for them to become fixated on one approach to a task. This makes it super hard for them to think of it in any other way.

Source

So what was the experiment?

The subjects were presented with a series of problems:

They were told that they had three jars of known volume. Their job was to use these to obtain (mentally) an exact quantity of water from a well.

In one of the problems, for example, the subjects had three containers:

A, B, and C

which held

21, 127, and 3 quarts respectively.

That would be

A = 21 quarts = 19.87 litres
B = 127 quarts = 120.19 litres
C = 3 quarts = 2.84 litres

Their task was to use these three jars to obtain 100 quarts(94.64 litres).

After a while, they hit upon the correct method.

• This was to fill jar B (127 quarts) completely,
  127

• and then pour out enough water to fill jar A (21 quarts).
  127-21=106

• After this, they would pour out more water from jar B to fill jar C (3 quarts),
  106-3=103

• empty jar C and fill it again from jar B.
  103-3=100

The remaining water in jar B was the desired quantity 100 quarts

On the next few problems, the numerical values differed.

But in all cases, the solution could be obtained by the same sequence of arithmetical steps , that is:

B - A - 2C

Thus, 163-14- 2(25) = 99

43-18-2(10) = 5,

and so on.

After encountering five similar problems, the participants faced two important tests. The initial one involved solving a problem where they needed to acquire 20 quarts, using jars with volumes of 23, 49, and 3 quarts.

Now, the majority of the participants demonstrated a mechanization effect caused by mental habit. They diligently carried out the tedious arithmetic operations they had previously used, calculating 49 - 23 - 2(3) = 20.

They did this, despite a simpler method that required only one step.

B(23 quarts) - C(3 quarts) = 20 quarts

Following this, there was another important problem. The participants were tasked with acquiring 25 quarts, using jars with volumes of 28, 76, and 3 quarts. It's important to note that the only method that would work here is the direct one: subtracting 3 from 28 to get 25.

However, the mental habit was so strong that many participants couldn't solve the problem at all.

They tried the old procedure, which is inappropriate (76 - 28 - 2(3)) does not equal 25), and so could not hit on an adequate alternative.

The set had made them so rigid that they became mentally blind according to Abraham Luchins (an American psychologist).

Similar effects have been demonstrated in other problem situations.

In many of these there is no need to induce the misleading set by instructions or prior practice, for it is usually engendered by the perceptual arrangement of the problem situations .

Examples of such perceptually induced sets are the nine-dot problem and the horse-and -rider problem.

The Bus Stops Here for today:

Thank you, friends, for staying with me through these blogisodes. Your thoughts and opinions are always welcome and appreciated. I'd be happy to hear them. We will build on this in tomorrow's blogisode. Until then, stay safe, friends.♥️

References and Links:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6297678/#:~:text=A%20mental%20set%20generally%20refers,short%2Dterm%20mental%20set).

https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-a-mental-set-2795370

https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/fixation

https://www.britannica.com/topic/thought

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