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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

2014

Dissertations

Utah State University

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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

The Effect Of Functional Fixation In Problem Solving Among Preschool, Second Grade, And Ninth Grade Children, Michael Kenneth Nehring Dec 2014

The Effect Of Functional Fixation In Problem Solving Among Preschool, Second Grade, And Ninth Grade Children, Michael Kenneth Nehring

Dissertations

Functional fixedness is a cognitive function whereby an individual becomes fixated on a given function of an object, which prevents the individual from using the object in an alternative fashion to solve a problem (Duncker, 1935/1945). The current study analyzed the effect of functional fixedness on 36 children from three different age groups, preschool, second grade, and ninth grade. The children were presented with a problem solving activity based on a problem used by German and Defeyter (2000), in which they concluded that young children are immune to the effects of functional fixedness. Research conducted by Chrysikou (2006) indicated using …