{
  "schema": "vedokrok.public-item.v1",
  "release_id": "MHC-RPUB-20261011-9e4b62c5",
  "url": "/knowledge/functional-fixedness",
  "id": "MHC-D-5F074C10DBDD",
  "version": "0.2.0",
  "kind": "concept",
  "title": "Functional fixedness",
  "summary": "A familiar label can hide a useful property.",
  "body": "Functional fixedness is difficulty seeing an object beyond its customary use. A box can be more than packaging; its flat surface, weight or shape may matter to a new problem. The useful move is to describe the function you need before searching only for the tool normally sold for it.\n\nState the required property: hold, separate, support, mark or contain. Inspect available objects for that property, then check whether the alternative use is safe and adequate.",
  "use_when": [
    "You need to examine whether the function you need differs from a familiar object’s usual purpose."
  ],
  "limits": [
    "An unusual use is not necessarily a good one. Do not improvise load-bearing, electrical or protective equipment from this example."
  ],
  "example": "A light draft keeps moving your paper pattern. You look for a paperweight while a closed notebook sits beside you. The missing function is simply safe, sufficient weight.",
  "check": "Am I rejecting this object because it cannot do the job, or because that is not its usual job?",
  "topics": [],
  "intents": [],
  "published_at": "2026-10-11T19:10:00Z",
  "review": {
    "kind": "agent",
    "label": "Agent editorial and scoped evidence review",
    "reviewed_at": "2026-10-11T19:01:14Z"
  },
  "source_ids": [
    "FP-CB-FIXEDNESS"
  ],
  "evidence": [
    {
      "claim": "The study describes fixation on an object’s familiar design function when solving a task that requires an atypical use.",
      "source_id": "FP-CB-FIXEDNESS",
      "role": "supports",
      "locator": "Abstract",
      "note": "Specific object-use tasks and adolescent sample; not a universal creativity rule or validation of the proposed check. Practical questions below are editorial suggestions, not experimentally validated remedies. Access: abstract_only; 2026-10-11. Specific object-use tasks and adolescent sample; not a universal creativity rule or validation of the proposed check."
    }
  ],
  "editorial_overlay": null,
  "editorial": null,
  "notices": [],
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "FP-CB-FIXEDNESS",
      "title": "Functional Fixedness in a Technologically Sparse Culture",
      "url": "https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1111/j.0956-7976.2005.00771.x"
    }
  ],
  "relations": [],
  "collections": [
    {
      "id": "RC-FIRST-PARTY-JUDGMENT-CHECKS",
      "title": "Question the shortcut behind a judgment",
      "url": "/collections/question-the-shortcut-behind-a-judgment"
    }
  ],
  "topic_hubs": [],
  "solution_packs": []
}