Rational brain · Judgment & Decision Science
Functional Fixedness
Seeing things — tools, people, budgets, contracts — only in their usual role, which blinds you to the option in front of you and to the way a counterpart is using a familiar thing unusually.
An everyday example
Not realising a service credit can be traded, or that a 'standard' clause can be struck.
What it can cost you
Missed options; standard forms treated as immutable.
Warning signs
- I did not consider changing the standard.
- The obvious tool is the only one I saw.
One thing to do
For any stuck problem, list five unusual uses of what you already have; for any standard term, ask what it would take to change it.
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