In 1970, Spencer Silver was trying to formulate a strong adhesive for the 3M Company, and one of his failed attempts resulted in an extremely weak adhesive. Four years later, frustrated by how often his markers fell out of his church hymnal, Arthur Fry coated them with the adhesive. The markers stayed in place but could be peeled out of the book without damaging the pages. Post-it Notes are now one of the top five-selling office products. If Silver and Fry had just thrown the adhesive out because it hadn't done what it was supposed to, they would have been demonstrating
A)functional fixedness.
B)divergent thinking.
C)the confirmation bias.
D)the availability heuristic.
E)irrational discounting.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Functional fixedness is the inability to see an object being used for something other than what it was designed for. In this case, if Silver and Fry had discarded the adhesive because it didn't serve its intended strong adhesive purpose, they would have failed to see its potential for another use, which is a classic example of functional fixedness.

In 1970, Spencer Silver Was Trying to Formulate a Strong