Question

At a deli, a young woman finishes ger sandwich and appears to have something stuck between her teeth. She pulls out a mirror and uses her fingernails to try to dislodge the food, but to no avail. Swishing water around in her mouth also doesnt work, and she becomes frustaed. Suddenly as if a light bulb goes off in her head, thr young woman reaches for a strand of her own hair and successfully uses it as floss! The young woman has demonstrated an ability to overcome

Answer 1

Functional Fixedness.

Here, the woman in the case is able to demonstrate new or alternative ways in dislodging the food from within her teeth. Conventionally, people use a toothpick or fingernails to get rid of the food. However, she is able to use her strain of hair as floss. This is a case of her overcoming functional fixedness. If she did not overcome the functional fixedness she would have stuck to the same tecnique of using her fingernails in trying to dislodge the food in between her teeth.