Can we just let the air out of the tires?

I am sure at some point throughout our lives we have all run across a problem a requires an ‘out of the box solution.’ Some things in life have very simple answers such as how much will you get if you add two plus two. Other things in life are not quite as simple, for instance solving world hunger or initiating world peace. “Creativity is often associated divergent thinking–thinking that is open-ended, involving a large number of potential ‘solutions’ and no ‘correct’ answer. (Goldstein, 2011) The funny thing about trying to solve problems is that sometimes they can be limited based on out previous experiences.

I remember reading a story about a truck driver that was driving cross country and stopped along his route because the tractor trailer got stuck underneath of a low bridge. The height clearance for the bridge was something like the 14′ 0” and the truck was 14′ 6.” The traffic behind the truck got very backed up because the truck could not move. Eventually, the police arrived and looked for situations to ‘un-stick’ the stuck truck. For a while they worked on a solution to no avail, finally a child in one of the cars from the traffic back-up asked “Why don’t they just let the air out of the tires?” While this seemed like such a silly question from a child, it also presented a creative solution to the problem.  Letting the air out of the tires would reduce the truck height enough to fit under the bridge. Gestalt psychologists recognized that when people are ‘fixated’ on how a problem is supposed to be solved (similar to convergent thinking where there is a definitive correct answer) then their solutions have limitations. (Goldstein, 2011)

Functional fixedness is the term coined for the issue that inhibits creative problem solving. (Yonge, 1966) Often, people become used to a certain way that a specific object can be used.  A situation that requires an object to be used in a non-traditional way forces people out of their comfort zones. “Ronald Finke, developed a technique called creative cognition to train people to think creatively.” (Goldstein, 2011) His technique helps people to look at pieces of objects and consider their possible uses. People were not required to begin with any level of creativity and they were more creative if they did not begin with preconceived notions about the objects that they were creating or their proposed uses.  Unfortunately, fixation on  the intended purpose of an object’s use reduces the  possible uses that an object can be used for.

The next time that you come across a difficult situation, try to be a divergent thinker. Maybe you should ask yourself if you can just “let the air out of the tires?” Problem solving does not need to be limited to previous uses of objects. Think about how recycling is great for the environment but also an awesome opportunity to be creative. Take an object with a previously associated use and try to determine new or different uses similar to Ronald Finke’s creative cognition techniques. Lastly, remember that you do not need to be creative in order to utilize creative problem solving skills.

References:

Goldstein, E. B. (2011). Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research and Everyday Experience. Belmont: Cengage.

Yonge, G. D. (1966). Structure of experience and functional fixedness. Journal of Educational Psychology, 57(2), 115-120. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/h0022967

14 thoughts on “Can we just let the air out of the tires?

  1. alm5972 Post author

    “Functional fixedness is the term coined for the issue that inhibits creative problem solving”. This is problem- as I will call it here – and it is most common amongst adults and from my experiences, most often from adults with children. I don’t know if it something we unconsciously do as a way to show our children that we can do anything, solve any problem, and offer a solution to any dilemma, but often times we are shot down at the knees by a child with a bright idea. As you said in your post, a child suggested to let the air out of the tires – a simple solution overlooked by possibly hundreds of intelligent adults. But we, as adults have learned to operate on a complex level and often search for complexity in very simple problems. We also tend to use a specific tool for a specific job. We know a fork is used for eating, but unless we are shown, not many people will think to use it to loosen a knot in a shoelace; after all, that’s not what a fork is used for. – I am removing wallpaper from a room in my home and need to build out the corners of the walls, but as I lay the wet plaster, I can’t find that right tool to give the shape that I need to create corners. My spackle tool is too stiff and my finger leaves ridges, but my 10 year old, with virtually no knowledge of plastering walls suggests I try using a playing card — it worked beautifully! But I wouldn’t have thought to use a playing card. That’s because when I got stuck on which tool to use, I went through all the tools I knew of in my mind to try and figure out the one that would give me the results I desired. Of all the tools in my mental library, a playing card was not even in the realm of options. Like you said in so many words, think outside the box. Though it can be hard to do sometimes because we are so accustomed to relying on our experiences to dictate our present and future moves, thinking more divergently can pay off very well. And if you can’t seem to think outside the box…ask a kid!

  2. alm5972 Post author

    “Functional fixedness is the term coined for the issue that inhibits creative problem solving”. This is problem- as I will call it here – and it is most common amongst adults and from my experiences, most often from adults with children. I don’t know if it something we unconsciously do as a way to show our children that we can do anything, solve any problem, and offer a solution to any dilemma, but often times we are shot down at the knees by a child with a bright idea. As you said in your post, a child suggested to let the air out of the tires – a simple solution overlooked by possibly hundreds of intelligent adults. But we, as adults have learned to operate on a complex level and often search for complexity in very simple problems. We also tend to use a specific tool for a specific job. We know a fork is used for eating, but unless we are shown, not many people will think to use it to loosen a knot in a shoelace; after all, that’s not what a fork is used for. – I am removing wallpaper from a room in my home and need to build out the corners of the walls, but as I lay the wet plaster, I can’t find that right tool to give the shape that I need to create corners. My spackle tool is too stiff and my finger leaves ridges, but my 10 year old, with virtually no knowledge of plastering walls suggests I try using a playing card — it worked beautifully! But I wouldn’t have thought to use a playing card. That’s because when I got stuck on which tool to use, I went through all the tools I knew of in my mind to try and figure out the one that would give me the results I desired. Of all the tools in my mental library, a playing card was not even in the realm of options. Like you said in so many words, think outside the box. Though it can be hard to do sometimes because we are so accustomed to relying on our experiences to dictate our present and future moves, thinking more divergently can pay off very well. And if you can’t seem to think outside the box…ask a kid!

  3. bbs5079 Post author

    Bryan Scagline
    Blog Comment #3
    Can We Just Let the Air Out Of The Tires?

    This blog post caught my attention because of the young child’s ability to notice a simple solution to free the truck from the underpass, by suggesting to let the air out of the trucks tires. This is an ill-defined problem because it does not necessarily have one correct answer and the solution is not easily identified. Each person involved to solve this problem, is using some type of problem solving method to free the truck. You don’t always have to be the expert to have the insight or an ‘Aha’ moment, with the answer! (Goldstein) Being able to notice, or see things differently in your mind, makes it easier to find the solution. The fixation that we all get caught up in, limits our ability to think outside of the box to solve problems. Another way to enhance our thinking would be using analogies by connecting similar problems and applying the solution from one problem to another. (Goldstein)

    -Cited
    Goldstein, Bruce. Cognitive Psychology. 3rd edition. Australia, Brazil, Japan, Korea< Mexico, Singapore, Spain, United Kingdom, United States: 2011. Print.

  4. bbs5079 Post author

    Bryan Scagline
    Blog Comment #3
    Can We Just Let the Air Out Of The Tires?

    This blog post caught my attention because of the young child’s ability to notice a simple solution to free the truck from the underpass, by suggesting to let the air out of the trucks tires. This is an ill-defined problem because it does not necessarily have one correct answer and the solution is not easily identified. Each person involved to solve this problem, is using some type of problem solving method to free the truck. You don’t always have to be the expert to have the insight or an ‘Aha’ moment, with the answer! (Goldstein) Being able to notice, or see things differently in your mind, makes it easier to find the solution. The fixation that we all get caught up in, limits our ability to think outside of the box to solve problems. Another way to enhance our thinking would be using analogies by connecting similar problems and applying the solution from one problem to another. (Goldstein)

    -Cited
    Goldstein, Bruce. Cognitive Psychology. 3rd edition. Australia, Brazil, Japan, Korea< Mexico, Singapore, Spain, United Kingdom, United States: 2011. Print.

  5. nbv5006 Post author

    This is a great post, and it really got me thinking! I have always wanted to be more creative and think of new and different ways to use things. I have always been very envious of people who were very creative or crafty. I have often thought of myself as someone who is able to think out side the box and as someone who is open-minded, but I often find it hard to be able to re-purpose items in my life. I find that I get very stuck in my own functional fixedness. For example, I’m sure many of you are familiar with Pinterest. I see so many ideas on Pinterest where people have come up with great ideas to re-purpose items that they have that they may not have been using. And I think, why didn’t I think of that? There are some really great headboards made out of old barn doors and furniture made out of pallets, and so many others too numerous to mention.

    You made a great point, and one that I will remember! It is a good idea to think about letting the air out of the tires whenever we come in contact with something that we can’t solve right away. There are always different ways of looking at things and different ways to solve a problem. If we just set aside our beliefs about the ways things should be solved for just a moment and try to look at things differently, perhaps we can come up with a new and different way to solve the problem. It’s just like the two-string problem that we learned about in our text. The problem involved the task of tying two strings together that were tied to the ceiling but separated and it was impossible to reach the one string while holding the other. To solve the problem the participant needed to tie the pliers to one of the strings and swing it like a pendulum so that the string could be caught if you were holding the other string. As Goldstein noted, “in Gestalt terms, the solution to the problem occurred once the participants restructured their representation of how to achieve the solution (get the strings to swing from side to side) and their representation of the function of the pliers (they can be used as a weight to create a pendulum)” (p. 330).

    Reference
    Goldstein, E. B. (2011). Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research and Everyday Experience. Belmont: Cengage.

  6. nbv5006 Post author

    This is a great post, and it really got me thinking! I have always wanted to be more creative and think of new and different ways to use things. I have always been very envious of people who were very creative or crafty. I have often thought of myself as someone who is able to think out side the box and as someone who is open-minded, but I often find it hard to be able to re-purpose items in my life. I find that I get very stuck in my own functional fixedness. For example, I’m sure many of you are familiar with Pinterest. I see so many ideas on Pinterest where people have come up with great ideas to re-purpose items that they have that they may not have been using. And I think, why didn’t I think of that? There are some really great headboards made out of old barn doors and furniture made out of pallets, and so many others too numerous to mention.

    You made a great point, and one that I will remember! It is a good idea to think about letting the air out of the tires whenever we come in contact with something that we can’t solve right away. There are always different ways of looking at things and different ways to solve a problem. If we just set aside our beliefs about the ways things should be solved for just a moment and try to look at things differently, perhaps we can come up with a new and different way to solve the problem. It’s just like the two-string problem that we learned about in our text. The problem involved the task of tying two strings together that were tied to the ceiling but separated and it was impossible to reach the one string while holding the other. To solve the problem the participant needed to tie the pliers to one of the strings and swing it like a pendulum so that the string could be caught if you were holding the other string. As Goldstein noted, “in Gestalt terms, the solution to the problem occurred once the participants restructured their representation of how to achieve the solution (get the strings to swing from side to side) and their representation of the function of the pliers (they can be used as a weight to create a pendulum)” (p. 330).

    Reference
    Goldstein, E. B. (2011). Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research and Everyday Experience. Belmont: Cengage.

  7. kpg5117 Post author

    This was a great post! I think that many of us have the power of creative thinking but, like the old phrase states, you use it or you lose it. Most of us do not have a job that requires that we “think outside the box” and much of what we learn in primary school is set in stone (math, science, English, etc.). After reading your post, I will put on my creative thinking cap more often to see if I can find better solutions to every day problems!

  8. kpg5117 Post author

    This was a great post! I think that many of us have the power of creative thinking but, like the old phrase states, you use it or you lose it. Most of us do not have a job that requires that we “think outside the box” and much of what we learn in primary school is set in stone (math, science, English, etc.). After reading your post, I will put on my creative thinking cap more often to see if I can find better solutions to every day problems!

  9. krb5470 Post author

    I very much enjoyed reading your post. Our adult minds do often get stuck, or “fixated” on ways to solve problems based on past experiences. Children often have very creative ways to solve their everyday problems. Perhaps their young minds do not have as many failures logged on their memories which tell them, “you remember that one time you used a pallet as a raft and it sank….well buddy, I’m not so sure this is going to work.”

    On the Ellen Degeneres show, she often invites “kid inventors” to share with the audience how they used creative problem solving in their everyday lives. This particular episode features a few very ingenious kids.

    The first child Kyle had to choose between having a game table, or a bed. Well, he figured out a way to have both!

    Gabby the third grader had a problem in the morning picking out what outfit to wear to school. The solution: “The fashion friend.”

    The second “Kyle” on the show wanted to help out his mother’s friend. She is a writer with back problems who had to lay down for long periods of time. His solution: The Laptop Levitator.
    Check out these awesome examples of overcoming functional fixedness and creative problem solving ideas from kids here:

  10. krb5470 Post author

    I very much enjoyed reading your post. Our adult minds do often get stuck, or “fixated” on ways to solve problems based on past experiences. Children often have very creative ways to solve their everyday problems. Perhaps their young minds do not have as many failures logged on their memories which tell them, “you remember that one time you used a pallet as a raft and it sank….well buddy, I’m not so sure this is going to work.”

    On the Ellen Degeneres show, she often invites “kid inventors” to share with the audience how they used creative problem solving in their everyday lives. This particular episode features a few very ingenious kids.

    The first child Kyle had to choose between having a game table, or a bed. Well, he figured out a way to have both!

    Gabby the third grader had a problem in the morning picking out what outfit to wear to school. The solution: “The fashion friend.”

    The second “Kyle” on the show wanted to help out his mother’s friend. She is a writer with back problems who had to lay down for long periods of time. His solution: The Laptop Levitator.
    Check out these awesome examples of overcoming functional fixedness and creative problem solving ideas from kids here:

  11. Heather Ergler Post author

    Functional fixedness and its impediment to problem solving is a interesting topic and one that I experience daily. I work at a large company and my job is to help teams that have “gotten stuck under the bridge, let the air out of the tires” by helping redesign their job functions to be less repetitive and more focused on problem solving, innovation and skill development. Most of the teams I work with have a functional fixedness on most aspects of their jobs and typically need to learn problem solving skills to engage in transforming their roles. Teaching adults problem solving skills requires first teaching problem solving theory and methods, then the team needs to work on solving a real problem using their new skills (Jozwiak, 2004, pg. 28). The problem needs to be real, significant enough to utilize at least one of the problem solving methods learned and one that engages all team members (Jozwiak, 2004, pg. 28). At this time the air can be heard hissing out of the tires. Progress on the problem needs to be carefully monitored as many teams regress during the problem solving process by going back to their functional fixedness and jumping to solutions, skipping steps (Jozwiak, 2004, pg. 29). The problem also needs to be one that has a reasonable chance of success so the team can experience a win using their new skills (Jozwiak, 2004, pg. 29). With all team members working together the top of the truck is lowered, levelly below the bridge for the drive to the other side. The combination of learning and actual experience usually causes teams to “move the truck”, enthusiastically engaging in transforming their job functions.

    Jozwiak, Jim.; Teaching Problem-Solving Skills to Adults; Journal of Adult Education 33.1 (Spring 2004): 19-34.

  12. Heather Ergler Post author

    Functional fixedness and its impediment to problem solving is a interesting topic and one that I experience daily. I work at a large company and my job is to help teams that have “gotten stuck under the bridge, let the air out of the tires” by helping redesign their job functions to be less repetitive and more focused on problem solving, innovation and skill development. Most of the teams I work with have a functional fixedness on most aspects of their jobs and typically need to learn problem solving skills to engage in transforming their roles. Teaching adults problem solving skills requires first teaching problem solving theory and methods, then the team needs to work on solving a real problem using their new skills (Jozwiak, 2004, pg. 28). The problem needs to be real, significant enough to utilize at least one of the problem solving methods learned and one that engages all team members (Jozwiak, 2004, pg. 28). At this time the air can be heard hissing out of the tires. Progress on the problem needs to be carefully monitored as many teams regress during the problem solving process by going back to their functional fixedness and jumping to solutions, skipping steps (Jozwiak, 2004, pg. 29). The problem also needs to be one that has a reasonable chance of success so the team can experience a win using their new skills (Jozwiak, 2004, pg. 29). With all team members working together the top of the truck is lowered, levelly below the bridge for the drive to the other side. The combination of learning and actual experience usually causes teams to “move the truck”, enthusiastically engaging in transforming their job functions.

    Jozwiak, Jim.; Teaching Problem-Solving Skills to Adults; Journal of Adult Education 33.1 (Spring 2004): 19-34.

  13. llf5079 Post author

    I am very envious of those creative people like the child who suggested letting the air out of the tires. I would love to be able to see new and adventurous things in “trash”. Your blog post has encouraged me to search for ways to “untrain” my mind from seeing only the mundane. Of the several things I read, practice and learning from others seems to be key. This almost sounds counter-intuitive, how creative can it be if I am practicing and copying others? But creative isn’t necessarily original. I am seeing this as a way to expand and free my mind from constraints I have put on it. I may initially imitate what someone has done or absorb someones ideas, but that will lead me to diverging on my own and that, to my own creativity.
    http://psychology.about.com/od/cognitivepsychology/tp/how-to-boost-creativity.htm
    http://developingcreativity.org/
    http://www.ted.com/talks/david_kelley_how_to_build_your_creative_confidence.html

  14. llf5079 Post author

    I am very envious of those creative people like the child who suggested letting the air out of the tires. I would love to be able to see new and adventurous things in “trash”. Your blog post has encouraged me to search for ways to “untrain” my mind from seeing only the mundane. Of the several things I read, practice and learning from others seems to be key. This almost sounds counter-intuitive, how creative can it be if I am practicing and copying others? But creative isn’t necessarily original. I am seeing this as a way to expand and free my mind from constraints I have put on it. I may initially imitate what someone has done or absorb someones ideas, but that will lead me to diverging on my own and that, to my own creativity.
    http://psychology.about.com/od/cognitivepsychology/tp/how-to-boost-creativity.htm
    http://developingcreativity.org/
    http://www.ted.com/talks/david_kelley_how_to_build_your_creative_confidence.html

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