"Functional fixedness is a cognitive bias that limits a person to using an object only in the way it is traditionally used."
"When I use a word" Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone "it means just what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor less". Through the Looking Glass
Prowling around the house for just one of my mugs for Mug Monday ( hosted by the talented Valerie of Acorn Moon and Pat of Weaver of Grass), I discovered that most of them were already in use for anything but their intended purpose of simply holding a warm beverage. Needles and thread were in one, paint brushes and pencils in another, pennies in a third. Even the Portmeirion milk jug is stuffed with brushes. And so it was all around the house and garden,
Old canoe paddles double as useful garden stakes,
A lidless teapot and Limoges dinner plate have been home to an African Violet since 1997 (it thrives on benign neglect),
And the cloche that should be protecting strawberries in the garden is sheltering fairies in the house.
In Psychology 101 we were told that a sign of flexible intelligence is the ability to overcome functional fixedness, to perceive new applications for existing tools. And that is my excuse for filling the charming, stylish mug on my worktable with more paintbrushes, like feathers in her cap, rather than topping her up with hot chocolate or mint tea.
Speaking of tea, where's the coffee pot?
