Question

Henry's dog sparky has been rolling in the mud. henry must bathe sparky before the dog gets mud all over the carpet. however, henry is unable to find the plug for the tub. sitting on the counter right beside the tub is a fifty-cent piece. in his frustration, henry fails to see that the coin could be used as an emergency plug for the tub. what happened to henry?

Answer 1

Answer: he suffers from functional fixedness

Explanation: Henry is experiencing functional fixedness that is a cognitive bias by which a person is limited to use the objects in the way they are traditionally used. This is why Henry cannot see that he may use the coin in a different way.

Answer 2

Henry suffered from Mental Set. The mental set occurs when we look for solutions only in the way they have worked in the past and can not see a new solution, so we are not creative in the search for solutions. In this case, Henry can not see a new way to solve his problem, focusing only on how he did it before.

I hope my answer can help you.