Question

Zoe is asked to think of all the words beginning with the letters "squ," such as squeak. she is then given a fill-in-the-blank task where one of the items is "s _ _ o n g." zoe keeps trying to make "squong" a word, and she has trouble thinking of the common word "strong." zoe's ability to solve this problem has been hampered by:

Answer 1

This has been hampered by a mental set. In psychology, a mental set is a structure for thinking about a problem. It can be formed by routine or by aspiration. This can make it stress-free to crack a class of problem, but addition to the incorrect mental set can constrain problem-solving and imagination.