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==Mental Set==
Mental set was first articulated by [[Abraham_S._Luchins|Abraham Luchins]] in the 1940s and demonstrated in his well-known water jug experiments.<ref>Luchins, A. S. (1942). Mechanization in problem solving: The effect of Einstellung. Psychological Monographs, 54 (Whole No. 248).</ref> In these experiments, participants were asked to fill one jug with a specific amount of water using only other jugs (typically three) with different maximum capacities as tools. After Luchins gave his participants a set of water jug problems that could all be solved by employing a single technique, he would then give them a problem that could either be solved using that same technique or a novel and simpler method. Luchins discovered that his participants tended to use the same technique that they had become accustomed to despite the possibility of using a simpler alternative. <ref>Öllinger, Jones, & Knoblich (2008). Investigating the effect of mental set on insight problem solving. ''Experimental Psychology',' 55(4), 269–270.</ref> Thus mental set describes one’s inclination to attempt to solve problems in such a way that has proved successful in previous experiences. However, as Luchins' work revealed, such methods for finding a solution that have worked in the past may not be adequate or optimal for certain new but similar problems. Therefore, it is often necessary for people to move beyond their mental sets in order to find solutions. This was again demonstrated in [[Norman_Maier|Norman Maier]]'s 1931 experiment, which challenged participants to solve a problem by using a household object (pliers) in an unconventional manner. Maier observed that participants were often unable to view the object in a way that strayed from its typical use, a phenomenon regarded as a particular form of mental set (more specifically known as functional fixedness, which is the topic of the following section). When people cling rigidly to their mental sets, they are said to be experiencing ''fixation'', which is thus the psychological term used to describe a seeming obsession or preoccupation with attempted strategies that are repeatedly unsuccessful.<ref>^ Wiley, J. (1998). Expertise as mental set: The effects of ___domain knowledge in creative problem solving. Memory & Cognition, 24(4), 716-730.</ref>In the late 1990s, researcher Jennifer Wiley worked to reveal that expertise can work to create a mental set in persons considered to be experts in certain fields, and she furthermore gained evidence that the mental set created by expertise could lead to the development of fixation.<ref>Wiley, J. (1998). Expertise as mental set: The effects of ___domain knowledge in creative problem
solving. Memory & Cognition, 24(4), 716-730. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.biola.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=psyh&AN=1998-10386-011&login.asp&site=ehost-live
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