Question

Wanda is sitting in her bedroom studying for finals. She has her psychology, statistics, sociology, and biology textbooks all lying on her bed as she is reading and taking notes from her history textbook. It is a hot and sunny but windy day, and Wanda's window is open. She is becoming frustrated that the wind keeps slamming her bedroom door shut. Eventually, Wanda keeps her window shut because she is so irritated. Of course, now her bedroom is getting much too warm, which is adding to her frustration. This problem could be easily solved by propping the door open if Wanda were not experiencing _____

Answer 1

Answer:

Mental set

Explanation:

It can be characterized as a fixed and recurring thinking that happens in situations where an individual has to make a decision to solve a particular problem, but can only think of solutions that worked in previous problems. Mental set prevents the individual from finding a simpler and more logical solution to their problems.

In Wanda's case, her room had the door and window open and the wind coming in through the window made Wanda's bedroom door slam and it was bothering her. Although the problem that was bothering Wanda could be solved if she closed the door and left the window open to allow her room to ventilate, Wanda had a fixed thought that the door would stop slamming if she closed the window. Wanda concludes this because previously she closed windows to prevent the wind from bothering her. This fixed thought is characterized as Mental set.