One of the possible drivers of this has been termed the Einstellung effect: "when the first idea that comes to mind, triggered by previous experience with similar situations, prevents alternatives being considered" (Bilalić et al., 2008). We repeat previously successful solutions, even when there's a more adaptable, successful solution waiting.
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Psychologists have observed this effect across a surprisingly large number of domains: in motor movements (has a familiar learned sequence ever stymied you when the interface of a well-used tool changed?), in looking at how people study reading material, and in solving reasoning and experimentation puzzles (look up the "water pouring puzzle" which according to wikipedia I also found out are called a "Die Hard with a Vengeance puzzles"??? I need a Die Hard rewatch to confirm).
Cognitive effects like these are fascinating glimpses into the strategies our minds use, that are often adaptive, but can lead us toward accidentally foreclosing on solution spaces too soon. Thinking about this dynamic makes me think about the gift of the beginner's mind, and whether we value those who try to bring it to our workplaces.
I'm also thinking about how celebrating diverse problem-solving techniques could be one way to break through inflexible thinking. We should be really careful about defaulting to conformity on this. In fact, exposure to solutions that break our defaults is very likely one of the reasons supportive, safe collaboration is such a predictor of innovation outcomes for teams.
Here's one of the papers I'm reading behind these thoughts: Bilalić, M., McLeod, P., & Gobet, F. (2008). Why good thoughts block better ones: The mechanism of the pernicious Einstellung (set) effect. Cognition, 108(3), 652-661).
And of course, in The Psychology of Software Teams, I tackle a whole host of topics that can help us create those better collaboration environments! Not just good for the heart....also good for the problem solving! 😊
Very nice writing. Thank you! In my last blog post I included references to "The Firmbyte Gap" and related sources I found through that article. It also mentions how experts can easily overlook solutions because of biases and dogma that grows with their expertise in a particular field. It goes into how cross-pollination is a means to overcome that. I turned it into a whole section in my post..
https://coding.social/blog/fediverse-of-dreams/#cross-pollination
Oh btw, (and I keep mentioning this, as I find it such a sublime presentation) there's this talk by Bret Victor called "The Future of Programming" which you may have seen, that is basically a challenge to the entire IT sector to step out of their dogmatic approaches and dare to think out of the box. It contains a desperate plea to do so even, as Bret sees that as the only way to tackle the big problems of our time.
The talk got surprisingly few views, both on Vimeo and on Youtube. Piercing dogma's is one of the hardest things to do, and I think many people at that conference walked away thinking "Huh, fun presentation", appreciating the call for creativity, but overlooking the deeper message.
Bret Victor - The Future of Programming
Vimeo
