The Einstellung Effect: A Cognitive Trap

Have you ever felt so stuck on a problem and later randomly figured the answer and realized the question was very easy? Do you feel stupid in those circumstances? Well, don’t be, because neither are you alone nor is it your fault. Commonly known as the Einstellung Effect, it is a cognitive bias where prior knowledge and experience hinder a person’s ability to solve new problems efficiently. It was first observed by Abraham Luchin  in 1942, and his experiment seems nothing out of the ordinary but the results will make you laugh. 

Here’s the scenario. First, there’s three jars that hold different capacities of water: Jar A (21 units) , Jar B (127 units) and Jar C (3 units). They were asked to measure exactly 100 units, and participants found a formula that worked: B – 2C + A. They were then given different jars, and the formula worked in different ways ( such as 2B + 2C – A) but involved all three jars. They were finally given jars of capacities 20, 34, and 3. They were asked to measure 23 units. Can you find it? Believe it or not, the participants spent more time than any of the previous problems trying to work this out, because their previous knowledge suggests using all 3 jars. This is the Einstellung Effect.

A common real life scenario of this is students memorizing formulas. When faced with conceptual questions, they struggle. It is the same case in Medicine. Doctors often keep trying to find a common disease, when the diagnosis may lead to a rare condition. The only solution to this, if you’re stuck, is to take a step back, forget you know anything, erase all previous work done on the problem, and start again. There is no better solution than to keep your mind open when faced with a problem.