In 1970, Spencer Silver Was Trying to Formulate a Strong

Multiple Choice

In 1970, Spencer Silver was trying to formulate a strong adhesive for the 3M Company, and one of his failed attempts resulted in an extremely weak adhesive. Four years later, frustrated by how often his markers fell out of his church hymnal, Arthur Fry coated them with the adhesive. The markers stayed in place but could be peeled out of the book without damaging the pages. Post-it Notes are now one of the top five-selling office products. If Silver and Fry had just thrown the adhesive out because it hadn't done what it was supposed to, they would have been demonstrating

A) functional fixedness.
B) divergent thinking.
C) the confirmation bias.
D) the availability heuristic.
E) irrational discounting.