<P> Within the field of science there exists a set of fundamental standards, the scientific method, which outlines the process of discovering facts or truths about the world through unbiased consideration of all pertinent information and through impartial observation of and / or experimentation with that information . According to this method, one is able to most accurately find a solution to a perceived problem by performing the aforementioned steps . The scientific method does not prescribe a process that is limited to scientists, but rather one that all people can practice in their respective fields of work as well as in their personal lives . Confirmation bias can be described as one's unconscious or unintentional corruption of the scientific method . Thus when one demonstrates confirmation bias, one is formally or informally collecting data and then subsequently observing and experimenting with that data in such a way that favors a preconceived notion that may or may not have motivation . Research has found that professionals within scientific fields of study also experience confirmation bias . Andreas Hergovich, Reinhard Schott, and Christoph Burger's experiment conducted online, for instance, suggested that professionals within the field of psychological research are likely to view scientific studies that are congruent with their preconceived understandings more favorably than studies that are incongruent with their established beliefs . </P> <P> Motivation refers to one's desire to defend or find substantiation for beliefs (e.g., religious beliefs) that are important to one . According to Raymond Nickerson, one can see the consequences of confirmation bias in real - life situations, which range in severity from inefficient government policies to genocide . With respect to the latter and most severe ramification of this cognitive barrier, Nickerson argued that those involved in committing genocide of persons accused of witchcraft, an atrocity that occurred from the 15th to 17th centuries, demonstrated confirmation bias with motivation . Researcher Michael Allen found evidence for confirmation bias with motivation in school children who worked to manipulate their science experiments in such a way that would produce their hoped for results . However, confirmation bias does not necessarily require motivation . In 1960, Peter Cathcart Wason conducted an experiment in which participants first viewed three numbers and then created a hypothesis that proposed a rule that could have been used to create that triplet of numbers . When testing their hypotheses, participants tended to only create additional triplets of numbers that would confirm their hypotheses, and tended not to create triplets that would negate or disprove their hypotheses . Thus research also shows that people can and do work to confirm theories or ideas that do not support or engage personally significant beliefs . </P> <P> Mental set was first articulated by Abraham Luchins in the 1940s and demonstrated in his well - known water jug experiments . 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 . 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'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, a seeming obsession or preoccupation with attempted strategies that are repeatedly unsuccessful . 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 . </P> <P> Functional fixedness is a specific form of mental set and fixation, which was alluded to earlier in the Maier experiment, and furthermore it is another way in which cognitive bias can be seen throughout daily life . Tim German and Clark Barrett describe this barrier as the fixed design of an object hindering the individual's ability to see it serving other functions . In more technical terms, these researchers explained that "(s) ubjects become "fixed" on the design function of the objects, and problem solving suffers relative to control conditions in which the object's function is not demonstrated ." Functional fixedness is defined as only having that primary function of the object itself hinder the ability of it serving another purpose other than its original function . In research that highlighted the primary reasons that young children are immune to functional fixedness, it was stated that "functional fixedness...(is when) subjects are hindered in reaching the solution to a problem by their knowledge of an object's conventional function ." Furthermore, it is important to note that functional fixedness can be easily expressed in commonplace situations . For instance, imagine the following situation: a man sees a bug on the floor that he wants to kill, but the only thing in his hand at the moment is a can of air freshener . If the man starts looking around for something in the house to kill the bug with instead of realizing that the can of air freshener could in fact be used not only as having its main function as to freshen the air, he is said to be experiencing functional fixedness . The man's knowledge of the can being served as purely an air freshener hindered his ability to realize that it too could have been used to serve another purpose, which in this instance was as an instrument to kill the bug . Functional fixedness can happen on multiple occasions and can cause us to have certain cognitive biases . If we only see an object as serving one primary focus than we fail to realize that the object can be used in various ways other than its intended purpose . This can in turn cause many issues with regards to problem solving . Common sense seems to be a plausible answer to functional fixedness . One could make this argument because it seems rather simple to consider possible alternative uses for an object . Perhaps using common sense to solve this issue could be the most accurate answer within this context . With the previous stated example, it seems as if it would make perfect sense to use the can of air freshener to kill the bug rather than to search for something else to serve that function but, as research shows, this is often not the case . </P>

Who emphasized the processes of experience and problem solving