FUNCTIONAL AND DATA FIXATION

Functional fixedness is a cognitive bias that limits a person to using an object only in the
way it is traditionally used. The concept of functional fixedness originated in Gestalt psychology,
a movement in psychology that emphasizes holistic processing.
Functional fixation, as it is used in accounting, suggests that under certain circumstances a
decision maker might be unable to adjust his or her decision process to a change in the accounting
process that supplied him or her with input data.
NATURE OF FUNCTIONAL FIXATION
Functional Fixation in Psychology
Functional fixation originated as a concept in psychology, arising from an investigation of
the impact of past experience on human behavior. This fixation phenomenon was reported in a
series of other experiments. The degree of fixity also was found to depend on some mediating
factors, such as the span of time since the object was previously used, the necessity of using the
object in a novel way to solve the problem, hints, and intelligence.
Data Fixation in Accounting
Ijiri, Jaedicke, and Knight viewed the decision process as being characterized by three
factors: decision inputs, decision outputs, and decision rules. Psychologists have found that there
appears to be functional fixation in most human behavior in which the person attaches a meaning
to a title or object and is unable to see alternative meanings or uses. If the outputs from different
accounting methods are called by the same name, such as profit, costs, etc., people who do
understand accounting well tend to neglect the fact that alternative methods may have been used
to prepare the outputs. In such cases, a change in the accounting process clearly influences the
decisions
Functional fixation in psychology implies that the decision makers are accustomed to using
the data for one function (such as price decisions). As introduced by Ijiri, Jaedicke, and Knight,
functional fixation implies that decision makers are fixated on the accounting output (for example,
the profit output) and are unable to adjust to see that the change in output is due to the change in
inventory techniques.
PROBLEMS IN DATA-FIXATION RESEARCH
1. Most studies have not distinguished between data fixation, with its focus on output, and
functional fixation, with its focus on function.
2. Extrapolations made by accounting researchers could contain serious flaws if the simple
fact of ignorance is confused with the psychological phenomenon of functional fixation.
3. Fundamental evidence points to the fact that intelligence mitigates fixity.
4. There are two methodologies in the functional-fixation research: the “one-object” approach
and the “two-objects” approach.
 5. Most accounting research on data fixation has been concerned with whether fixity exists
rather than why it exists.

CONCLUSION
Most accounting research has focused on data fixation, while psychological research has focused
on functional fixation. In the future research, richer and more realistic experimental tasks,
sophisticated subjects, as well as protocol analysis must be provided for better explanations of the
phenomenon.