You have a pair of pliers and a bag of nuts in the shell. You are lamenting the fact that you can't shell the nuts because you do not have a nutcracker. Your inability to perceive the pliers as a makeshift nutcracker demonstrates ____ on your part.

A) functional fixedness
B) mental set
C) insight insufficiency
D) heuristic reasoning

Functional Fixedness

A cognitive bias that limits a person to using an object only in the way it is traditionally used, hindering problem-solving and creativity.

Mental Set

A psychological tendency to approach problems in a certain way due to past experiences and what has worked previously.

Heuristic Reasoning

A method of problem-solving based on practical, experiential approaches and shortcuts rather than systematic logic.