Rigidity (psychology)

Rigid thinking
Other namesMental rigidity, cognitive rigidity, behavioral rigidity, cognitive inflexibility
FieldPsychology
Origin19th century
PurposeTo describe a difficulty experienced by people who have trouble switching from one mental thought pattern to another

In psychology, rigidity, or mental rigidity, refers to an obstinate inability to yield or a refusal to appreciate another person's viewpoint or emotions and the tendency to perseverate, which is the inability to change habits and modify concepts and attitudes once developed. The opposite of rigidity is cognitive flexibility.

A specific example of rigidity is functional fixedness, which is a difficulty conceiving new uses for familiar objects.

Different things have been called rigid thinking, including dogmatism, a strong desire for closure (e.g., needing an explanation for why something bad happened, even when no explanation is possible), the type of rigid thinking identified by the cognitive reflection test, and cognitive inflexibility.

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