Chinese Food & Functional Fixedness

Chinese Food & Functional Fixedness

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

A few years ago today, I was called into work because a door alarm was triggered in the middle of the night. It was more than likely due to a late night employee not knowing how to exit the building since normally open exits were locked. The staff at the building were not able to close the door or reset the alarm, so I had to take a trip back to the city to resolve the problem early Christmas morning. It sort of ruined the day for the rest of the family looking for me to stay but I also realized since it was Christmas, I wouldn't have much in a selection of places to eat since most places were closed. As a bachelor in his own apartment, I believe my fridge could have been compared to the status of Santa's bag of presents when he returns to the North Pole; empty. Fortunately, there was one type of place I could depend on to receive nourishment; the local Chinese takeout restaurant.

Early this year, a wave of information hit the internet regarding people eating Chinese food the wrong way. No, this isn't in response to Americans and chopsticks, it has to do with the way the takeout food is presented. The revelation is that opening the white carton creates a plate for the food. Once this was broadcast to the masses via the internet, it was a swarm with messages saying things to the effect of "this is how we were supposed to do it all along". This post will rebut that thought with a few logical points.

First, using the package in which the food was delivered as the plate is not new. Tearing the pizza box into sections when plates aren't readily accessible isn't novel. Nor when the first person (whoever that was) tried this with a pizza box, I don't think anyone would have labeled the event a stroke of genius. I would call it glimmer of escape from functional fixedness. Taking something that originally had one purpose and using it for another is a skill that kept MacGyver alive for many seasons. In this way, I can agree that the idea of unfolding the Chinese food carton into a plate requires less functional fixedness than tearing the pizza box but I'd like that person to fasten a candle to a wall with a box of thumbtacks and see the resulting struggle. I believe many can agree using the thumbtack container as a candlestick holder in this example requires someone with much less functional fixedness than another who essentially took apart an origami box that was currently holding food.

Second, we need to understand package design. The design of a package is typically handled by a package engineer who needs to understand many facets of a design. One of those facets is efficiency and asking the question: what is the most efficient way to mass-produce a package? Imagine a cardboard box for example, it must be made from a single sheet of unfolded cardboard. Several cuts needs to be made into the cardboard to create a box with flaps. However, this isn't the only thing that needs to be done. If you've ever opened both ends of a cardboard box and then laid the box flat, you'll notice that there is now two layers of cardboard. It's actually the same piece of cardboard with the ends glued or stapled together to make a loop. Making the loop is another step that must be included in the process of making the box. From this, we can see that the less effort we use in creating the container, the more containers we can make. One of the things we can minimize is the number of cuts made and rather rely on folding. This keeps the structural integrity of the box while making it into a new shape. Because the cardboard used in making these containers is fairly thin, folding is a viable option. All the manufacturer needs to do is cut one piece out of its stock and fold that single piece into the carton. Originally, the design of the Chinese food carton stemmed from an attempt of making a carton from a single sheet of paper. So in essence, unfolding the carton for use as a plate is reverse engineering the design back to its original roots as a sheet of paper.

Third, people are dumb. We need explicit instructions in order to do anything that we are supposed to do. In relation to this, we are losing the ability as a society to think for ourselves and problem solve (see: functional fixedness). Engineers know this and include instructions for the things we are supposed to do, even if these instructions are utterly ridiculous. Certainly, there are plenty of reasons why we choose not to read instructions but if something was designed to operate a certain way you should expect instructions present. There are no instructions included with a Chinese food container, it even doesn't explain how to open the container. Have you ever ripped the tab on the top of the container trying to get inside? If so, you did it wrong. If not, then how did you know how to open it? Did some see someone else open it and mimic them? Were you simply smart enough to recognize how the tabbed system used on the packaging worked? Were you proud that you've figured this out? Or is this simply how we're supposed to do it?