Rigidity (psychology)

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.^[1][2]

A specific example of rigidity is functional fixedness, which is a difficulty conceiving new uses for familiar objects.^[3]

Rigidity is an ancient part of our human cognition.^[4] Systematic research on rigidity can be found tracing back to Gestalt psychologists, going as far back as the late 19th to early 20th century with Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Köhler, and Kurt Koffka in Germany.^[4][5] In the early stages of approaching the idea of rigidity, it is treated as "a unidimensional continuum ranging from rigid at one end to flexible at the other.” This idea dates back to the 1800s and was later articulated by Charles Spearman, who described it as mental inertia. Prior to 1960, many definitions for the term rigidity were afloat. One example includes Kurt Goldstein's, which he stated, "adherence to a present performance in an inadequate way", another being Milton Rokeach saying the definition was, "[the] inability to change one's set when the objective conditions demand it".^[6] Others have simplified rigidity down to stages for easy defining.^[7] Generally, it is agreed upon that it is evidenced by the identification of mental or behavioral sets.^[4]

Lewin and Kounin also proposed a theory of cognitive rigidity (also called Lewin-Kounin formulation) based on a Gestalt perspective, using it to explain particular behavior in people with intellectual disability that is inflexible, repetitive, and unchanging.^[8] The theory proposed that it is caused by a greater "stiffness," or impermeability between inner-personal regions of individuals, which influence behavior.^[8] Rigidity was particularly explored in Lewin's views regarding the degree of differentiation among children. He posited that an intellectually disabled child can be distinguished from the normal child due to the smaller capacity for dynamic rearrangement in terms of his psychical systems.^[9]

Mental sets represent a form of rigidity in which an individual behaves or believes in a certain way due to prior experience.^[10] It's a type of cognitive bias that can lead people to make assumptions about how they should solve problems without taking into account all the information available.^[11] The opposite of this is termed cognitive flexibility. These mental sets may not always be consciously recognized by the bearer.^[12] In the field of psychology, mental sets are typically examined in the process of problem solving,^[13] with an emphasis on the process of breaking away from particular mental sets into formulation of insight. Breaking mental sets in order to successfully resolve problems fall under three typical stages: a) tendency to solve a problem in a fixed way, b) unsuccessfully solving a problem using methods suggested by prior experience, and c) realizing that the solution requires different methods.^[10] Components of high executive functioning, such as the interplay between working memory and inhibition, are essential to effective switching between mental sets for different situations.^[14] Individual differences in mental sets vary, with one study producing a variety of cautious and risky strategies in individual responses to a reaction time test.^[15]

Rigidity can be a learned behavioral trait; for example, if the subject has a parent, boss, or teacher who demonstrated the same form of behavior towards them.^{[citation needed]} Rigidity also has a genetic component and is commonly associated with autism.^[16]

Rigidity has three different main "stages" of severity, although it never has to move to further stages.^[7] The first stage is a strict perception that causes one to persist in their ways and be close-minded to other things.^[7] The second involves a motive to defend the ego.^[7] The third stage is that it is a part of one's personality and you can see it in their perception, cognition, and social interactions.^[7]

We often see traits that occur alongside rigidity.

They could be external behaviors, such as the following:^[17]

• Insistently repetitious behavior (perseveration)
• Difficulty with unmet expectations
• Perfectionism
• Compulsions (as in OCD)

Internalizing behaviors also are shown:^[17]

• Perfectionism
• Obsessions (as in OCD)

Mental rigidity often features a high need for cognitive closure, meaning that they assign explanations prematurely to things with a determination that this is truth, finding that resolution of the dissonance as reassuring as finding the truth.^[18] Then, there is little reason to correct their unconscious misattributions if it would bring uncertainty back.

Cognitive rigidity is one feature of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It is included in what's called the Broader Autism Phenotype, where a collection of autistic traits still fail to reach the level of ASD. This is one example of how rigidity does not show up as a single trait, but comes with a number of related traits.^[17][19]

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Rigidity may be a cause of ethnocentrism. In one study, M. Rokeach tested for ethnocentrism's relatedness to mental rigidity by using the California Ethnocentrism Scale (when measuring American college students' views) and the California Attitude Scale (when measuring children's views) before they were given what is called by cognitive scientists "the water jar problem." This problem teaches students a set pattern for how to solve each one. Those that scored higher in ethnocentrism also showed attributes of rigidity such as persistence of mental sets and more complicated thought processes.^[20]

If a person with cognitive rigidity does not fulfill their rigidly held expectations, the following could occur:^[17]

• Agitation
• Aggression
• Self-injurious behavior
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Suicidality

• Set (psychology)
• Cognitive inertia
• Neuroplasticity
• Cognitive flexibility
• Einstellung effect
• Abnormal posturing