Maria's method of studying worked effectively throughout high school until she took her first

foreign language course. In this course, her grades were much lower than usual. How might
mental set have played a role in Maria's academic problem?  

A Mental set is a framework for thinking about a problem that can be shaped by habit or by
desire. Throughout high school Maria was able to find a mental set that worked for the majority
or all of her classes that made it easy to go through high school and get good grades. She used
this mental set to get through her classes such as math, science, writing and history, but when
she started to take a new type of class it didn’t fall into this mental set. When you attach
something to the wrong mental set it can inhibit problem-solving and creativity. Because Maria
had found a working mental set that played a role in all her academics, she attached her foreign
language class to the same mental set thinking it would work. This mental set is hindering her
ability to “Think outside of the box” and grasp what it takes to succeed in a foreign language
course. In other classes she had a reliable and dependable solution but now learning in this
class consists of speaking, reading, writing and comprehending a new language which she has
not done before. While she has her foreign language class attached to this mental set she will
continue to struggle to think outside of the box and her ability to learn the new language will be
hindered.