Open block

The "open block" was first defined in "" by Edward de Bono, published in 1973.

It refers to a psychological unavailability of potentially valid solutions, arising from habitual or recently-formed conceptual association between an aspect of the problem being addressed and another preconceived or pre-associated solution or idea. For example, if a person's car breaks down, the open block of being used to being in a car may cause them to wait for a taxi, ignoring buses passing by, without even reading the destinations.

In this book de Bono suggested a number of techniques for overcoming the open block, including going back and challenging assumptions as well as generating new ideas for addressing problems.

The open block can be overcome by Lateral Thinking