40. Attention is Selective

40. Attention is Selective

Screenshot+(353) (binary/octet-stream)

While people can be easily distractible, they are also excellent at filtering stimuli out to focus on something particular. This is called selective attention. If you’re at a party and talking to someone, you filter out the surrounding conversations and only focus on yours. However, if someone says your name, you’ll most likely hear it and break off your conversion to see who it was. you can consciously select what to pay attention to, but certain things, especially anything that can trigger a fear or startle response, like a loud bang or a tiger jumping at you, will bring your attention to it.

Takeaways

People are capable of focusing their attention on one thing and ignoring everything else when they want to, or when they have to in order to complete a difficult task, such as filling out a difficult form. It’s unwise, however, to assume that people are always paying close selective attention. Our unconscious minds constantly scan the environment for certain things. These include our own name as well as messages about food, sex, and danger. This means that people are easily distracted by large images, animation, and videos.