I love everything about psychology. The study of how people function, think, and develop throughout life interests me beyond belief. One particular concept in psychology that I find fascinating is inattentional blindness. This is the idea that humans are actually unable to notice crucial changes in scenes, or the movements or changes of an object in their visual field, because their attention is focused on another task. I know some people are reading this thinking, “Well, duh? How can you notice a minor change in your visual field if you’re focused on something else?” I agree. However, these are not always subtle. Read more!

I never knew about this term until taking PSYCH 100 with Dr. Love. One day in lecture, he divided the room into sections. Half of us were assigned “white” and the other, “black”. He then put up a video on the projector and instructed us to focus on the individuals wearing the colors we were assigned for the entire video. Give it a try and see what you find!

If you focused on the individuals in white, you were probably able to count the total number of passes made. However, you may have failed to notice a significant change in the scene. If this is the case, try it again! This time, focus on the individuals in black.

Now you see what I’m saying! I was stunned when first taking part in this “test”. How could I have possibly missed that?! Well, according to Arien Mack and Irvin Rock, the two psychologists who discovered the instance, many people become “blind” of what is right in their visual field when participating in another task.

After learning about this, I was absolutely shocked. Although it is somewhat inevitable, I am now worried I’m missing out on so many changes throughout my day! What if I overlook my “Prince Charming” on horseback riding down Pollock Road because I’m too busy watching the Willard Preacher go on tangents?

Here is another test, try it out!

-JT