The Invisible Gorilla: Seeing Is Not Believing
We think our eyes record everything like a camera. But we are blind to what we don't pay attention to. The shocking psychology of noticing.
Count the Passes
In a famous experiment, participants were asked to watch a video of people passing basketballs and count the number of passes. In the middle of the game, a person in a full gorilla suit walked through the scene, thumped their chest, and walked off. Amazingly, 50% of people did not see the gorilla.
Inattentional Blindness
We only see what we focus on. This is called Inattentional Blindness. Our brain filters out "irrelevant" data to prevent overload. This explains why drivers don't see motorcycles ("I looked right at him!"), why we miss typos in our own writing, and why we miss opportunities that are staring us in the face. We are not video cameras; we are spotlights in the dark.
Look Again
The lesson? Be humble about your perception. Just because you didn't see it doesn't mean it wasn't there. Often, the solution to a problem is right in front of you, but you're too busy counting the basketballs to see the gorilla.