Have you ever turned your house upside down looking for your car keys, your wallet, or even a piece of jewelry, only to discover it lying right in front of you on the table? Or have you ever been so engrossed in reading a book that you didn’t notice your kids had changed the TV channel?
This is
psychologically known as Inattentional Blindness and Change Blindness, or more
commonly, LOOKING WITHOUT SEEING.
Inattentional Blindness is the lack of attention, or failure to recognize
what is in plain sight. Change Blindness
is failure to see an obvious change.
Research shows that unless our attention is directed to it, we rarely
see what we are looking at. This can
have serious life-and-death consequences.
In 1991, a
study was done with experienced airline pilots training in flight simulators.
Some pilots proceeded to land when a clearly visible plane was blocking the
runway. They were paying close attention
to the display console and carefully watching the airspeed indicator that they
were unaware of the second plane until it was too late to avoid a collision!
As unnerving
as this sounds, such an event is not uncommon.
This may also be the reason for so many car accidents. People become distracted and inattentive for
various reasons, like talking on the cell phone or turning up the radio and
singing along to the music.
Inattentional
Blindness and Change Blindness are also factors in in physical assaults. This happens when you are engrossed in
texting or speaking on the phone when outside and also when listening to music
with headphones in. These are just some of
the many distractions that can put us in harm’s way, threatening our personal
safety.
Additionally,
our need for routine can lead to Change Blindness. We sometimes get so wrapped up in keeping to
our daily schedules, doing the same things at the same time, day in and day out,
that we fail to see the changes within our environment. This too can be detrimental to our personal
safety, as we may not notice danger that is right underneath our nose.
This is why
using the “10-Second Rule” to scan your environment is so important. Look at this image, firstly, for just
3-seconds then look away. How many
triangles did you see?
Now look at
the image again, but this time for 10-seconds.
How many triangles did you see on looking for longer? Most people will answer with a higher number
of triangles after observing for 10-seconds.
We need to adopt the 10-second rule in our everyday lives. You will see a lot more in your environment
by doing so. When you drive to the
store, before you get out of your car, scan your environment for
10-seconds! When walking towards the
store, scan again! When going for a run or walk, scan, scan, scan! Pay attention and observe changes.
Take a look
at this photo. Can you spot the 9 differences? These types of puzzles are an excellent way to test your observational skills.
Powerhouse is the LEADER in Emotional
Self-Defense.
The Powerhouse mission is to EDUCATE and EMPOWER ALL girls
and women to live Safe, Healthy and Active Lives. In order to do this our
Program includes the very important component of Emotional Self-Defense. We teach skills in Prediction, Recognition of
danger signs, Observation and understanding and being in tune with your
Intuition.
Take the first step towards your
personal safety TODAY by contacting us and becoming POWERHOUSE STRONG!
PowerhouseStrong@gmail.com
http://powerhouseselfdefense.com/index.php
PowerhouseStrong@gmail.com
http://powerhouseselfdefense.com/index.php
