LOOKING WITHOUT SEEING: A DETRIMENT TO SAFETY!

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
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