The Irrationality Illusion: How To Make Smart Decisions And Overcome Bias by Presh Talwalkar

Author:Presh Talwalkar [Talwalkar, Presh]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2016-01-31T05:00:00+00:00

Change Blindness

The illusion: We overestimate our awareness of the surroundings.

The rational response: Our attention is limited and we focus only on specific details. We can be ignorant of huge changes, and you should accept you will miss many details. Improve your ability to focus on important details.

Examples

How much of a movie are you really paying attention to? The first time you watch a movie, you are probably trying to follow the story, hear the dialog and music, and understand what the main characters are doing. You will most likely overlook the many goofs and continuity errors that made it into the final cut. The film Braveheart, for example, takes place in the 13th century, long before the invention of cars. But during one the battle scenes, there is a white van clearly visible in the lower left hand corner of the screen [1]. Most people are paying so much attention to the main story that such mistakes are not even noticed. Many films have changes in lighting, actor and object positions, and even costume changes that we might not notice on a first viewing.

Change blindness is scary, but there are reasons we have this bias. Change blindness is a consequence of us focusing on only the most important details. If we truly absorbed every visual detail of a movie, we would never enjoy any movie because we would notice all the mistakes. Or if we paid complete attention to how magicians perform illusions, we would never enjoy any illusion because we would instantly realize how every trick is done. In a way, change blindness allows the world to be a more magical place.

This means, unfortunately, that change blindness is not a bias that you can simply overcome with practice. While you can be better at paying attention to some details, you cannot suddenly become hypersensitive to all changes in the environment. Our brain is overloaded with stimuli and our attention is limited. At a minimum it is important to accept change blindness and ask for more time to look over details.

From a financial standpoint, change blindness can be a disadvantage. It means that companies can make significant changes to terms and conditions and most people will be oblivious. For example, a cell phone company can increase one of its itemized charges by $1 and most people may not even notice their bill has increased. Or a food company can shrink its products and charge the same price without shoppers being aware. Change blindness leaves us susceptible to agreeing to unfavorable terms. Any time a company changes its terms or introduces a new package, pay extra close attention to the differences.

Notes

[1] The website IMDB.com is one place to find goofs for a film.

The book The Invisible Gorilla by Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons discusses many examples of change blindness.

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