The Invisible Gorilla - Selective Attention

The Invisible Gorilla: How Selective Attention Shapes What We See (and What We Miss)

Imagine watching a short video of two teams passing basketballs.
Your task? Count how many times the team in white passes the ball.

Simple enough until you realise, halfway through, that a person in a gorilla suit walks through the middle of the scene, beats their chest, and leaves.

Nobody could miss that, right?

Yet in the original Selective Attention Test (created by psychologists Daniel Simons and Christopher Chabris in 1999), about half of viewers never notice the gorilla at all. They're so focused on counting passes that the giant, chest-beating gorilla becomes invisible.

What This Experiment Teaches Us

The test reveals something both fascinating and unsettling:

Our brains see what we focus on and filter out almost everything else.

Selective Attention is how your mind manages the flood of information you face every second. Instead of processing every sight and sound, your brain picks what seems most essential and tunes the rest out.

Selective Attention helps you stay focused on a task, like driving a car or reading this sentence.
But it also means that when we focus narrowly, we miss significant parts of reality.

That's why you can miss your bus stop while scrolling on your phone or not notice a friend's bad mood because you're thinking about work. Your Attention acts like a spotlight; whatever's outside the beam fades into darkness.

Selective Attention in the Real World

In everyday life, selective Attention is harmless, even helpful. But in the bigger picture in news, advertising, and politics, it is used to shape how we see the world.

Here's how:

• Advertising: Marketers know how to grab your Attention with a catchy song, a celebrity, or bright visuals. While your brain is dazzled, you might not notice the price tag or the fine print.

• Media: News outlets highlight certain stories or images that fit a specific theme, crime, conflict, or celebrity drama, while other vital stories quietly disappear.

• Politics: Leaders often frame issues in a way that directs Attention to one problem ("the economy," "security," "immigration") while deflecting focus from others.

It's not always that a sinister focus is a natural storytelling tool. But it can also be a way to control the narrative. If people are busy looking at one thing, they're not looking at something else.

In short: what's not shown is often as important as what is.

When Focus Becomes a Filter

The danger of selective Attention is that it creates tunnel vision. We might think we're seeing the whole picture when we're actually watching just one frame.

In society, that can mean:

• Paying Attention to a few loud voices and missing quieter ones.

• Focusing on short-term drama instead of long-term change.

• Getting swept up in a story that's emotionally gripping but factually narrow.

And when millions of people share the same narrow focus driven by headlines, social media, or emotion, entire populations can become collectively blind to the "gorillas" walking through the room.

How to Widen Your View

You can't stop your brain from using selective Attention. But you can learn to manage it.

Here are a few simple ways to stay more aware:

1. Pause before reacting. Ask yourself: What might I be missing? What's not being said?

2. Read widely. Different news outlets, different countries, even people you disagree with, all expand your perspective.

3. Notice your focus. When something firmly grabs your attention (especially on social media), that's a cue to step back and look around.

4. Be curious. Curiosity is the best antidote to tunnel vision.

When you deliberately widen your view, you start noticing the gorillas, the overlooked facts, the quiet truths, and the people outside your focus.

Seeing the Whole Picture

The Selective Attention Test is more than a clever psychology trick; it's a reminder of how our minds and our media really work.

Our Attention is precious. It shapes what we see, what we believe, and even what we care about. So the next time a story, ad, or headline captures your focus, take a moment to look up and ask:

"What's happening just outside the frame?"

Because sometimes, the most crucial thing in the room is the one you weren't supposed to notice.

Final Thoughts

Knowledge is power; if you understand how the brain works, you are more likely to avoid being manipulated.

As a child, I recall looking around and wondering why people did some of the things they did and reacted the way they did, including adults whom I was supposed to look up to and take my lead from. Well, there were very few who inspired me. And the ones that did were people who knew their own minds and didn't follow the crowd. Being part of a select group wasn't my thing; I knew most people and could dip in and out of various friendship groups.

Global current affairs and politics affect my personal and business life. Therefore, I like to listen to the various speeches and comments from key politicians and influencers. Frequently, the headlines are misleading and don't embody the whole speech. I like politicians and journalists who are consistent, not because of their political persuasion.

When you see the Gorilla or Elephant in the room, instead of going along with the narrative "The Emperor's New Clothes", you observe a naked body without clothes. And tend to make better decisions than the people who go along with the fantasy that the man was clothed!

However, the key is timing; when do you tell the crowd that they are not being real? Sometimes, you are best to remain quiet and use the information to your advantage. A businessperson would take the opportunity to sell the crowd some nonexistent clothes!

Other blogs you may enjoy: 'Sensorimotor' and 'The Reticular Activating System'