Behaviouronomics: Inattentional Blindness

Sometimes our two eyes aren’t enough to see the obvious. This behavioural bias literally makes us blind to what’s right in front of our eyes.

“Where is it?” I asked my wife, while my eyes scanned the kitchen cupboard again. I was looking for the sugar jar. The plan was to surprise her with my exceptional tea making skills which I acquired after watching few YouTube videos.

“It should be there. Right in front!” informed my wife from her room.

“It’s not here. I can’t see it.” I again scanned all the shelves in the cupboard.

“Look again. I kept it there in the morning.” My wife sounded very sure about it.

“No! It’s not here. I am sure.” I confirmed while closing the cupboard. What happened next shouldn’t be surprising for you because most of you have experienced it before.

She came, opened the cupboard, grabbed the sugar jar which was obviously sitting right in front and handed over to me. I stood there flabbergasted. How could I miss it? What’s wrong with my eyes? Have I gone blind? It felt as if the jar manifested itself out of thin air. It was like…magic.

Haven’t you experienced something similar in your life? I see a smile on your face. 🙂

Now that embarrassing episode in the kitchen may look like a minor incident but it holds an important clue to a fascinating behavioural bias inherent in every human brain. It’s called inattentional blindness, which means not being able to see things that are actually there.

If you’re thinking, “Well, I am not one of those. You can’t fool me and I always find the sugar box in my kitchen.” Okay, let’s test that. 🙂

Pick a card, any card. Keep it in your mind; Better, write it down if you have a poor short term memory.

I’ll come back to this card trick little later in this post.

Are You Paying Attention?

Let me throw a challenge at you. Watch this video to test your attention.

Don’t read further. If you haven’t watched the video you’ll miss the fun because I am going to spill the beans in the next few lines. Come on, watch the video and then come back. I promise, I’ll be waiting for you, right here.

Want to Read More? This content is exclusive for members of Value Investing Almanack. Login to read if you are a member. Else, click here to subscribe.