Paying Attention to Perspective
By Sarah Schenck
What do a maple tree, an invisible gorilla, and your health have in common? Perhaps something important, perhaps nothing at all… it all depends on your perspective.
Do You See What I See?
There is a maple tree beside a sidewalk, one of thirty or so that my neighbors have walked past for years. If shown a picture of this tree, you might say it is unremarkable, but I can pick that tree out of a lineup. I know its lowest branch is broad enough to support a seven-year-old eager to climb higher than her brother. I am aware that its leaves turn a brighter red than the crayons I used to try to capture its autumn splendor. Someone walking by might not notice that the remnants of a robin’s nest are tangled in the upper reaches of its boughs. But if they heard the rustle of movement from restless wings or the twittering of chicks, they might stop in their stroll and look up. They might smile and take another look around. They might see the world with fresh eyes and notice something new.
There is a Japanese word – mitate – that means “to look again,” and helps encapsulate the idea of seeing something familiar or unremarkable in a new way.
In general, humans tend not to notice things they aren’t looking for, especially if focused on other tasks. This “inattentional blindness” is humorously demonstrated in the “Invisible Gorilla Experiment,” where observers focused on people passing balls to each other fail to notice a costumed gorilla wandering through the frame. Even observers who are trained to notice small abnormalities in images do not notice the gorilla in similar studies, demonstrating that attention can be very selective.
Our brains have evolved to be energy-efficient. Put simply, we do not need to notice everything around us to survive. Our brains have developed several “shortcuts” that allow us to operate at an optimal level with the resources available.
One of the consequences of these “shortcuts” that allow us to make quick decisions (also known as heuristics) is inattentional blindness. Inattentional blindness, also known as familiarity blindness, is a common phenomenon. How many times have you arrived at class or work but realized that you did not pay attention to how you got there? When driving to a familiar location, our brains often stop paying conscious attention to the landmarks we see every day. There are several factors that can contribute to inattentional blindness, including the economical use of resources by our brains, the unexpectedness of the stimuli (not fitting into our worldview), and limitations of our memory.
Look Up, Down, All Around… Just Remember To Look
“You can live your whole life not realizing that what you’re looking for is right in front of you.” One important lesson to learn from inattentional blindness is that you can circumvent it by being more intentional. Choosing to take an active perspective in which you look out for events to celebrate and silver linings in troubling situations can improve your mood and even your health. For example, research has shown that in high-stress situations, people with higher cognitive reappraisal ability demonstrated fewer depressive symptoms. In other words, the ability to reframe a situation to change the emotional response associated with that event can be protective against depression.
Can A Cheesy Ice-breaker Activity Make You Healthier?
I remember sitting down with a new project group and staring across a desk at strangers as we were directed to find the most interesting fact that we all had in common. Within three minutes, I knew that Abby and I were both learning how to make pretzels, that Brain and I were both athletes who had competed at the national level, and that Carlos and I were both the oldest of large families. Our group’s fun fact? We had all touched a stingray at the zoo. In addition to finding commonalities that could be the basis of further discussion, this ice-breaker gave us a sense of relatedness – of being socially connected with each other. Paying attention to potential connections can augment this sense of relatedness.
Humans tend to be social creatures, and feeling a sense of belonging can benefit mental and physical health. In the long term, social connection has been shown to improve the odds of survival by 50%. According to Maslow’s “Hierarchy of Needs,” a sense of love and belongingness is a psychological need critical to human health and happiness. The foundations of social relationships are formed out of commonalities, and these connections are relatively easy to find – whether through straightforward conversations or through cheesy ice-breakers. However, as discussed previously, you are much more likely to find such commonalities if you are actively looking for them. A change in perspective can quite literally change your life.
How Can You Take Action?
Paying attention – whether to the miracles in the world around you, the positives in daily life, or the fledgling connections with the people around you – can improve your health and your mood. Here are a few ways to put this knowledge into practice:
- Try something new and broaden your horizons. This could mean trying a new club or class to see how it changes your perspective. A smaller step could be incorporating a perspective shift into your daily routine. Sit with a stranger at lunch or strike up a conversation on the bus.
- Self-reflect. Take time to be mindful of the world around you and find three things you are grateful to have noticed or experienced.
- Focus on the positive. If you find yourself focusing on an inconvenience, take a moment to acknowledge at least two “silver linings” of the situation.
- Look for the “invisible gorilla.” If you have some free time, search your surroundings for something that you were overlooking before.
- If you notice something admirable or interesting, draw positive attention to it. Complimenting a peer on their shoes or giving a thumbs-up if someone asks an insightful question can improve your day as well as the moods of others.
Try it right now. Take a step back and look at the world around you with new eyes. What have you gained with this fresh perspective?
