Читать книгу The Communication Playbook - Teri Kwal Gamble - Страница 112

Our senses function as perceptual antennae gathering information at all times, which makes it impossible for us to process every stimulus available to us. Without realizing it, we take steps to select or limit what we perceive. According to information theorists, the eye processes about 5 million bits of data per second. The brain, however, is able to use only some 500 bits per second. Therefore, we are forced to select those stimuli that we will attend to or experience. We combat data overload by simply not assimilating large amounts of data, focusing instead on the data we want for closer and more careful viewing. Effectively, attention helps us focus. We shift our searchlight of attention from one person, place, or thing to another, until one catches our interest, transforming our perceptual searchlight into a perceptual spotlight that we now focus on a selected stimulus.³

As we saw in Figure 3.1, selection is a key part of the perception process. We use selective perception—an aspect of the perceptual process that includes selective exposure (the tendency to expose oneself to information that reaffirms existing attitudes, beliefs, and values; the tendency to close oneself to new experiences), selective attention (the tendency to focus on certain cues or stimuli and ignore others), and selective retention (the tendency to remember those things that reinforce one’s way of thinking and forget those that do not).