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Dear Colleagues,

I am looking for a classroom activity that would help to increase student awareness of selective perception.  Any recommendations?

Thank you for your time.

 

Sincerely,
Mark O'Donnell, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Management
York College of Pennsylvania

Mark,

I project a photograph that has many complex elements for about 30 seconds in class. Students have 5 minutes to write down what they remember. They invariably notice different things, and we discuss why those differences occur. Provided that the photo is sufficiently complex, many of the differences will be explicable by selective perception.

I hope this helps.

Melissa Fender

C. Melissa Fender, PhD

Assistant Professor of Management

School of Business Administration

Holy Family University

9801 Frankford Ave.

Philadelphia, PA 19114

Tel: 267-341-3371

Email: mfender@holyfamily.edu

Not an activity, but an interesting video to use as a discussion starter:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJEctnzOOxE

Cheers,

Jeremy

Jeremy Bernerth, PhD

Rucks Department of Management

E.J. Ourso College of Business

Louisiana State University

2710 Business Education Complex

Baton Rouge, LA 70803

225-578-6154 (w)

I use the following clip below. Of course, the video starts by saying "this is a test of selective attention" and I cut beyond that so students are not aware that they have to pay *extra* attention. But, it's really useful in providing the point and they find it funny.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJG698U2Mvo

Hope it is useful.

******************************

Marie S. Mitchell, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Management

Terry College of Business

University of Georgia

425 Brooks Hall

Athens, GA  30602

Phone:  (706) 542-3741

Fax:  (706) 542-3743

Email:  msmitche@uga.edu

Try www.dothetest.co.uk – several great videos that I use in my courses.

I use the following clip below. Of course, the video starts by saying "this is a test of selective attention" and I cut beyond that so students are not aware that they have to pay *extra* attention. But, it's really useful in providing the point and they find it funny.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJG698U2Mvo

Hope it is useful.

******************************

Marie S. Mitchell, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Management

Terry College of Business

University of Georgia

425 Brooks Hall

Athens, GA  30602

Phone:  (706) 542-3741

Fax:  (706) 542-3743

Email:  msmitche@uga.edu

Colleagues,

Something I do sometimes is to tell students of the situation where one starts to notice very often an object which has probably been there all the time but that we never "saw" before. Example, when  a friend or relative buys a new car we then start to see that car model everywhere! It was always there but it was not significant to us until after our relative/friend bought one of them.  Then I ask them to think about similar situations (share and explain them) where they started to notice an object, etc., more as a result of similar circumstances.

Hope this helps!

Thanks,

Ivan