We need to filter out noise and tune out unimportant details. But we also need to be intentional to change perspective so we won’t miss the obvious. Excessive focus can be a problem. It limits your horizon. It limits your ability to see different possibilities.

You may have seen the selective experiment test from Simons and Chabris. Simons and Chabris created this experiment 10 years ago. They asked the participants to watch a video of two teams, one in black shirts and one in white shirts, passing a ball. The participants had to count the number of times people in white shirts catch the ball. If you haven’t already seen it, I encourage you to watch the short video before reading on. 

As the audience counts the balls, a big black gorilla walks through the group for about one minute. Finally it’s time for the audience to report their scores. They can also see a question on the screen,”Did you see the gorilla?” And surprise! About half the people who watch the video miss the gorilla all together! 

The Invisible Gorilla explores how we notice a lot less than we think we do, even when something is as visible as a big black gorilla walking right across a basketball court in front of you, even when you are staring at the screen. If too much focus doesn’t allow some of us to see the gorilla, how would we react to the fear of those who have seen it? 

Imagine this! You were in team White. People from team Black told you they were too afraid or distracted to count the passes. You ask, ‘why’? They reply, ‘because of the gorilla’. What would you think? Would you think they were joking, lying or dramatising a normal situation? After all, you were there in the exact same location and didn’t see any gorillas. 

▶︎ What does it tell you about your biases and view of the world? 

▶︎ What does it tell you about how well you are empathising with the people around you? 

▶︎ How much of the world are you missing every day?

▶︎ How often do you allow yourself to pause, change perspective, and reflect on everything that is happening around you? 

As Danniel Kahneman says in his book ‘Thinking fast and slow’, the gorilla study illustrates two important facts about our mind:

We can be blind to the obvious.
We are also blind to our blindness.