For the next little while, I’m reposting content from my archive that I think is relevant for today. In 2013, I began to explore how labels, judgments, opinions, and even expectations affect how we see. In this day of overwhelming information and misinformation, it’s more important than ever to notice your mind and identify your selective ways of seeing and inattentional blindness.

In the book, On Looking: Eleven Walks with Expert Eyes, Alexandra Horowitz presents two situations that affect how and what we see. One is inattentional blindness. Here’s an example from my life. I was looking for a butter tart one day that was supposed to be in my refrigerator. I must have scoured that refrigerator at least four times and still couldn’t find it. When my husband came home, I asked him where it was, with a slightly accusatory air. He opened the refrigerator door and pulled it out immediately. He had put it in a tupperware container, which I was not expecting.

Inattentional blindness prevents us from seeing because we have preconceived expectations about what we will find.

This is called “missing the elephant in the room.” Expectations (judgments, labels, etc.) prevent us from seeing. Take a look at this cool awareness test below.

Isn’t that amazing? Did you see the gorilla?

In the animal world, search images help animals find their prey and prevent capture.

For example, while camouflaged moths blend in extremely well with the speckled bark upon which they alight. Yet, blue jays become very good at finding even the most well-concealed moths. Some animals have olfactory search images; they smell their prey.

This is why when we intentionally start looking for something – through a search image –  we suddenly start seeing it everywhere. It’s not that it wasn’t there before. We just weren’t looking for it. You can practice bringing your attention to something in particular by creating a search image, for example, red birds or rust. In Photo By Design, we focus on one visual element per week. This past week we have been focusing on light, just noticing the light, something we don’t often pay attention to. Suddenly, we see the subtle play of light everywhere.

The point here is that we can expand on and determine what we see by being aware of our inattentional blindness (expectations, judgments, labels, etc.) and by creating search images. We can set an intention to see.

Where might you be inattentionally blind right now?

Also Read: How to Be an Explorer in the World and Awareness is Everything.

** Books mentioned have Amazon affiliate links, meaning I make a few cents if you purchase through my link. I only recommend books that I’ve read.