Expectation
When a person expects certain things to happen, he/she tends to block out other possibilities. This can lead to inattentional blindness. For example, person X is looking for their friend at a concert, and that person knows their friend (person Y) was wearing a yellow jacket. In order to find person Y, person X looks around for people wearing yellow. It is easier to pick a color out of the crowd than a person. However, if person Y took off the jacket, there is a chance person X could walk right past person Y and not notice because he/she was looking for the yellow jacket. Because of expectations, experts are more prone to inattentional blindness than beginners. An expert knows what to expect when certain situations arise. Therefore, that expert will know what to look for. This could cause that person to miss out on other important details that he/she may not have been looking for.
Read more about this topic: Cognitive Capture, Possible Causes
Famous quotes containing the word expectation:
“The joy that comes past hope and beyond expectation is like no other pleasure in extent.”
—Sophocles (497–406/5 B.C.)
“A youthful mind is seldom totally free from ambition; to curb that, is the first step to contentment, since to diminish expectation is to increase enjoyment.”
—Frances Burney (1752–1840)
“No expectation fails there,
No pleasing habit ends,
No man grows old, no girl grows cold,
But friends walk by friends.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)