Bias Binge #2 - Got my mind set on you

The Attention Bias refers to our tendency to focus on certain information or actions while ignoring others at their expense. Now the human mind can only pay attention to certain amount of information at a given point in time. 

What it choses to focus on may well be controlled by certain events around us or a stimuli. It could be governed by our beliefs and perceptions. And it may well be out of control if we allow it to be.

To bring this alive to you let me use one of my favourite pieces of work. This is a Super Bowl commercial from 2015 and is based on a very simple insight which displays the attention bias at work.

Now if you've seen the video, all that you hear in the voice over depicts what our mind is paying attention to. What is being ignored is the diet we were supposed to be on. So our Attention Bias focuses on the fact that it's time to celebrate not that we need to cut calories. Or that there is a discount at the store not that we can't afford to eat that particular food. Or that our day has been too bad and we deserve a treat not that we owe it to ourselves to look after our health.

While this is one way to understand the Attention Bias and probably a timeless reality. Here is another more topical expression of the same.

The last one year has seen us experience something that we have never even imagined in our wildest dreams. What happened as a result is that it consumed a good amount of our mind space. And became a point of focussed attention for us. What happened as a result of this is visible in our viewership habbits which can be seen in the article below.

What's on our mind is on our screen

Now it's not that we can't control this bias. In fact there a number of ways in which we can overcome it - from practise and mindfulness to rewards and punishments. The question is are we willing to pay that much attention to it.