Hey, there.
Today, We will be talking about the Attentional Bias .
What is it?
The bias which makes your attention selective and exclude the alternate perceptions.
Example -
Cigarette smokers have been shown to possess an attentional bias for smoking-related cues around them, due to their brain's altered reward sensitivity.
Where does it occur?
Our emotional state often influences what we place our attention on and we have a tendency to pay more attention to something that emotionally stimulates us.
The more we are touched emotionally, whether that be in a positive or negative manner, the more we will focus explicitly on this emotional stimulus over any other aspect available to us.[1]
Why do I need to know?
Attentional bias affects our brains in the immediate moment but it also affects our memory, which is likely to recall a particular situation in a biased manner, principally retaining the emotion felt over anything else.
This cognitive bias can lead us to make bad decisions or to have skewed memories.
Takeaways:-
The Attentional Bias can ‘blind’ you & make your perception focused or locked onto only one thing.
It can lead you to taking wrong decisions. Entertain all factors.
References & Studies:-
https://ejop.psychopen.eu/index.php/ejop/article/view/1633/1633.html
https://tactics.convertize.com/definitions/attentional-bias
Looking for previous issues? Take a look at Archives.