An example of
when I have selective attention is current and ongoing—the propositions and
candidates involved in November’s election. I find myself choosing to pay
attention only to the sides of the propositions that I believe in, and only to the
candidates for whom I have decided to vote. So many of the advertisements out
right now for the various propositions and candidates contradict the way I
think, so I reject them and refuse to listen. Some of the arguments for and
against the propositions are complicated, so I haven’t taken the time to
understand them.
Because I’m
comfortable in my decisions, it won’t be easy to listen to the opposing sides;
however, I realize that I really need to listen to the other side of
propositions and hear what the candidates I’m not intending to vote for are
saying. The information I hear will either reaffirm my stances, or possibly
even make me change my mind. I’ll see if I can truly listen to tonight’s debate
without experiencing selective attention!
Hey Lee,
ReplyDeleteI think the election is a great example. When I would pay attention to past elections, I found myself listening more to the person I agreed with too and more or less ignoring the other candidate. It got to the point where I would listen to a few things the other candidate had to say, then just go with the flow of what the media and the other people were saying about that person. Now I realize how important it is to pay attention to both sides and be thoroughly informed. So even though it can be painful to listen to the other politician say a bunch of stuff that I disagree with, I know now that it is important to keep and open mind and pay attention.
Enjoy the debate!
Hey Lee, great job on this week's discussion post on Selective Attention. I really liked your example that you used that relates to your personal experience on selective attention. I believe selective attention happens quite often and frequently when it comes to politics. You mentioned that you choose to pay more attention to sides of the propositions that you have interest in and believe in. I like how you stated this because I think this was a great way to show us how we choose to hear certain things because we favor someone or something. In many cases, we do tend to reject ideas that have not been previously introduced to us yet which is the biggest concept of selective attention. We like to hear and listen to things we want to, so it really is difficult to open up your ears and accept other ideas that we are not quite familiar with. I think politics was a great example to use because there are so many arguments and complications when it comes to candidates and who we choose to listen to then ultimately vote for. I believe this is the reason why there is so much controversy when it comes to politics because a majority of people are using the factor of selective attention.
ReplyDeleteI like how honest you were about explaining your thoughts on selective attention and how you react when it comes to listening to opposing sides. I'm the same way too, if I'm a firm believer in an issue, I probably won't even bother listening to the other side. However, I also do know that it is important to hear the opponent because there's always two sides to every story. This is why I believe selective attention is very hard to overcome because it's difficult to change your mindset on something you strongly believe in and/or are interested in. Overall, I think you used great examples and explained the concept of selective attention very well!
Your example was perfect for selective attention! It completely illustrates reasons for selective attention such as “we are more likely to listen when the content supports our point of view” and “messages contradicting what we believe in are likely to be rejected”. For example, some people may support traditional Republican or Democratic views just because they are either Republican or Democratic. Also, they may not listen to the opposite side just because it’s the opposing view. It’s important to listen to the other side because we may find out things we didn’t know and/or understand their view. For example, Prop. 32 may seem like it’s good for the general public, but the opposing side is saying that it gives special allowances to big companies.
ReplyDelete