WHAT IS THE SELECTIVE ATTENTION IN MENTAL HEALTH?
Selective attention is the focussing
of our attention on one stimulus to the exclusion of all others. Our brains will tend to focus on stimuli that
we believe is most important at that time. For example, have you ever been on
the phone and watching TV at the same time? Sometimes we will focus on what the
person on the phone is saying. At other times, we may tune in more to what is
on the television.
It is also true that we are
constantly receiving and recording stimuli of which we are consciously unaware.
At a party, you might be involved in a conversation with a friend, and not hear
what is being said by others nearby, yet if one of them mentions your name, you
will probably notice it immediately. Even if we wanted to attend to all
stimuli, we could not.
We receive so many different stimuli
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