Today, I "Stumbled Upon" a YouTube video that illustrates a psychological experiment. Before the experiment is shown, the viewer is told that there are two men. It is pointed out that these two men have obvious physical differences; hair color, height, etc. As the experiment starts, the subject is told to go to a desk where they need to sign a consent form. The first of the two men is at the desk, waiting for the subject. The man gives a consent form to the subject, the subject signs the form, and the man bends down to put away the form. At this point, the first man crawls away from the desk as the second man (who is hiding behind the desk) crawls over to where the first man was. The second man comes up and tells the subject where he/she needs to go.
At this point, the experiment is complete, but the subject is under the impression that the experiment will take place in the room where they were directed to. As the video says, 75% of the subjects did not notice the difference between the two men.
That sounds crazy! But, as I watched the video (knowing that these two men would switch places), I myself was fooled! At minute 2:14 in the video, the camera changed angles and we see what the subject would see; the man behind the desk. The first time I watched it, I knew that a different man would come back up, but I couldn't tell you any differences in their looks. Even while expecting this, I did not notice the changes! But the changes are very obvious once you take a good look. Their hair color, height, shirt colors, and probably so much are overtly different.
So, what does this tell me? Well, the video gave a few possibilities of what could have happened. Some people may have been focusing on other things at that given time, while others may have only been focusing on the man.
I, personally, think of myself as a very observant person. I like to see details, whether it be in the physical world or in people, and analyze them. For example, if you sit down in a mall or in a park and just observe the people walking past you, you can tell a lot about a person by the way they walk with those around them, by the shoes they wear, by the speed at which they're walking, by the volume of their speech, by the way they hold their child's hand, by the way they push a stroller, and so much more. These details give you insight into other people's lives.
Now, don't get me wrong- I'm not an expert and my assumptions may not always be correct. You cannot assume the same thing about a 15 year-old girl and a 60 year-old man wearing Converse Chucks. Many details make up a person and so when you take notice of a certain trait of theirs, you need to consider other traits or characteristics of that person as well.
So, again... what does this mean to me? For me, personally, I find it somewhat sad that I can notice details such as a person's walk or how loud they speak, but I fail to notice one of the things that makes a person unique- their face. Every person's face is uniquely their own. Even if you are an identical twin, a mole or a scar on your face makes you YOU! No one has the same exact face as you, but many might have the same walk as you.
So, what I take from this is to be more considerate of people and actually notice them. When I go to a store, rather than seeing the register clerk as just another... well, register clerk, I'll look at their face and notice them for being a person! And I challenge you to do the same!
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that's CRAZY! As I watched, though, I found myself feeling confident that I would have noticed! who knows... nuts!