- Selective Exposure
People are only open to messages they want to receive. - Selective Attention
People hear only what they want to hear. - Selective Comprehension or Perception
People will perceive things the way they want to see them. - Selective Distortion
People change messages to match their self-concept or twist them to match their perception of reality. - Selective Retention
People remember only what they want to remember.
Blessed2Bless by Steve Klusmeyer
In the Mind's Eye
by Steve Klusmeyer - 9/23/2003
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Mind Power
An interesting item has been circulating around the Internet the last couple of weeks and has appeared in several of the newsletters that I receive. It goes like this:Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a total mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.
Now I know why I overlook those misspelled words even when I proofread something thirty-nine times. The paragraph above not only demonstrates how the mind works when reading, but also its reaction to everyday events.
Selective Vision
Most of us have minds with selective vision, open only to what we want to see or hear. Dick Innes* points out that this surfaces in five areas:If you doubt the validity of this, just talk to three different people who have experienced the same event. Most likely, you will get three different pictures. All three will have an element of truth, but each will be tainted with each individual's perspective. I experience this phenomenon daily while talking to our 13-year-old. I think I have been pretty clear, only to find out later that his perception was just the opposite. Of course, Brenda gets the same reaction from me.
One event in history, maybe more than any other, has been viewed with selective vision since its occurrence over 2000 years ago. Learn more.
*Dick Innes is the founder and director of Acts International. He has authored two books and publishes a daily e-mail devotional. Visit actsweb.org.
Information cited from "I Hate Witnessing -- A Handbook for Effective Christian Communications" by Dick Innes (2003 edition, pages 150-151).