Concept in Definition ABC
Miscellanea / / July 04, 2021
By Florencia Ucha, on Feb. 2010
According to the context in which the term is used attention will refer various situations.
Quality that allows you to filter stimuli, keeping the important ones and discarding those that are not
At the behest of the Psychology, attention is a quality that the perception and that acts as a filter for environmental stimuli, evaluating which ones turn out to be the most relevant and important, giving them priority in this regard to later receive further processing deep.
In addition, attention is understood as a mechanism that deals with controlling and regulating cognitive processes, on many occasions it even acts unconsciously.
Determinants of attention
Experts determine two types of determinants of attention, on the one hand the internal, those proper to the individual and that depend on him; and on the other hand the external ones, which are those that result from the medium.
Among the inmates we find him organic state (the drives that the subject suffers when receiving stimulation),
the interests (that which is intimately linked to what attracts the person in question, for For example, if you like fashion very much, you will pay special attention to those contents related to topical), social suggestion (attract other people's attention by invitation) and the courses of thought(when thought follows an idea and just presents a stimulus, it will immediately grab attention).And regarding the external ones, we find the stimulus power (those loud sounds), the change (alterations in the field of perception), size (when the image is really impressive), repetition (a weak stimulus but that by its constant repetition wins force and entity), the movement(a displacement that generates a reaction), contrast (stimulus that is opposed to the environment) and structural organization (The stimuli are organized and hierarchical to receive the information correctly).
Interest increases attention
All of these issues just mentioned are proven to increase a person's attention. We know that when we are particularly interested in something, we will not need to be told to pay attention, it will arise spontaneously when we perceive that which interests us too much.
And the opposite process happens with what does not arouse us even the slightest interest, we tend to despise in terms of attention to what we do not care about or is not part of our interests. One of the most common ways is by not listening when talking about something that does not bring us any type of interest or benefit.
The person who is not attentive will be called distracted because her thought is not focused on what is demanded.
Attention is a sine quanom condition when it comes to learn anything from a subject in college to an assignment.
Educational centers and also some courses make an effort in this sense and then develop techniques that are precisely intended to increase attention.
But attention is also extremely important so as not to make mistakes at work, in school or to avoid suffering some kind of accident. So, attention is important in many areas of our life and not only to learn knowledge.
Problems affect attention
Attention can sometimes be affected by lack of interest as we have already pointed out, but also have serious problems It can cause our attention to suffer and generate inattention in the tasks or activities that we carry out daily.
Courtesy in the deal
On the other hand, when you want to account for the civility, courtesy and the demonstration of I respect of which one is the object of someone, the term attention is often used to refer to it. "During my visit, the attention of my cousins was exceptional."
Attention in this sense is synonymous with good manners. When people have good manners they are usually very attentive and aware of the needs and demands of the other, especially if they have to be hosts.
Meanwhile, when the person lacks good manners, he will not be attentive at all or worry about what the other needs, if he is having a good time or what he can do to enjoy.
To the person who is concentrated before a certain stimulus and then worries about listening, reading, hearing, observing It will be called attentive and in the same way that person who is kind in dealing with her will be called the rest.
And in the military field, the call to the soldiers trained to start an exercise or a specific action is also known as attention.
Topics in Attention