Marketing textbook, chapter 3

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As our brain only has a limited capacity to process information, we are often unable to process the many stimuli in our environment and therefore filter information - largely unconsciously.

However, the selection process in relation to our perception is not random, but is based on a certain system: we primarily perceive what corresponds to our current task, our goal or our currently relevant needs. Selective perception is advantageous as it enables us to cope with the daily flood of information and react appropriately. What does not match our experience or our current intention is simply „faded out“. The phenomenon of selective perception not only affects our visual perception, but also influences how we think, remember and make decisions.

One of the best-known and most interesting experiments on selective perception is the so-called gorilla experiment by American psychologist Dan Simons: the test subjects are shown a video clip in which two teams of three people play a basketball to each other. One team is dressed in white, the other in black, and both teams move through the picture playing the ball. The task of the test subjects is to count the number of passes made by the white team. While the players play their passes, a gorilla appears in the picture, looks into the camera, taps his chest and leaves the scene after 9 seconds. The astonishing result: half of all test subjects who were shown the video did not notice the gorilla because they were completely focussed on counting the passes of the white team. However, if we know before watching the video that a gorilla is going to appear, we will of course also notice it because our perception is channelled in a different direction by the information. However, we then find it more difficult to correctly count the passes of the white team. This classic experiment impressively demonstrates that we do not perceive a lot of information available in our environment (e.g. products on the supermarket shelf) and that we do not notice this selection process as it is automatic.

Sources:

• http://www.theinvisiblegorilla.com/gorilla_experiment.html (as at 27 June 2022).