Seeing What You Expect to See

by

Stephen M. Ryan


1. Objectives and Overview

Activity Overview:

In order to engage with (intercultural) experience, we need to see it. This activity can be used to convince students that they do not perceive everything going on around them. In it, they are given an observation task that induces them NOT to see some totally unexpected things that are happening within their field of vision. This activity originated in a psychological experiment first reported in 2010 (https://doi.org/10.1068/i0386) which then led to a book (http://www.theinvisiblegorilla.com/) and a number of online videos.

General Learning Objectives:

  • To understand that observation is selective, but can be trained and focused

Specific Learning Objectives (optional):

Keywords:

intercultural awareness, observation skills

2. Activity Context

Activity context description

I first used it as part of a short course (4 lessons with two large homework assignments) taught to a group of university students who were waiting for Study Abroad (SA) assignments. The course aimed to prepare them to be observers of the foreign SA locations once they got there.

Students

Suggested range of students:
5
8
10
15
20
30
40
50
75
100
Do students need to use a second language?
No (skip to Step 4)
What is the second language?
Level(s) in target language:
  • These levels are approximations 
Comments

There is some English text in the video, for which students need to be at least CEFR A2, but the teacher can provide an L1 explanation, if necessary.

3: Activity Duration

Estimated duration (multiple ranges possible):
15-30 minutes
How many sessions?
1
Any homework?
No

4. Download PDF

PDF document Ryan, S. - Seeing What You Expect to See (ICLE AI #14).pdf



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