Question Bank [2022] — Psychology STD 12 Commerce / Arts — Question

We continuously sense many stimuli from our surroundings through our sense organs. However, we do not become aware of all of them at one particular time. We focus and become aware of only a few stimuli from them. Therefore, attention is considered a selective process.

The definition of attention is as follows:

According to Guildford, "attention is the process of focusing on one or few objects, persons or situations from among many from the field of awareness".

The division of attention is explained as follows:

We observe people doing two things simultaneously, like reading the newspaper while eating, or knitting while watching TV. In a true sense, the individual cannot divide attention between two tasks simultaneously. In both these given examples, the individual is performing one task mechanically while paying attention fully to the other task. For example, eating or knitting is done mechanically while the person is paying attention fully to the other task like reading the newspaper or watching TV. If a person needs to pay attention to both tasks simultaneously then it results in an increase in mistakes, a decrease in efficiency, confusion, etc.

For example, if a person is asked to read a newspaper and thread a needle simultaneously, the person will not be able to do both tasks simultaneously without any mistakes.