Invisible Gorilla

The Invisible Gorilla was an interesting book that questioned what we don’t realize we want answers too. We often take in an entire scene, but still miss the most obvious when we are not looking for it, because we are focused on the task at hand. The actual gorilla experiment video is proof of that. In the video, there were students in white shirts passing basketballs to students in black shirts, and the job of the viewer was to count how many times the ball was passed. Many viewers failed to notice that at some point in the video, someone in the gorilla suit walks into the middle of the basketball players, bangs their chest, and then leaves. Because most viewers are focused on the task at hand of counting the passes, they are oblivious to the gorilla. The main them of the book is that people can

I never realized that other people don’t notice the most obvious things. Personally, I just thought I was always daydreaming too much to notice and pay attention. Maybe I am, maybe I’m not. But even when im focused and concentrating, I can still miss crucial points in a situation. It’s a more common thing that many just don’t realize can happen. A meaningful quote from The Invisible Gorilla is “beware of memories accompanied by strong emotions and vivid details-they are just as likely to be wrong as mundane memories, but you’re far less likely to realize it” (Chabris and Simons, 79). I’m aware of how it easy it is to create false memories, whether it’s on purpose or accident. When the memories relates to to an emotional event, like a deth in the family, someone tryng to correct your false memory may anger you because of how sure you could be. The quote also reminds me how kids who may have had a traumatic childhood create false memories or wild fantasies when they’re older to try and cope with their poor