Involuntary attention - conditions of occurrence and basic functions

Without attentiveness, knowing a new one would be impossible, a person would simply not have time to memorize meaningful details. The ability to control their concentration is at all, but there is also an involuntary attention - a reaction to the suddenly appeared stimulus. This feature of human perception is used for advertising and training purposes.

Involuntary attention - what is it?

An approximate reflex, which makes us distracted by a loud sound or a bright color, helps to quickly build a protective reaction. Involuntary attention, the psychology of which is still being studied, can not be completely turned off, even the most trained person will switch to an unexpected phenomenon for a split second. Therefore, involuntary attention is happily exploited by advertisers and lecturers to arouse the interest of the audience.

The main function of involuntary attention

Instant distraction to new circumstances occurs automatically, the main purpose of this reaction is fast and correct orientation in changing conditions. This helps to immediately identify important objects and build their behavior in the safest way. This distraction can vary in speed, strength and duration of exposure. The quality of involuntary attention is influenced by the following points:

Conditions for the onset of involuntary attention

The mechanism was formed in the process of evolution, helping to avoid meeting with dangerous predators or to track down prey. Wild animals no longer threaten man, and to provide food, he visits stores, but still involuntary attention arises when unexpectedly detected irritants. The work of this mechanism is unconditional, it functions independently of consciousness. The fastest reactions are formed when:

What is the difference between voluntary attention and involuntary attention?

Involuntary attention is required for the rapid correction of one's behavior in a volatile environment, while an arbitrary type provides for conscious regulation of its activities. Now it is considered as a way to maintain persistent activity in the chosen sphere. Focused attention has the following key features:

  1. Purposefulness - actions are determined by the tasks assigned.
  2. Organizationality - a person prepares in advance for concentration and effort of will retains it.
  3. Sustainability - the phenomenon continues for a long time, the ideal is its correspondence to the nature of the goals set.

Methods of attracting involuntary attention

The problem of attracting interest is important for different types of activities, and everything begins with the acquisition of human attention. Therefore, any specialist whose goal is training, selling or creating a successful show is exploring ways to attract involuntary attention. Their competent application is able to form a necessary opinion on an event for a person.

Illustrated are the concerts of performers: the less quality the product is offered to the viewer, the more tools are used to trigger involuntary attention - excessively bright colors, loud sounds, endless movement. As a result, listeners can not concentrate on the material being submitted, remembering only the colorfulness of what is happening. The direction of the person's attention in the right direction is also used in other spheres, using the following techniques for this.

  1. Sound . Unexpected appearance of such accompaniment, raising or lowering the tone of the voice, changing the volume of the music.
  2. Color and light . Bright shades, unexpected switching on of light or change of a level of illumination.
  3. A pause . There may be a break in the speech of the lecturer or elimination of the stimulus for a while with its re-appearance.
  4. Movement . Moving objects, gestures, fluttering in the wind hair or garments.
  5. Humor . Funny situations in advertising, puns or relevant anecdotes in public speaking .
  6. Emotions . Involuntary attention can be attracted by forcing a person to experience - emotion at the sight of a fluffy kitten, fear of tension in music, admiration from contemplating a beautiful nature.