Inattentional blindness is common I believe, because when we are focused on one thing in front of us, it sometimes can be hard to pay attention to everything around you. A time that I failed to notice something around me was happening was recently at work. I had a client come in for treatment, and while he was with one of our nurses, I had another client come in, but he needed help with some billing issues he had with his insurance. While I was so occupied with the billing issue guy, I did not notice that the first client finished with his treatment and came to the front while I was talking with the insurance billing client. He waited, then reached to the front desk to grab our clinic cell phone and placed it in his pocket so casually on the side of me. He then waited until I was done assisting the billing issue client, and then he paid for treatment. It was not until later that some co-workers and I were looking for our cell phone which then made us decide to watch the surveillance recording to see where the phone could have gone. We were all so shocked that someone who was a regular just did that. I was even more speechless and surprised after because I could not believe how I did not see it or notice.
Citations
Inattentional Blindness and Smooth Pursuit [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/jDISZ7zT8YQ
