It is snowing here today. As I was walking out of the door to walk back across campus to my office, I met a coed at the door and she said “watch the ice”.
My first reaction, possibly because I am defensive about certain things, was – she must think I am an old man and there is some probability I will venture out and break a hip. It did not look that bad. Snow is typically easier to walk on than icy side walks. Then I stopped looking at my feet and looked out a bit.
Students were walking toward the building for class. The first one hit this spot and went down. Students pop up quickly and are seldom damaged. If you look closely, you can see she left her chap stick behind. The other students kept coming. All had difficulty crossing without another fall.
It occurred to me that this was a great example of what I just talked about in class. I was describing the Invisible Gorilla study as an example of selective attention. One of the lessons of the invisible gorilla has nothing to do with selective attention. It is the observation that you can explain to people a known human limitation and they refuse to believe you. They assume that what you describe could not possibly be true of them.
Hence you see the ice coming, but you assume that the situation presents no particular danger to you. Others will slip and fall, but you are sure footed. Sometimes you see it coming and it still doesn’t matter.
I walked through the snow and off the sidewalk knowing that I am an old guy. No pride before a fall for me.