"Energy flows where attention goes" -Rhonda Byrne

Focalism

Focalism is the term coined with our human tendency to focus on one event or situation and ignore the other things that occur. As an example, imagine you are at work when you encounter that co-worker (you know the one... we all know the one.) and they proceed to interrupt you and override your ideas during a meeting. You leave the meeting feeling frustrated and deflated. That interaction during that meeting might have been the only hiccup in your entire day and yet it can very easily become all you think about for the rest of the afternoon.

Another example could be a romantic weekend away with your partner at a beautiful location, everything is going well until you both have a huge argument and cut the getaway short to come home. Typically, what are you more inclined to focus your attention on from that weekend? The relaxing time you had by the hotel pool or the huge argument that ruined the weekend?

Neuroscience and psychology have indicated that our brains are wired to be a little more negative than positive. Consequently, our brains have a natural tendency to give weight to (and remember) negative experiences or interactions over positive ones. We call this negativity bias.

This means that our focus becomes directed at unpleasant social interactions or hurtful events and we use this in an attempt to predict future situations we might encounter...or might not encounter. Back to the co-worker example, you might begin to consider what interactions you will have with them in the next meeting, assuming they continue their unprofessional behaviour. You may even play out the experience in your own mind before you live it out in reality. And although this particular co-workers behaviour may continue to frustrate you, we can often mis-predict future events because our focus on one thing prevents us from being able to see everything else that is going on.

This type of cognitive bias influences our feelings in certain situations and it can also influence our mental health. Simply put, if we are focused on past negative experiences and potential future negative experiences, we will feel negative emotions. If we are feeling negative emotions we are more likely to have a negative attitude and a negative approach to life and interactions. As the expression goes, “What you focus on grows”. Whatever you choose to focus your thoughts on, is what you could end up attracting into your reality. So choose what you decide to focus on wisely.

A tangible visual representation of focalism can be seen in the 1 minute clip called Basketball Awareness Test which was an experiment later used by Transport London to raise divers awareness of cyclists on the road. You can watch the clip using this youtube link: https://youtu.be/KB_lTKZm1Ts

One way to challenge your focalism is to be aware of how you are likely to react to a given situation, notice it when it happens, stop it in its tracks and redirect your focus onto something more constructive. Additionally, practising gratitude is an enriching way to change your focalism from negative to positive. Each evening, write down three to five things that happened during your day which you are grateful for. The truth is, we may need to work a bit harder at being happier that we previously thought.

Additional resources:

TED talk by Daniel Gilbert https://youtu.be/4q1dgn_C0AU

Simons, D. & Chabris, C. (1999) Gorillas in our midst: sustained inattentional blindness for dynamic events. Perception

Chugh, D. & Bazerman, M. (2007) Bounded awareness: what you fail to see can hurt you. Mind & Society

Wilson, T., Wheatley, T., Meyers, J., Gilbert, D. & Axsom, D. (2000) Focalism: A source of durability bias in affective forecasting. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

Gilbert, D. (2006) Stumbling on Happiness. London: Harper Collins.