Sunday, March 15, 2009

The "Cocktail Party Effect"

I'm fairly introverted -- my Myers-Briggs couldn't really be more "I". A recent article I ran across gave me yet another reason to continue my social awkwardness. Researchers looked at something called "The Cocktail Party Effect". This research shows that we can focus in on one conversation from multiple conversations if we are interested in them, but we miss shockingly large amounts of information when we are not interested in the conversation. If you're like me, then most every conversation in a party in uninteresting -- not because of the person with whom I'm speaking but because of my discomfort and the setting.

If this sounds like an excuse for my introversion, you, sir, are correct.
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