The Invisible Gorilla Analysis

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The eye-opening novel, The Invisible Gorilla: And Other Ways Our Intuitions Deceive Us by Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons, exposes many unknown illusions that people are unaware of in everyday life. Two major themes of the novel include a weakness in cognitive abilities, and a weakness in the ability to recognize illusions when they occur. The weakness in recognizing illusions is a major issue because it forces the reader to think about what they experience in life, and whether it was an illusion. The authors begin the novel by introducing what has now become a famous psychological demonstration of the way illusions can affect. The experiment consisted of a group of people being asked to watch a video of a white shirt team playing basketball …show more content…
The participants even accused the experiment of having switched videotapes when they asked to replay the video once more and saw the gorilla. It showed that even the most obvious things could be missed when you are concentrating on something else, also known as the illusion of attention, and the results of the trial allowed readers to realize how their perception of reality is sometimes not what they believe it to be. As the novel progresses, it further delves into other illusions relating to memory, knowledge, and confidence. Chabris and Simons first mention memory and how our simple memories do not last forever. For instance, a traumatic memory, such as the death of a loved one, you will be able to recall much more such as where you where, how old you where, and more. Whereas with a simple memory, such as your first birthday party, is much harder to recall specific details. Another illusion illustrated by the authors in the novel, is the illusion of knowledge. The authors’ conducted a survey where they questioned people in America whether or not they thought they were smarter than the average