

Ask HN: How observant are you? - matt1

My wife likes to tell a story about how on Valentine's Day she left a rose on my desk (she's quirky like that) and in order to ensure I saw it, placed my wallet directly behind it. When I went to find my wallet, I reached around the rose, grabbed my wallet, and walked away, completely failing to see the rose. My wife, watching this happen, starts laughing and shaking her head. All I can say is, "What?"<p>Stuff like that happens all the time.<p>I thought this was just part of my personality, but it occurred to me that maybe my tendency to be unobservant is correlated with my introversion. I think part of the reason I miss things is because I'm usually so wrapped up in my own thoughts that nothing else grabs my attention.<p>I'm a stereotypical INTJ on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and, according to polls on HN, a good chunk of you are too.<p>So, I'm looking for a few more data points: how observant are you and how does it match up with your personality?<p>Also, is there anything you can do to improve how obeservant you are or is it as much a part of your personality as being an introvert/extrovert is?
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ErrantX
I have what I can best describe as "tunnel" observance.

On a large scale I am fairly un-observant (it can take me weeks to notice,
say, a new shop on the high street even if I walk past it daily).

However for minutiae I am a great observer. I can usually describe things in
very great detail.

People are a great example: if you asked me (after walking past them) what
someone was wearing I might struggle. But I would be able to clearly describe
facial characteristics, hair style, eye colour, gait etc. in great detail.

I'm a bit of an introvert but I cant remember what I score on the Myers-
Briggs.

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matt1
That's strange -- would you rather it be vice versa or do you like being able
to notice the minutiae?

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ErrantX
I don't mind it too much actually :) partly because it throws people...

I think it is part of a wider skill set I have; that of retaining detailed
information over time. I have great recall, for example, of minutiae that
happened a long while back (the limit is probably 5 years at the moment - but
it also seems to expand slowly). Not for everything but I recall a lot larger
amount of detail comparative to what I see others remember (this is all
subjective so I might be over egging the skill).

Anyway the point is that can be quite useful :)

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tokenadult
This rather famous online video

[http://www.quirkology.com/USA/Video_ColourChangingTrick.shtm...](http://www.quirkology.com/USA/Video_ColourChangingTrick.shtml)

offers a good test of observation skills and some comments by an astute
psychologist about why people don't always observe everything that is in their
visual field to observe.

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iterationx
My friend is an air traffic controller and worked at O'Hare for a while but is
now in Grand Forks. He described his work situation, when he first arrived it
was chaos, then he slowly learned all the acronyms, he learned the layout of
the airport and mapped it to the acronyms. Then later he said that it was as
if time slowed down because he perceived all the events simultaneously,
basically because he became a domain expert in this regard. It sounds like you
are not a domain expert at spatial awareness and maybe body language. There
are plenty of theater books (especially improv books) that teach spatial
awareness and plenty of books about body language. I think if you read a few
of those you would have a different experience in this regard. I think I am
very observant because I've read a few of these sorts of books.

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nandemo
I've heard meditation helps. Haven't tried yet.

Your wife sounds understanding. Be glad for that.

Ah, your anecdote reminds of this:

 _There is an old mondo in Zen that best describes this state: A novice keeps
nagging his master about the time required to experience enlightenment. The
master says, "When you came to my rooms last night, on which side of the door
did you leave your slippers?" The novice cannot recall. The master says, "When
you can tell me which side of the door you left your slippers, you'll attain
enlightenment."_

[http://zatma.org/Dharma/zbohy/Literature/AssaultSummit/dhara...](http://zatma.org/Dharma/zbohy/Literature/AssaultSummit/dharana_2.html)

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huherto
I'm very absent minded and this kind of thing happens to me all the time. It
happens even more when I am working on an interesting problem. So usually the
more absent minded I am the more productive I am. Sadly, some people don't
understand and you can get in trouble. It recently happened to me at work.

I make people aware of this part of my personality. I specially make sure they
know that I've always been like that. I don't want them to think that it is an
aging sign.

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fburnaby
I'm told by an (admittedly pretty crappy-looking) online test
(<http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/jTypes2.asp>) that I'm an INTJ, with
strong NT, but only weak I and J components. I don't know anything about the
Meyers-Briggs scale beyond what's stated about it in the wikipedia entry, but
the result isn't surprising to me at all, as I can definitely sympathize with
your propensity for missing "obvious" features in your surroundings.

This must be a common trait among engineers, too: one day I went to my
engineering classes with exactly half of my face shaved, the other half having
grown out for 2 weeks. About three people in my class noticed eventually and
started laughing at me. Even with them laughing, the rest of my classmates
didn't notice, and couldn't figure out what the laughing was about.

~~~
Travis
How much stock do you put into the MB personality test? I remember taking it
as a college freshman as part of a statistics class. At the end of the section
I was pretty well convinced that all the MB stuff is really just babble.

Yes, people have different personalities. But I think we inconsistently have
inconsistent / different personalities, so putting a blanket label on someone
(for me, I've found my personality type varies significantly dependent on
time) is really worse than useless.

Mark me not a fan of MB.

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Mz
I'm an ENxP. (It's been hotly debated whether I'm a Feeler or a Thinker. I
seem to drive both categories nuts and Feelers accuse me of being a Thinker
and vice versa.) I'm acutely observant of some types of things but I can also
be really oblivious to some other types of things. I tend to pick up on social
patterns more than specific physical details.

