Picture a fast-food counter. A customer stands at it. In one version he hands the cashier a cheque; in the other he points a gun at her. Two groups of people watched one version each, in a 1987 study by Elizabeth Loftus and colleagues, while a camera tracked where their eyes went.
Cheque groupsaw the room
vsvs
Gun groupsaw the gun
The eyes of the gun group went to the gun, more often and for longer, and their memory of the rest of the scene was worse. Psychologists call this weapon focus. Lesson 1's beam still lights one event; its width is how much of that event is lit. When a mind reads danger, it narrows onto the threat.
Cheque group
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Gun group
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The customer's face
Afterwards each group was shown a line-up. Which group picked out the customer, the man who had held the gun or the cheque, more often?
The gun group, because fear sharpens memory.
Not yet. Fear sharpened their memory of the gun. Everything outside the narrow beam, including the face of the man holding it, was remembered worse.
Both the same. A face is a face.
Not yet. The eye tracking says otherwise. The gun group looked at the gun instead, and what is not looked at is not remembered well.
The cheque group.
Right. Their beam stayed wide and took in the man's face. The gun group's beam narrowed onto the gun in his hand, and his face was outside it.
Open beamthe whole event
vsvs
Narrow beamonly the threat
Narrowing is useful when the danger is real. It is costly when the danger is not. Read with this course, the narrow setting can be pointed at a day with no gun in it: every message an attack, every silence a verdict. Then the same event is read small, and only the threat in it is seen.
Picture one event: a friend reads a person's message and does not reply for a day. Move how much danger the mind is reading, and watch how much of the event stays in view. Made up to show the shape.
Of the event in view10 made up
Gone dark0 made up
Danger the mind reads: None
No danger read: the whole event is in view. They were busy; their phone died; they saw it late; they always reply in the end.
Of the event in view6 made up
Gone dark4 made up
Danger the mind reads: Some
Some danger read: the ordinary reasons are dimming. Busy, maybe. Or they are annoyed.
Of the event in view2 made up
Gone dark8 made up
Danger the mind reads: A lot
A lot of danger read: one reading is in view, that they are angry and it is over.
In the narrow reading, which explanations have gone dark?
None. The narrow reading just adds the threat.
Not yet. The frames show the view shrinking, not growing. A narrow beam does not add a thought; it loses the others.
All the ordinary ones: busy, phone died, saw it late. Only the threatening one is left.
Right. The beam narrowed onto the threat and the rest of the room went dark, exactly as with the gun.
The threatening one. Fear makes people hopeful.
Not yet. The frames keep the threat in view at every setting. It is the rest that goes.
Move the control.
Narrowa threat in each message
vsvs
Openthe room still lit
So there are two ways of reading a day: two widths of beam. The narrow one is for a gun. Pointed at a day of ordinary messages, it reads each one as a threat. The open one sees the same day with the room lit: the busy friend, the tired teacher. The event did not change; the width did.
Each card is a reading of one event: a teacher says, see me after class. Is it the narrow reading, or the open one?
One card at a time. Tap the pile it belongs to.
Card 1 of 6
I am in trouble
It could be about the trip, the essay, or a form
Everyone saw, and they all think I failed
She says that to three people a day
She has decided something about me
I will find out in forty minutes
I am in trouble → Narrow
Not yet. Narrow. One threat, and nothing else in view.
It could be about the trip, the essay, or a form → Open
Not yet. Open. Several readings still in view, with the room lit.
Everyone saw, and they all think I failed → Narrow
Not yet. Narrow. The threat has grown to fill the whole classroom, and nothing else is in view.
She says that to three people a day → Open
Not yet. Open. A fact from outside the moment is still in view, which a narrow beam would have lost.
She has decided something about me → Narrow
Not yet. Narrow. A verdict read into a sentence that has not yet been said.
I will find out in forty minutes → Open
Not yet. Open. The event is held as unfinished, which is what it is.
3Narrow
vsvs
3Open
Right. Three and three. The narrow readings all hold a threat and nothing else. The open ones hold the threat as one possibility among several, which is what a wide beam does.
Tap the thing in this picture that changed between the narrow reading and the open one.
Tap the part of the picture that answers it.
The message
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The friend
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The width of the beam
The width of the beam
Right. The width. The message and the friend were the same in both readings; how much of them was in view is what moved.
The message
Not yet. The message did not change a word between the two readings. It was read small, then read whole.
The friend
Not yet. The friend did the same thing in both readings: did not reply for a day. What they meant by it was never in view; only the width of the guess changed.
The managerwalks past
↓→
The employeean afternoon of one thought
A new employee's manager walks past without saying hello. The employee spends the afternoon sure they are about to be fired. Using this lesson, what has happened?
A fair conclusion. Managers do not ignore people they like.
Not yet. That is the narrow reading stating itself. The open beam holds it as one of several, beside the deadline and the phone call.
Nothing. The employee is just thinking it through.
Not yet. Thinking it through would hold several readings. One reading, held all afternoon with the rest dark, is the shape of the narrow beam.
A narrow reading. The beam fixed on one threat and every ordinary explanation went dark.
Right. A deadline, a phone call, a manager who did not see them: all outside the beam. The afternoon was spent looking at the gun.
Lesson complete
When a mind reads danger the beam narrows to the threat; the event stays the same, the width changes.