psychology notes on attention for nursing students

1. ATTENTION
Prepared and presented by
MS.S.SUVITHA
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR,COLLEGE OF NURSING,
MOTHER THERESA POST GRADUATE AND RESEARCH
INSTITUTE OF HEALTH SCIENCES,
PUDUCHERRY.

2. 1. MEANING AND DEFINITION OFATTENTION
2. WHEN, WHERE, AND WHY WE PAY ATTENTION.
3. CHARACTERISTICS OF ATTENTION
4. IMPORTANCE OF ATTENTION.
5. TYPES OF ATTENTION
6. USES OF ATTENTION
7. DETERMINANANTS OF ATTENTION
8. DEFINITION OF SPAN OF ATTENTION
9. DURATION AND DEGREE OF ATTENTION
10. ALTERATION IN ATTENTION/DISTRACTION
11. DISTRACTION
12. SOURCES OF DISTRACTION
13. CAUSES OF DISTRACTION
14. TYPES OF DISTRATION
15. METHODS OF ELIMINATING DISTRACTION
16. INATTENTION •
17. CAUSES OF INATTENTION
18. TYPES OF INATTENTION •
19. IMPORTANCE OF ATTENTION IN NURSING PROFESSION

3. MEANING:
 Attention is the focus of consciousness on a
particular object or ideas at a particular time, to the
exclusion of other objects or ideas
 Attention is the term used or given to the perceptual
processes that select certain inputs for inclusion in
our conscious experience, or awareness at any
given time. It is the process involving the act of
listening, and concentrating on a topic, object or
event for the attainment of desired ends.

4. MEANING CONT’D
 It is essential for acquiring the knowledge. •
 It is not awareness.
 • “Act of directing one’s thought” towards a
particular act or object
 • Concentration or focusing of consciousness upon
one object -Woodworth
 Eg. Military command – prepares a soldier for an
action

5. DEFINITION OF ATTENTION
 “Attention is the concentration of consciousness upon
one object other than upon another”—Dumville.
 “Attention is the process of getting an object or thought
clearly before the mind”—Ross.
 Process which compels the individual to select some
particular stimulus according to his interest and attitude
out of the multiplicity of stimuli present in the
environment -Sharma R. N. (1967)
 According to psychologist and philosopher William
James ,attention "is the taking possession of the mind,
in clear and vivid form, of one out of what may seem
several simultaneously possible objects or trains of
thoughts…It implies withdrawal from some things in
order to deal effectively with others."

6. WHEN, WHERE, AND WHY WE PAY
ATTENTION.
SOCIAL PROBLEM.
TOWARDS MOVEMENT.
EXPECTED REWARDS.
ATTRACTIVE THINGS.
EMOTIONAL ATTRACTION
FAVORITE

7. HOW WE PAY ATTENTION!

8. HOW WE PAY ATTENTION!

9. CHARACTERISTICS OF ATTENTION
 It is a selective mental activity.
 It is constantly shifts from one object
to another or from one aspect of the
situation to another.
 Attention is focusing of
consciousness on a particular
object.
 Attention is a state of preparedness
or alertness:
 Process of attention involves motor
adjustments on the part of the
person who is attentive.

10.  It is Selective mental activity: It is a filtering process
through which we respond selectively to the
incoming stimuli. We may ignore something or
accept something else•

11.  . • Shifting from one object to another. :Attracted by
new things. It is not a fixed thing. Shifting eyes from
one part of the body others.

12.  Makes clear in our consciousness the object which
we attend to: Arouses the individual to attend the
particular objects

13.  Creates a attentive attitude of the individual. • It
creates motor adjustments such as muscles and
sense organs to improve the response.

14. IMPORTANCE OFATTENTION.
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15. TYPES OF ATTENTION
 Non-volitional: attention aroused without will. This type of
attention is aroused without the play of will or without
making a conscious effort on our part.
For example, we give involuntary attention to loud sounds,
bright lights & strong odors etc
1.Enforced –(sustained by instincts):
Involuntary non-volitional attention aroused by the
instincts is called enforced non-volitional attention. For example,
giving attention out of curiosity.
eg. Attraction to opposite sex.
 2.Spontaneous -(sustained by a sentiment): Non-volitional
attention aroused by the sentiments is called spontaneous
non-volitional attention. For example, we give somewhat
automatic or spontaneous attention towards some objects,
idea, person around which our sentiments are formed.
 2mothers attention to child’s cry. –

16.  It demands the conscious effort on our part. Voluntary
with will .There is always a goal behind it. •For example,
solving an assigned problem in Mathematics, answering
a question in examination needs voluntary attention.
It is further sub divided into two categories:
 Implicit volitional attention
 Explicit volitional attention
Implicit -(obtained by a single act of will)Eg.
Attending to a mathematical problem when teacher threatens
of punishment. •
Explicit -(obtained by repeated acts of will. It
requires strong will power and strong motives.) Eg. Attention paid
during examination.

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Attention due to the tension of Exams

24. USES OF ATTENTION
 It provides strength & ability to continue the task of
cognitive functioning despite the obstacles put by
the distractions like noise & other weather
conditions.
 It helps in better organization of the perceptual field
for maximum clarity & understanding of the object
or phenomenon.
 It helps in bringing mental alertness &
preparedness.
 It helps in providing deeper concentration by
focusing one’s consciousness upon one object at a
time rather than two.

25. DETERMINANANTS OF ATTENTION
 External Factors or Conditions
 Internal Factors or Conditions

28. SPAN OF ATTENTION

29. DURATION AND DEGREE OF
ATTENTION
 Span of attention:The maximum amount of
material that can be attended in one period of
attention is called span to attention. This can be
visual attention or auditory attention.

31. SPAN OF VISUAL ATTENTION:
 Experiments have been carried out to measure the
span of visual attention by making brief exposures
to a number of object. The time of exposure is very
short, ranging from 1/100 to 1/5 of a second

32. SPAN OF AUDITORY ATTENTION
 The number of auditory impressions perceived at a
single instance is slightly greater. An adult can
perceive eight sounds given rapidly in succession.
But when sounds are given in a rhythm, a much
larger number of sounds can be perceived.

33. DURATION AND DEGREE OF
ATTENTION
 It refers to how long one can attend to an object
without a break.
 If we attend to a single, simple object for instance, a
dot, it will remain in the focus of our consciousness
for only a second at the most, then something in the
margin will crowd it out or memory of a past event
will intrude.
 The duration of attention depends upon the nature
of the material, the interest of the observer, & other
conditions.

34. SUSTAINED ATTENTION (ACT OF FIXATION OF
MIND
 To sustain attention, is to concentrate one’s activity
continuously upon some object or a happening or a
problem.
 The individual attention always remains on tract &
the activity proceeds systematically without any
serious distraction.
 All internal as well as external factors of getting
attention can be helpful in this track.

35. SHIFTING ATTENTION:
 While paying attention towards an object or an
event it is not possible to hold attention
continuously with the same intensity for a longer
duration.
 It is constantly shifting from one object to another,
from one aspect of the situation to another.
 We can perform only one voluntary act at a time &
not two or more acts at a time.
 We can quickly shift attention from one voluntary
act to another.

36. DIVISION OF ATTENTION:
Division of attention means to attend to two or more
tasks simultaneously.
 Psychologists say we cannot attend to two things at
a given time, & there is no possibility of division of
attention.
 The reason for paying attention to more than one
task at a given time can be:
 —In performing two tasks simultaneously one of the
two activities requires no attention.
 —Attention rapidly shifts from one task to the other

37. ALTERATION IN
ATTENTION/DISTRACTION
 It is the changes in the forms, modes and quality of
the attention paid to a stimulus. Kind of stimulus
which distracts our attention from the objects which
we are focusing •
 A distracter may be defined as any stimulus whose
presence interferes with the process of attention. •
Example: -Sound of music played on streets –
disturbs – attention of the students in a classroom

38. CAUSES OF DISTRACTION •
INTERNAL:
HEADACHE,
STOMACHACHE,
EMOTIONAL DISTURBANCE,
ANXIETY,
MIS- HAPPENING ETC.
EXTERNAL:
NOISE,
MUSIC,
IMPROPER LIGHTING,
UNCOMFORTABLE SEATS,
UNFAVORABLE
TEMPERATURE,
INADEQUATE VENTILATION,
IMPROPER BEHAVIOR OF
PERSON DEALING WITH US.

39. TYPES OF DISTRATION
 Continuous distraction
 DisContinuous distraction

40. METHODS OF ELIMINATING DISTRACTION
 Much emphasis and importance must be given to
the task •
 Create favorable situation •
 Make lesson interesting •
 Training in concentration •
 Attention-distracting objects removed from the
neighborhood •
 Encounter same type of distraction everyday –
used to them and start ignoring it

41. INATTENTION
 The absence of attention to a particular stimuli. • Its
outward signs –
 a. The student is careless about the object which of
primary attention
 b. Movement of students’ eyes are random and not
fixed
 c. Seems to be perplexed – does not understand
and receive clear impressions
 d. Seems to be restless and writhing/squirming
movements of the body. Restlessness.

42. CAUSES OF INATTENTION
 Lack of interest or need Fatigue
 Presence of distraction Lack of Motivation

43. TYPES OF INATTENTION
 Absolute in attention.
 disappearance of complete consciousness.
 Partial in-attention:
 careless attention/ low intensified attention

44. .NURSING IMPLICATIONS
 Receive necessary instructions from attending doctors,
change of shift etc.
 Alertness for execution of professional duties. One
nurse has to take care of more than one patients.
 Overcome the obstacles of attention by removing
internal and external distractions.
 It helps in bringing mental alertness & preparedness.
 It helps the nurse to concentrate by focusing
consciousness on one object at a time rather than two.
 It helps the nurse for better organization of the
perceptual field for maximum clarity & understanding of
the patient condition.
 The nurse can use psychology of attention for invoking
not only voluntary but also involuntary attention to her
job.

45. THANK YOU
ALL
FOR
YOUR ATTENTION