Page references in italics refer to illustrations.
Abraham Lincoln (Gardner), 108, 108–10
action, objective assessment of, 69–71
Action in the Slums Morro da Providência, tree, moon, horizontal, Rio de Janeiro (JR), 116, 116–18
biases and, 239–57
uncertainty and, 258–72
affinity bias, 243
Afghanistan war, 176
Agate, Lucy, 239–42
air traffic controllers, 206
Alamo (Texas), 150
Alderete, Christian, 184–85
Alexander, Jane, 44–45
Allen, David, 267
al-Shabaab, 62
American Rural Baroque (Steiner), 193, 193–94
Android, 150
appearances, deceptive, 65
Arcimboldo, Giuseppe, 119–20
Arizona Division of Occupational Safety and Health, 149–50
art. See also individual artworks
in attention development, 31–36
as communication, 179–81
discomfort caused by, 215–19
physical perspective and, 119–27
taking time to observe, 19–22
unfinished, 266–72
articulation, 14. See also communication
Art of Manliness (McKay and McKay), 167
The Art of Perception program, xv–xvii, 14
The Art of Scientific Investigation (Beveridge), 33
assessment
autopilot vs. focus in, 14–16
distraction and, 16–18
exercising the brain in, 9–10
in prioritization, 153–59
seeing what matters and, 3–22
trusting your senses for, 18–22
assumptions vs. facts, 62–65, 79–82, 187
As the Old Sing, So Pipe the Young (Steen), 10, 69, 69–70
attention
to detail, 90–97
developing/training, 31–36
emotions and, 224
multitasking and, 16–17
one thing at a time and, 99–100
schema theory, 29
attentional blindness, 87
audience, in communication, 187–90, 205
Audio-Animatronics, 91
The Austere Academy (Snicket), 79–80
Automat (Hopper), 60, 63, 63, 66–69, 71–72, 73, 74, 77, 78, 80, 163–64
awareness, 35. See also attention
of details, 91–97
of emotions, 225
of perspective, 137
of prioritization systems, 150–52
Bach, Oscar, 80
Baltimore Police Department, 153
Baradell, Scott, 202
A Bar at the Folies-Bergère (Manet), 131, 131–33
Beaumont Health System, 127–28
Bell, Alexander Graham, 14–15
Bellows, George, 63–64
Benefits Supervisor Sleeping (Freud), 213, 213–14, 215
Beveridge, William Ian Beardmore, 33
bias, 239–57
definition of, 242
experience, 248–54
prejudice and, 244–47
rules for working with, 254–57
seeing what we want to see, 52–54
transferring, 246
unconscious, 243–47
big picture, seeing, 104–5
Big Sue. See Benefits Supervisor Sleeping (Freud)
bin Laden, Osama, 254
BlackBerry, Ltd., 150
Blakely, Sara, 188–89
blanks, automatically filling in, 89–90
blindness
inattentional, 29–31
neuroscience of, 87–89
strategies for overcoming, 97–104
unawareness of, 94–95
to what’s in plain sight, 83–111
willful, 219–23
self-assessment of, 26–28
what’s in plain sight and, 83–111
Bliss, Dave, 102–3
Bloch-Bauer, Ferdinand, 268–70
Bloom: A Site-specific Installation (Haber), xviii–xx, xix
body language, 65, 68, 96–97, 107, 203–5, 225
Borgata Hotel Casino, 185–87
Bosch, Hieronymus, 216–18, 221
Bouguereau, William-Adolphe, 218–19
Boyers, Jayson, 134
brain
effects of movement on, 128–29
effects of practice on, 33
exercising, 9–10
filling in the blanks by, 89–90
illusion confusion and, 37–39
memory and, 142
multitasking and, 99
novelty and, 12
observation training for, 31–36
perception skills and, xiv–xv
perceptual filters and, 47–52
in sight, 6–9
Brain Games television show, 57
Brainwave program, 37–39
Braverman, Irwin, 31
breaks, taking, 100–101, 128–29
Bright, Josh, 188
Brueghel, Pieter the Elder, 208–9
bruises, 75
Burke, James, 261
Cain, Susan, 191
camouflaged things, noticing, 98–99
Canadian Medical Association Journal, 84
Caravaggio, 252–53
Carrasco, Marisa, 37–39
CARVER matrix, 152
Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine, 44–45
Chabris, Christopher, 29–31
Charlevoix, Anne, 182
charting by exception, 54–55
child abuse/neglect, 75, 106–8, 220
Chin, Don, 185
Churchill, Winston, 179–80
CIA, 153
Cleveland Clinic, 47
clothing, objective assessment of, 66–68
cognitive bias, 52–54
cold-case investigations, 189–90
collaboration, 134
Collioure, France, 139–41
Colorado Bureau of Investigation, 189–90
Columbia University photo, 26–27
communication, xiv
art as, 179–81
audience in, 187–90
avoiding breakdowns in, 175–210
believing what you see and, 219–23
with children, 222–23
correcting poor, 199–202
cost of poor, 177–78
editing, 193–99
emotions and, 223–31
expectations set by, 179
of facts vs. opinions, 214–19
framing, 203
of hard truths, 210–36
heated, moving on from, 227–31
as invitation, 208–10
nonverbal, 96–97
painting a picture in, 105–10
perception differences and, 47
practicing, 190–93
receiving, 232–36
renaming, 229–31
under stress, 210–36
subjective vs. objective, 77–79
three Rs in, 205–8
completion, desire for, 266–72
Comtesse Daru (David), 226, 226–27
Conan Doyle, Arthur. See Doyle, Arthur Conan
Condit, Gary, 175
confirmation bias, 52–54
conflict management, 134
Conley, Kenneth, 30–31
Connor, Bill, 191
Consciousness and the Social Brain (Graziano), 28
Copley, John Singleton, 83–84, 95–96
cultural differences, 16–17, 162–63, 188–89, 203–5, 255–56
customer service, 91
Dang, Elaine, 72–73
danger
from being on autopilot, 14–15
of filters, 59
location assessment and, 72–73
from miscommunication, 177–78
perspective and, 136–37
prioritization plans and, 150–53
Dante and Virgil in Hell (Bouguereau), 218, 218–19
Darby, John, 153
Dasgupta, Nilanjana, 257
Daughters of the Republic of Texas, 150
Daum, Kevin, 272
David (Michelangelo), 121, 121–26, 123, 124, 125, 126
David, Jacques-Louis, 226–27
Deal, Ron L., 223
deception, body language and, 96–97
Della Femina, Jerry, 261
Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (Picasso), 206
Dennett, Daniel C., 228
Denny’s restaurant, 263
Department of Defense, xvi
Department of the Army, 11
desires, in perceptual filters, 53–54
details
big picture and, 104–5
communicating, 105–10
in nonverbal communication, 96–97
orientation to, developing, 94–96
strategies for seeing, 97–104
Diebenkorn, Richard, 209–10
Digital Michelangelo Project, 124–25
discomfort, 12
Discover magazine, 129
Dowager in a Wheelchair (Evergood), 170, 170–71
Doyle, Arthur Conan, 24–25, 35, 159
Dyer, Wayne W., 119
Eastern Air Lines crash, 104–5
East Neck Nursing Center, 239–42
Ebola, 273
editing, 193–99
Eggies, 6
Eisenhower, Dwight D., 167
Eisenhower Decision Matrix, 167
El Anatsui, 264–65
Eminem, 175
emotions
discomfort, 215–19
memory and, 142
moving on from in communication, 227–36
outsmarting, 223–27
from the unfinished, 266–72
empathy, 134–36
errors, 17, 199–202. See also filters, perceptual
Evergood, Philip, 170–71
everyday situations, 11–12, 35
exclusive language, 184
expectations, 52–56, 101–2, 179
experience, 12, 41–47, 129, 248–54
EyeWire, 6–9
Fabritius, Carel, 10
about location, 72–73
assumptions vs., 62–65
biases vs., 255
in emotional communication, 233–36
omitting because of uncertainty, 158–59
perceptual filters and, 51–52
seeing what we want to see and, 52–54
system for gathering, 65–73
verification of, 64
willful blindness toward, 219–23
familiarity blindness, 87
family protective services, 106–8
filling in the blanks, 89–90
filters, perceptual, 41–47. See also perspective
bias, 239–57
blind spots and, 87–89
in children, 56
common, 52–59
expectations and, 101–2
filling in the blanks with, 89–90
not seeing change, 56–59
in prioritization, 153
seeing through our subconscious, 47–52
seeing what we’re told to see, 54–56
seeing what we want to see, 52–54
firearm training simulator (FATS), 144–48, 164–65
Fischman, Lisa, 79
Florida State University, 226, 272
focus, 16–17, 29–31, 99–100, 100–101
Folk, Charles, 99
found objects, 264–65
Frank, Jan, 193
Freaky Friday challenges, 135–36
French Window at Collioure (Matisse), 139–41, 140
frequency illusion, 53
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, 62
Freud, Lucian, 208, 213–14, 215
The Frick Collection, xiv–xv, 226–27
Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 165, 165–67
fund-raisers, 134
The Furniture City Sets the Table for the World of Art (Grant), 158, 158
Galvan, Judy, 142–43
The Garden of Earthly Delights (Bosch), 216–18, 217, 221, 221
Gardner, Alexander, 108–10
Gautreau, Virginie Amélie Avegno, 200, 201
gemba walks, 127
genchi genbutsu, 127
George Washington (Lansdowne Portrait) (Stuart), 108, 108–10
Getting Things Done (Allen), 267
Gilkey, Roderick, 128–29
Ginsburg, Susan, 188
Gleeson, Brent, 212
Global Soap Project, 3–6, 22, 273–74
“go and see,” 127–29
The Goldfinch (Fabritius), 10
Goldman, David, 195–98
González, Wellington, 118
Goya, Francisco de, 212–14, 215
Grant, Sarah, 158
Green, Marc, 94–95
Haber, Anna Schuleit, xviii–xx
Harrigian, Jeffrey, 176
Harrison, Jean, 255–56
Hatfield, Bennett K., 202
healthcare
art in enhancing observation skills in, 31–33
charting by exception in, 54–55
communication in, 188
diagnostic skills in, xv
hospice care, 142–43
managed, quality vs. quantity in, 17
mental, xviii–xx
perspective changes in, 127–28
power of observation in, 24–25
seeing what’s in plain sight in, 84–85
uncertainty and, 258–60
what is not known in, 159–63
Heins, Thorstein, 150
help, asking for, 102
Heuer, Richard J., 153
Hirsch, Mark, 57–58
Hitler, Adolf, 179–80
Holt, Tom, 187
Homer, Winslow, 207
Honthorst, Gerrit van, 13–14
Hopper, Edward, 60, 63, 66–69, 71–72, 73, 74, 77, 78, 80, 163–64
Horn & Hardart, 73
hospice care, 142–43
hotels, 3–6, 16–17, 22, 72, 273–74
Hound and Hunter (Homer), 207
Hume, David, 211
Hurricane Katrina, 148–49, 150, 152
IDC, 177
illusion confusion, 37–39
illusions, 59
impatience, 17
important vs. urgent, 167–69
inattentional blindness, 29–31, 87–89, 94–95
inclusive language, 184
Industrial Cottage (Rosenquist), 176–77
IndustryWeek, 127
Infantry with beast (Alexander), 44, 44–45
information-gathering model, 65–73
innovation, 5–6, 100–101, 127–29, 263–65
Institute of Customer Service, 91
Integrity and Accuracy Conference, 144–48
International Civil Aviation Organization, 76–77
International Coal Group, 200, 202
In the Studio exhibition, 208–10
intuition, 12
IQ, effect of distraction on, 16
Iraq Intelligence Commission, 81, 163
The Japanese Footbridge (Monet), 248–52, 249, 250
Javitch, David G., 206
Jeffs, Warren, 165–67
Johnson & Johnson, 261–62
Joselit, David, 11
Journal of Experimental Psychology, 16
Journal of Vision, 31
JR (artist), xvii–xviii, 116–18, 139, 215
kaizen, 127–28
Kayongo, Derreck, 3–6, 22, 273–74
Kentridge, William, 216
The Key to Dreams (Magritte), 192, 192–93
Kilts, Clint, 128–29
KISS principle, 194–95
Klimt, Gustav, 268–70
Krznaric, Roman, 134
labels, 55–56
law enforcement, xv–xvi
body language of, 96
cultural differences and, 255–56
focus and perspective of, 101
inattentional blindness and, 30–31
painting a picture and, 106–10
perspective changes in, 126–27
pertinent negative in, 160–61
Stein homicide, 85–87
use of all senses in, 129–30
Léger, Fernand, 63–64
Lehman Brothers, 220–21
Lentini, Joe, 185–87
Levy, Chandra, 175–76
Lintgen, Arthur, 35–36
London Metropolitan Police, 244, 244–46
London University, 16
Longley, Joanna, 107–8
Lowery, Natavia, 86–87, 98, 101
Lupo, Joseph, 186
MacDonald, Sean, 178–79
Mackay, Harvey, 207
Mackey, John, 178
Maclean, Hunter, 162
Madame X (Madame Pierre Gautreau) (Sargent), 200, 201
Magritte, René, 23, 33–35, 154–57, 192–93, 277
MakerBot, 8
Manet, Édouard, 131–33
Marshall, Kerry James, 43
Martin, Trayvon, 260
mass shootings, 258–60
Matelli, Tony, 46–47, 48–52, 78–79
Maud Dale (Bellows), 63, 63–64
McDonald, Glenn, 19
McKay, Brett, 167
McKay, Kay, 167
McLean, Virginia (Sternfeld), 151, 151–52, 168–69
Mehrabian, Albert, 203
memory, rewriting of, 141–42
mental blocks, breaking, 128–29
mental health care, xviii–xx
Merkin, Daphne, 18
Metro-North Railroad, 149–50
Metropolitan Museum of Art, 266
Michelangelo, 121–26
Miller, Jennifer, 135–36
Mind Hacks (Stafford), 267
Mistress and Maid (Vermeer), 20, 20–22
Monet, Claude, 248–52
mono-tasking, 99–100
Morro da Providência, Brazil, 115–18, 139
motivation, 138–39
Mrs. John Winthrop (Copley), 83, 83–84, 95–96
Mueller, Karin Price, 187
myside bias, 52–54
Nagel, Adam, 178–79
Nairobi mall terrorist attack, 60–62, 64, 70–71, 72–73, 74, 80
Naish, Benjamin, xvi
The Naked Maja (Goya), 212, 212–14
Nass, Clifford, 99
National Gallery of Art, 207
National Institutes of Health 3D Print Exchange, 8
National Transportation Safety Board, 105
Navarro, Joe, 203–4
neurons, 6–9, 8, 9–10, 19. See also brain
Newton, Kelly, 87
New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority, 149–50
New York Post, 239
New York State Regents Exam, 91–94
New York Times, 150, 158, 198–99
9/11 attacks, 42
nonverbal communication. See body language
Northwest Airlines, 169
note taking, 17
novelty, 12
nursing home stripper, 239–42
Oasis (El Anatsui), 264, 264–65
Obama, Barack, election of, 195–98
objective language, 77–78, 181–87
objective surveillance, 60–62, 277
assumptions vs., 79–82
avoiding subjectivity in, 77–79
cost of failure in, 60–62
fact gathering in, 65–73
facts vs. fiction in, 62–65
in personal and professional life, 75–77
senses in, 129–33
uncertainty and, 262–63
“what?” in, 69–71
“when?” in, 71
“where?” in, 72–73
“who?” in, 65–68
objet trouvé, 264–65
observation
accurate description and, 13–14
autopilot vs., 14–16
benefits of accurate, 5–6
big picture in, 104–5
danger of assumptions in, 81
definition of, 41
facts as basis of, 51–52
multisensory, 129–33
neuroscience on, xiv–xv
objective surveillance in, 60–62
retention and, 34–35
seeing vs., 24–26
seeing what matters and, 3–22
senses vs. technology for, 18–19
strategies for, 97–104
taking time for, 19–22
transformative change from, 273–77
value of art in developing, 10–14
of what’s in plain sight, 83–111
O’Keeffe, Georgia, 180
one thing at a time, 99–100
Oosterman, Eve and Ruth, 39, 39–41
Open Window, Collioure (Matisse), 139–41, 140
Operation Neptune’s Spear, 253–54
opinions, facts vs., 51–52, 77–78, 214–19
organization, 89–90. See also prioritization
L’Ortolano (The Vegetable Gardener) (Arcimboldo), 119, 119–20, 120
The Painter and the Buyer (Brueghel), 208–9, 209
painting a picture in communication, 105–10
Pasadena mural, 184–85
Paulo da Silva, Marcos, 118
Pelka, Daniel, 220
pentimento, 199–200
perception. See also observation
attention in, 29–31
awareness of others’, 44–47
blind spots and, 28–31
definition of, 41
differences between individuals’, 37–59
errors in, neurology of, xiv
filters in, 41–59
labels and, 55–56
not seeing change, 56–59
perceptual blindness, 87
perspective, 12. See also perception
analyzing from multiple, 115–43
asking someone else for, 102
changeability of, 139–42
changing to observe more, 98–99
in communication, 233–35
mental, 134–37
motivation and, 138–39
movement and, 127–29
physical, 119–27
in prioritization, 153
seeing from others’, 133–42
service-oriented, 142–43
sharing your, 137
using all senses for, 129–33
pertinent negative, 159–63
Phelps, Elizabeth A., 142
Philadelphia Police Department, xvi, 153
phonographic records, reading, 35–36
Picasso, 206
planning, benefits of, 272
Poincaré, Henri, 101
pointing, 204–5
points of view. See perspective
police. See law enforcement
Pollard, Jon, 185
Pollock, Jackson, 181
Popova, Maria, 193
The Portrait (Magritte), 23, 33–35, 277
Portrait of Amalie Zuckerkandl (Klimt), 268, 268–70
Powell, Corey S., 129
practice, 33–36, 47–52, 131–33, 190–93
Prince, Terry, 162
Princeton Neuroscience Institute, 6–7
Princeton University, 17
awareness of personal systems for, 150–52
blind spots and, 88–89
importance of, 150
influence of circumstances on, 156
practicing, 164–67
systems for, 152
three-prong approach to, 153–67
unconscious bias in, 243–47
urgent vs. important in, 167–69
“what do I know?” and, 153–59
“what do I need to know?” and, 163–64
“what don’t I know?” and, 159–63
project planning, 162
The Psychology of Intelligence Analysis (Heuer), 153
public speaking, 191
puerperal sepsis, 273
quality vs. quantity, 17
quantification, in observation, 77–79
quantity vs. quality, 17
Queensland University of Technology, 225–26
Quiet (Cain), 191
Raymond, Jennifer, 257
reactive mode, 167
The Red Boat (Oosterman and Oosterman), 40, 40
Redd, Jasmine, 194–98
refrigerator blindness, 83–111
The Refusal of Time (Kentridge), 216
Renshaw, Samuel, 31, 37–39, 55, 56
Renshaw’s Cow, 37–39, 37, 38, 55, 56
resident advisors (RAs), 161
resource allocation, 15–17, 29–31, 167–68, 263–65
responsive mode, 167
retention, 34–35
Richards, Caroline, 228–29
Richards, Charles, 228–29
Right and Left (Homer), 207
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 115–18, 139
Robbins, Apollo, 37–39, 57, 59
Roberts, Jennifer L., 19
Rosenquist, James, 176–77
Rubin Museum of Art, 37–39
Sagal, Peter, 178
Sago, West Virginia, miners, 200, 202
Sarah Lawrence College, 17
Sargent, John Singer, 200, 201
SATs, 91
Savage, Adam, 17
“A Scandal in Bohemia” (Doyle), 24–25
schema theory, attention, 29
Schilling, Curt, 178–79
Schultz, Bonnie, 97
seeing what matters, 3–22
seeing what we’re told to see, 54–56
seeing what we want to see, 52–54
Self-Portrait in a Woman’s Eye (JR), xvii, xvii–xviii
senses, 10–14, 18–19, 129–33. See also sight
sensory overload, 100
Seurat, Georges, 203
sex trafficking, 5
sexual assault response teams, 138–39, 141, 153
Shapiro, Dani, 190
Sidwell Friends School, 14–15
Silva, Rick, 135
“Silver Blaze” (Doyle), 159
Simkins, Audrey, 190
single-tasking, 99–100
Six Sigma, 152
skimming, 33
Skylines (El Anatsui), 264, 264–65
Sleepwalker (Matelli), 46, 46–47, 48–52, 78–79
Sloan, Marcus, 91–94
Smiling Girl, a Courtesan, Holding an Obscene Image (Honthorst), 13, 13–14
Smithsonian American Art Museum, 43, 55, 170–71
Snicket, Lemony, 79–80
soap bars, recycling, 3–6, 22, 273–74
SOB, SOB (Marshall), 43
Souza, Pete, 253–54
Spanx, 188–89
specificity, in language, 184–87, 213–14
standardized tests, 91–94
Stanford University, 124–25
Starbucks, 75
State Farm insurance, 95
Steiner, Ralph, 193–94
Sternfeld, Joel, 151–52, 168–69
Stuart, Gilbert, 108–10
Studio Wall (Diebenkorn), 209, 209–10
subjectivity, 44–45
avoiding, 77–79
communication and, 233–36
emotions and, 223–27
of memory, 141–42
spotting, 81
uncertainty and, 262–63
A Sunday on La Grande Jatte (Seurat), 203
Surveys (from the Cape of Good Hope) (Alexander), 44–45
technology, 16–17, 18–19, 178–79
“Teenage Summer, the Fasting Version,” 198, 198–99
terrorist attacks, 42, 60–62, 64, 70–74, 80
Tetris, 267
Texas General Land Office, 150
Thar, Jasmine, 260
That Tree (Hirsch), 57, 57–58, 58
Thephakaysone, Nikhom, 74–75
Tilley, Sue, 215
Time Transfixed (Magritte), 154, 154–57
Titanic, 220
To Kill a Mockingbird (Lee), 134
Tomasevic, Goran, 80
Toyota, 127
trading places, 135–36
transformative change, 273–77
Transportation Security Administration, 65
tunnel vision, 52–54
Two Japanese Wrestlers by a Sink (Freud), 208
Tylenol poisonings, 261–62
uncertainty, 12, 158–59, 258–72
Undercover Boss television show, 135
unfinished, anxiety of the, 266–72
Unicore, 233–35
University of California, Los Angeles, 17
University of Colorado Hospital, 258–60
University of Oslo, 47
University of Queensland, 257
University of Virginia School of Nursing, 54–55
unknown, in prioritization, 159–63
urgent vs. important, 167–69
US Army Asymmetric Warfare Group, 253–54
Valdez, Justin, 74–75
Vasari, Giorgio, 122
Velcro, 5–6
Velcro parents, 161
Vermeer, Jan, 20–22
Villanova University, 99
Vincot, Bruce, 233–35
Virgin Atlantic, 91
vision, biology of, 6–9
visual intelligence, 6
visual learners, 105
visual-spatial intelligence, 105
Wall Street Journal, xvi
Warhol, Andy, 205–6
Warm Detroit, 162
Was It Something I Said? (McCann), 194
water lily paintings (Monet), 248–252, 249, 250
Wellesley College, 46–47
West, Allison, 31–33
Westgate Mall, Nairobi, Kenya, terrorist attack, 60–62, 64, 70–71, 72–73, 74, 80
What Every Body Is Saying (Navarro), 203–4
White House Situation Room, 253, 253–54
“who, what, when, where” in fact gathering, 65–73
Whole Foods, 178
“why?,” understanding, 138–39, 260
Wilder, Bill, 127
willful blindness, 219–23
Wilson, David, 228
Winokur, Kay, 128
wish fulfillment, 53
wishful seeing, 52–54
Women Are Heroes (JR), xvii, xvii–xviii, 116, 116–18
work and workers
anxiety of the unfinished and, 265–72
attention to detail and, 90–94
bias in, 246
communication and emotions, 223–27
cost of poor communication in, 177–78
email policies and, 158–59
perspective changes and, 127–29
prioritization in, 149–50
service perspective in, 142–43
what they don’t know, 162–63
World Trade Center attacks, 42
Wright, Gerald, 160–61
Yarnell Hill, Arizona, fire, 149–50
Yearning for Zion Ranch, 165–67
“You Do Not Talk About Fight Club If You Do Not Notice Fight Club” (Simons and Chabris), 31
Youngblood, Franklin, 240–41
Zamora, José, 244
Zeigarnik, Bluma, 266
Zeigarnik effect, 266–67
zoning out, 14–15