COUNT THE F'S

OBJECTIVE
To illustrate that people see what they want to see: items of prominence catch our attention while seemingly less important items may pass on by.

PROCEDURE
Pass out face-down copies of the following page to the group. When everyone is ready, ask them to turn the paper over and simply count how many times the letter ' f ' appears on their sheet. Allow only a minute. Then, ask "How many of you got 3 F's?" "Who has 4 F's on their sheet? How about 5?.... Does anyone have 6?"

(About 50% of the group will see only 3 F's, 10% will see all 6 F's. The rest 4 or 5 on the sheet.)

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1.Why couldn't all of us initially see all 6 F's.
2. Have you observed situations where only the important things get attention? Who decides what is important?
3. How can we persuade people to pay more attention to detail? Is it always important?

MATERIALS REQUIRED
Sheet of papers as shown.

APPROXIMATE TIME REQUIRED
5-10 minutes

SOURCE
Games Trainers Play, John W. Newstrom & Edward E.Scannell, McGraw-Hill.