(a) Why is selective attention important? Discuss the theories of selective attention. (20 marks) (b) Which method is most…

(a) Selective attention: importance and theories Sensory input far exceeds processing capacity, so selective attention filters overload, directs limited resources to relevant stimuli and has survival value (a driver in Indian traffic attends to signals and ignores chatter).

Theories:

• Broadbent's filter model (early selection): all input enters a sensory buffer, and a filter selects one channel on physical features (pitch, location) before meaning is analysed. Unattended input is discarded. It is supported by dichotic listening studies (Cherry).
• Moray (1959): a person's own name is noticed in the unattended ear, so early selection cannot be absolute.
• Treisman's attenuation model: the filter weakens rather than blocks unattended input, so words with low thresholds (own name, important words) still break through.
• Deutsch and Deutsch / Norman (late selection): all input is analysed for meaning, and selection occurs at the response stage. Corteen and Dunn's finding that previously shocked words in the unattended ear produced skin-conductance responses supports semantic processing outside attention.
• Capacity and load views (Kahneman; Lavie): selection depends on available resources and task load. Under high perceptual load selection is early, and under low load it is late.

Early selection is economical but cannot explain meaning-based breakthrough, while late selection explains meaning but is costly. Attention is better seen as a flexible bottleneck shaped by salience, load and goals.

(b) Method for gender differences in workplace aggression The most appropriate method is a field quasi-experimental study (gender cannot be randomly assigned) that combines structured naturalistic observation with validated self-report and peer/supervisor ratings.

• Compare matched workplaces or teams by sector, size, hierarchy and shift. Gender is the grouping variable.
• Operationalise aggression as physical, verbal and relational, direct and indirect, using behavioural anchors.
• Measure frequency, intent and perceived harm using incident logs, observer coding and questionnaires. Triangulation counters self-report bias, since women may under-report because of stigma and men may minimise.
• Control for role, authority, age, education and organisational culture, because power asymmetry can explain differences wrongly attributed to gender.
• Ethical safeguards: informed consent, confidentiality, anonymity, no retaliation and referral to the Internal Committee where a complaint arises.

A laboratory experiment gives causal control but is artificial and ethically limited; a survey alone is vulnerable to response bias.

(c) Schemas and mnemonics in expertise and exceptional memory Schemas are organised knowledge structures that guide perception, recall and problem-solving. Bartlett showed that recall is reconstructed through schemas.

• Expertise: chess masters recognise meaningful chunks and patterns rather than remembering raw positions (Chase and Simon). Physicians use illness scripts that compress symptoms into likely causes (Patel and Groen). Ericsson and Kintsch's long-term working memory explains how experts use retrieval cues to extend working memory.
• Mnemonic devices: the method of loci links items to places, peg-word systems attach items to fixed images, and chunking groups items into meaningful units. These improve encoding and retrieval.
• Exceptional memory: Rajan's large digit span has been explained by chunking, association and practised retrieval. Luria's patient S showed extraordinary associative memory through vivid imagery, but with difficulty in abstract thinking. Chase and Ericsson's skilled memory theory shows that practice builds domain-specific retrieval structures, so such feats are trainable and not purely innate.

Schemas supply the structure, and mnemonics supply the retrieval routes.