An example where I had selective attention was last semester in a couple of my classes. I would go to class, sit and listen to the lectures. After about 20 minutes of lecturing I would zone out and start doodling or daydreaming. Throughout the semester I found it difficult trying to pay attention the entire class period and I would often not even want to go to class because I felt I would just end up sitting there. It got to a point where I would only go to class once a week, if that. I think the reason behind my selective attention was because I felt I already understood the material enough to be tested on it. In one specific class I felt a lot of the material was repetitive and not as important. As stated in the book, understanding can decrease other viewpoints, so in this sense I felt I did not need to hear anyone else's ideas on the subject. Although I had selective attention in class, I did manage to overcome it be engaging in the lecture. For instance, when the professor would lecture, I would ask questions or make comments. I found that by doing this, it not only made me focus on the material but made the time go by a lot quicker.
I can definitely relate to having selective attention while in class! I am currently taking an Art History course this semester, and while I love art, I tend to zone off in class because I feel like a lot of the information covered in class is stuff I already know or learned before. Like you, it has also unfortunately gotten to the point where at times I will only attend class once a week. However, in my case it backfired on me. At first I was doing well on tests despite my lack of attention, however just this past week I had a midterm that I'm pretty sure I could have done a lot better on had I showed up to class! One of the reasons I chose not to go to class was because a lot of the stuff discussed in class was already covered in our assigned readings, however my professor included stuff on our midterm which was covered in class but not in the text. In my case, this was a learning lesson to pay attention and listen to everything even if you think you already know what is being discussed!
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