Awareness is the current knowledge of events occurring within our scope of sensation and thought. One’s scope of sensation includes what he experiences through one or more of his five senses, i.e., sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell and what he experiences through his mental feelings. One’s scope of thought includes that which he experiences in his mind, such as concepts and images. Awareness consists of focus (concentration), perception, and thought. Awareness can be described as similar to concentric circles with the focus in the middle. There are things going on in the outermost circles of which we are least aware. At the center of the circles is the subject upon which we are concentrating.
Each individual is conscious of everything within his scope of sensation and thought. Most such knowledge, however, is not retained because our focus is limited. For example, when we drive on an expressway, we are aware of every vehicle that passes us going either direction, but because we are concentrating on our driving or what will happen at our destination or something else, we do not retain an extensive knowledge of the other vehicles. We are just aware of them. Perhaps something out of the ordinary such as a severe collision, may attract our focus and we will be able to relate the details to others later. Movie theaters give us an example of limited awareness and enhanced focus. The movie viewer’s focus is somewhat directed and the remainder of his awareness of his physical surroundings (his outer concentric circles) is virtually blacked out. Of course, the movie would have to be interesting enough for the viewer to keep his thoughts occupied or his focus will wander to other areas of thought. Another example of focus is the speaker or teacher in front of the audience. The speaker or teacher becomes the focal point aiding concentration.
Focus can be described as aiming one’s awareness. Again, it is the center of our awareness. One’s focus must be trained, and, once trained, it must be constantly exercised. Without constant exercise one’s focus will become more and more fuzzy and will blend with other areas of awareness that are close to the focus. The lack of proper training and/or the lack of continuous exercise are major factors in limiting one’s attention span.
A parent or teacher must take care to train a child’s focus. The immature child must be presented a target at which he can aim his focus. Because of the necessity of training a child’s focus, it is important for a teacher to keep the distractions in a classroom to a minimum. It is likewise important for the adult, as well as the student, to learn how to avoid distractions and recognize the value of not distracting others. In other words, discipline protects us from distractions. The person seeking to learn must have the discipline necessary to focus on the matter at hand. He must also do his part to avoid causing a disorderly environment. A disorderly environment disrupts focus and impairs learning.
Focus is also a function of physical and mental capabilities. Focus can be inhibited by sickness or fatigue. Poor eyesight or hearing impairment will impact one’s focus. It is important for the learner to have a thorough physical examination and follow-up remedies if a problem is discovered. Reasonable exercise, a proper diet and good sleep habits will help one’s focus. Along the same lines, one seeking to learn should avoid activities that interfere with necessary sleep or otherwise impair focus. Examples would be late night activities (for most individuals), drugs (including alcohol), and smoking. Activities that are known to be wrong or are suspected of being wrong will interfere with one’s focus, as one’s thoughts will intermittently remind him of his guilt or suspected guilt.
In the reading area, one’s focus will be affected by the gap between his actual reading speed and his potential reading speed. Since written material is an important source of information for decision making, accurate, well-focused reading is an great asset. A person reading close to his maximum potential will concentrate on his reading more than one whose reading speed varies greatly from his potential. The slower rate actually allows the mind to wander, because it is not being utilized completely. As the mind wanders the reader may become discouraged and lose interest in reading. It is essential, therefore, to do whatever is necessary to teach a child to read smoothly to enhance his speed. One who has learned to read incorrectly must take the steps necessary to correct the deficiencies. Reading with a pencil or pointer helps the reader focus on what is being read and can increase one’s speed as he learns to pace himself and then move the pointer at a slightly increased speed each time he reads. Again, because of the increased focus, the reader’s comprehension increases with his speed to the point of maximum efficiency.
Another facet of awareness is perception. Perception is the interpretation or impression of what is in the awareness. Many individuals may be aware of the same event, the same circumstances, or the same facts and report them differently because of their perception. One’s perception is influenced by his focus, feelings, memory, beliefs, intellect, motivation and activity. Inaccurate perception interferes with communication Understanding another’s perception is necessary to communication and in helping one another arrive at accurate decisions. Accurate perception is essential to accurate decision making. Accurate information and definitions are basic to accurate perceptions. This is a good reason for allowing one to ask questions (at the proper time) until he has an accurate perception of the matter being studied. One’s perceptions are like mental building blocks; if they are faulty, the mental structure will be faulty. If not remedied, this would lead to the eventual collapse of whatever has been built upon these faulty perceptions. One must be aware of the items that affect his own perceptions as well as the perceptions of others. It is vital for a teacher to understand how each student’s perceptions are affected.
One’s focus plays a key part in forming one’s perceptions. The less concentrated the focus, the greater the opportunity for an inaccurate perception of an event or concept. For instance, if someone is watching (focusing on) an event and a disruption occurs in the audience, there is a greater possibility of an inaccurate perception of both the event and the disruption. Information leading to an accurate perception will be missing because of the interrupted focus on the event and the incomplete focus on the disruption. It would be similar to losing a piece of a puzzle. This could change the entire perception of the original event if the interruption occurred at a critical juncture. Further, anything built on the misperceived event would create other misperceptions and so forth.
When one is dependent upon others to report events, his focus is limited to what is reported. The reporter, therefore can influence another’s perception of events by what he reports. Understanding the perspective of the reporter is also necessary for accurate perception. In decision making, it is important to gain relevant knowledge from differing sources. It is extremely rare for one source of information to have continuously high accuracy in many different areas. The decision maker must carefully select his sources of information.
The third facet of awareness is conscious thought. Accurate decision making requires accurate thought. Conscious thought is mental imagery, whether in words, concepts or pictures. Accurate thought requires accurate pictures, words and concepts. Such accuracy is dependent on accurate perceptions.
Since thought can be described as the gateway to the mind, a good decision maker must filter out inaccurate perceptions to alleviate future problems caused by inaccurate information. It is necessary to have some method of measuring the accuracy of perceptions and of information upon which one focuses his thoughts. If a decision maker has careless disregard for the accuracy of the information upon which he focuses his thoughts, this careless disregard will interfere with the accuracy of his decisions. This renders the decision making process frustrating, but no incurably so.
A person’s focus determines his thoughts. If one’s focus is not trained and is somewhat random, then his thoughts are random and not well-ordered. This also leads to frustration in one’s attempts to reason. If one’s focus is cluttered and diffused, then his thoughts will be cluttered and diffused. The sharper and clearer the focus, the sharper and clearer the thoughts. The person who attempts to focus on information with the television or radio blaring or with several different conversations in the near vicinity has less opportunity for clear thoughts than the one who is in a quiet, peaceful environment.
In summary, the decision making component of awareness is the current knowledge of events occurring within one’s scope of sensation and thought. Awareness or consciousness consists of focus, perception and conscious thought. The interaction of these subcomponents is very important to the decision making process. An inaccuracy in a subcomponent or its interaction with another subcomponent will produce an inaccurate decision.
