June 2020
Beginner
256 pages
5h 38m
English
Content preview from 100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People, 2nd Edition
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29 Minds Wander 30 Percent of the Time
You’re at work reading a report that a colleague has written and you realize that you’ve just read the same sentence three times. Instead of thinking about what you were reading, your mind wandered.
Mind wandering is similar to but not the same as daydreaming. Psychologists use daydreaming to refer to any stray thoughts, fantasies, or stories you imagine—for example, winning the lottery or being a celebrity. Mind wandering is more specific: it refers to doing one task and then fading into thinking about something unrelated to that task.
Mind Wandering is a Very Common Phenomenon
People underestimate mind wandering; according to Jonathan Schooler of the University of California, Santa Barbara, people think ...