cocktail party effect

(noun)

The phenomenon of being able to selectively focus on a particular stimulus while filtering out a range of other stimuli in the same way that a partygoer can focus on a single conversation in a noisy room or notice their name being spoken in another conversation.

Related Terms

Examples of cocktail party effect in the following topics:

  • Selection

    • This is commonly seen in individuals who associate with a political party or religion: they tend to spend time with others who reinforce their beliefs.
    • This is known as the "cocktail party effect."

  • The Role of Attention in Memory

    • Implicit attentional capture is important to understand when driving, because while you might not be aware of the effect a stimulus like loud music or an uncomfortable temperature is having on your driving, your performance will nevertheless be affected.
    • One famous example of attentional capture is the cocktail party effect, which is the phenomenon of being able to focus one's auditory attention on a particular stimulus while filtering out a range of other stimuli, much the same way that a partygoer can focus on a single conversation in a noisy room. 
    • This effect is what allows most people to tune into a single voice and tune out all others.

  • Correlational Research

    • You might expect to see a negative correlation between the amount of partying the night before a test and the score on that test—in other words, that more partying relates to a lower grade.
    • If a researcher was to look at the psychological effects of long-term ecstasy use, it would not be ethical to randomly assign participants to a condition of long-term ecstasy use.
    • An experiment is also not feasible when examining the effects of personality and individual differences since participants cannot be randomly assigned into these categories.

  • Compliance

    • In addition to these factors, the following techniques have been proven to effectively induce compliance from another party.
    • The same request made in isolation, however (just asking for a trip to New York), would not have been as effective.

  • Nature vs. Nurture

    • A significant issue in developmental psychology is the relationship between the innateness of an attribute (whether it is part of our nature) and the environmental effects on that attribute (whether it is influenced by our environment, or nurture).
    • Some concrete behavioral traits are dependent upon one's environment, home, or culture, such as the language one speaks, the religion one practices, and the political party one supports.

  • Biases in Experimental Design: Validity, Reliability, and Other Issues

    • This premise, however, can be negatively impacted by the law of diminishing returns, which states that effectiveness will decline after a certain amount of success has been achieved.
    • If there is a high saturation of a given political party in an area surveyed, then the results will be skewed in the direction of the political party, and not be representative of the general population.