Selective Retention

Selective Retention is a minimalist theory that says we are most likely to retain messages that agree with our view of the world. We will tend to perceive things according to our beliefs more than as they really are, and react accordingly. According to an article from Illinois State University, Selective Retention is the personal filtering of what we see and hear so as to suit our own needs. ISU also says, Much of this process is psychological and often unconscious. A good example of this is, being accused of only hearing what you want to hear when say your mother asks you to do something. Well, in the sense of the media this fact that is quite true. We simply are bombarded with too much stimuli every day to pay equal attention to everything so we pick and choose according to our own needs. Putting this theory to use, makers of the media should beware of showing people 'compelling evidence' when their beliefs will still turn them away. A time when I have seen selective retention apparent in my life was when my husband and I were at a friends house. Our friend decided to put on a movie, one that we would never have chosen on our own time because of the content and we were utterly turned away from the movie because of it's light mindedness and seemingly sea-level maturity. We left early that night and I realized that movies such as those are movies that do not agree with our values and beliefs so we will never turn to them for a source of information let alone a source of entertainment.