Change blindness is a well known and experimented subject. The research was developed by different educational institutions: http://viscog.beckman.uiuc.edu/change/people.shtml

Innovation blindness is an unconscious response of individuals who do not perceive the proposed change, when the conditions to make use of it are not given.

The avoidance of energy consumption to introduce a new task in an individual’s brain is the functionality of innovation blindness.

Causes of innovation blindness

There are social and individual causes.

Social causes

1) When there are utopias implicit in the innovations that are out of reach for a group or society.
2) When the innovation does not respects the myths of a culture.
3) When the innovation disrespects the taboos of a culture.
4) When the innovation modifies the ethics of a culture.

Individual causes

1) When it modifies an individual’s habits.
2) When it modifies the ethics of an individual.
3) When the “functional recreation” by a user requires a level of knowledge the individual doesn’t have.
4) When the ego or the “business” of an individual is affected.
5) When an increase of responsibility of the user is required and s/he has no need to assume it.
6) When an increase of internal freedom of the individual is required.
7) When it stimulates guild or fear of the user.

Your comments are welcome.

Diego  Belohlavek
Expert System Manager

You can find information on the Unicist Standard  in the Unicist Business Search Engine: http://www.unicist.com 

Request more information: n.i.brown@unicist.org 

To translate this post, click on the title to open it and then click on your flag in the right menu. 

If you would like to receive monthly information on new scientific developments, please register here.