John Jackson watched the test subjects file into the room. He had done well in picking a nice selection of people, he thought. This experiment was part of his final grade for his class. The grad student was hoping to impress the teacher using an old favorite psychological experiment.

There was the lady in her 60s, looking timidly around the room. She chose a seat near the front. The black man in his forties, a college professor of math, took a seat nearby. There were the thirtysomethings, one white and female, one female and Hispanic, and one black female. A twelve year old boy looking bored, accompanied by his mother, a harried looking blonde in her late twenties.

Then there were the college students. He had seen them eating lunch at the mall one day, and knew they’d be perfect for this. They were obviously a tight knit group, from their antics, and the blonds at least were brother and sister. They had distinct personalities though, he was sure. The blonde girl was a tomboy, it had been obvious by her movements and clothing. There was the princess, a real stunner with shiny blue-black hair. A third girl, somewhere in between, graceful and pretty, dressed well but seemed more comfortable with herself than the princess. The rebel was with them, in a black leather jacket and black jeans. There was always a rebel in a group of friends, he thought with a smile. There was the redheaded young man who looked almost as uptight as the nice-looking brunette guy. The dark haired young man was wearing ironed slacks, and a neat polo shirt, but he was tense, looking around the room quickly. Overachiever, John thought. Same with the redhead. He had been dressed in jeans and t-shirt the day John saw them at the mall, slightly more casual than his dark haired friend. The blond boy, maybe a twin to the blonde girl, wearing a loose t-shirt and ripped jeans that had seen better days. He was easily more comfortable with himself than the other boys.

A nice sampling of ages, races and genders, he thought. The results were always more interesting with a more diverse group.

Once everyone was in and had taken a seat, he shut the door. The group of friends were sitting together, and as usual, the other women had grouped themselves near each other. That was typical in these studies. The boy was chomping on gum, and his mother held out a napkin to him. Rolling his eyes, he spat the gum into the napkin.

John stepped in front of the tv screen and cleared his throat.

“I want to thank all of you for agreeing to be a party to this experiment today. It won’t take very long, just a few minutes. You’re going to watch a very short video, and I’m going to tell you what to look for. At the end, please fill out the survey with your answers. Don’t confer with anyone, and don’t write your name on the form. This is anonymous. Once you’re finished, just bring it to me, and return to your seat. At the end, I may speak to a few of you about what you saw. Be sure to write down everything you saw, and be completely honest. There is no grade on this. Okay?” the group nodded.

“Now, you’re going to watch a video of some people passing a basketball back and forth. There are two teams, one in white shirts, one in black shirts. Your goal is to count the number of times the team in white passes the ball. Understood?”

They nodded again. John smiled. “Very well then, let’s begin.”

Legal pad in hand to take notes on his testers, he pressed the play button and stepped back from the camera.