Attention and Value

How can museums capture visitors’ attention? And how can their attention be sustained? In this important volume, leading visitor researcher and educational psychologist Stephen Bitgood proposes a model—the attention-value model—that will help museum practitioners create more effective museum environments. A major advance beyond earlier efforts, the attention-value model shows how both personal and exhibit design variables influence the capture, focus, and engagement of attention. Bitgood also offers extensive background in the visitor attention literature, details of his extensive testing of the attention-value tool, and guidelines for its application. Balancing theory, research, and practical application, Attention and Value is a must-read for exhibition developers at all levels—from students to seasoned practitioners. Part 1 What We Know about Visitor Attention; Chapter 1 Introduction; Chapter 2 Early Studies In Visitor Attention; Chapter 3 Review of Visitor Attention Theories and Models; Chapter 4 Inferred Outcomes of Engaged Attention; Chapter 5 Overview of The Attention-Value Model; Part 2 Understanding Value and Motivation; Chapter 6 Value as a Combination of Quality and Duration: Impact on Choice of Film; Chapter 7 How Value Influences Choice of Text Passages; Chapter 8 Predicting Engaged Attention to Exhibit Text Passages; Part 3 Ways to Promote Engaged Attention; Chapter 9 Prompting Engaged Attention with Visitor Self-Guides; Chapter 10 Prompting Engaged Attention by Instructions to Describe or Compare Exhibit Objects; Chapter 11 How Label Placement Influences Visitor Attention; Chapter 12 Prompting Attention to Exhibits by Supplementing Audio with Text; Chapter 13 Prompting Attention with a Large Interpretive Background; Part 4 Promoting Engaged Attention Though Exhibit Design; Chapter 14 Phenomena Associated with Decreases in Visitor Attention; Chapter 15 Visitor Navigation and Attention; Chapter 16 Visitor Attention in Exhibitions: Some Guiding Principles;