Almost immediately, his students began projecting things into the scene or onto people they were observing. They imposed theories of who the shoppers were, what their home life was like, what they were buying, why they came. They were mentally drafting their own little screenplays. They had invested so much in developing mental models and a particular expertise in some field of behavior that they automatically began applying them and making assumptions. They lose the ability to have perspective.
Older people are more observant.
They see who arrives, at what time and driving what kind and color of car. They don't create and prescribe models because they understand the limits of those models. They had learned that they won't have all the information they need. They don't have to impose on what is there. In a way, letting go also allows people to be more creative and expressive, their work less frenetic and more elegant.