Final answer:
To turn attention away from somebody means to stop focusing on them, possibly ignoring them or sidestepping an issue. This is often done intentionally to avoid dealing with the person or situation at hand, and is related to psychological phenomena like inattentional blindness.
Step-by-step explanation:
When someone turns their attention away from somebody, it means they actively stop focusing or giving their attention to that person. For instance, if an employee is accused of something by their boss, they might shift the focus away from themselves and onto the boss, effectively diverting attention from their own behavior. This can be seen as a way to ignore or sideline the original matter at hand.
These dynamics of attention are also highlighted in studies by psychologists, such as the famous inattentional blindness experiment by Simons and Chabris (1999). This study revealed that individuals can miss something entirely visible if they are preoccupied with another task, such as the participants who failed to notice a person in a gorilla costume while counting basketball passes because their attention was elsewhere.
A similar phenomenon can happen in social interactions. When someone is not being attentive to another, they are essentially ignoring them, which may manifest as giving someone 'the cold shoulder' as described in literature, or an actor on stage being so self-aware that they fail to immerse in their character and interact with fellow performers and the environment appropriately.