By: Melissa Carpenter and Alyssa Campbell

 Born in Vienna in 1890, died in 1964 in Mass.  Early interests: Music (esp. violin), Evolution  Studied at University of Vienna starting 1909 after discovering he didn’t want to be an engineer  Strongly influenced by Gestalt psychology  Published Comparative Psychology of Mental Development (1926) in Hamburg  Taught psychology and Education at Clark University, inspired many students

 Perception- is the organization, identification and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the environment  Physiognomic Perception- based on the unity between oneself and objects. Reaction to dynamic, emotional, and expressive qualities.  Geometric Technical Perception- more realistic and matter of fact. Perceive objects in terms of shape, length, hue, width and objective measurable properties.  Symbol- a word, image, or action that represents something else- some other object concept or event.  Self-Object Differentiation- the gradual process by which children separate themselves from the environment

1. Do younger children choose more physiognomic terms when presented with a simple image? 2. Do older children choose more geometric- technical terms when presented with a simple image? 3. When children, both age groups, in a religious school are presented with a religious image are they more likely to use physiognomic terms?

 Purpose of this research is to investigate the use of physiognomic and geometric technical terminology in children when describing an image.  Specifically we are interested in how a students perception of a religious image might relate in more abstract or physiognomic terms versus geometric technical.

1. Our study was conducted at Holy Family Catholic School in a 2 nd Grade and a 6 th Grade classroom. 2. To test our hypotheses which are given on the following slide, we presented the students with a series of images- both neutral and religious. 3. Finally, we gave the students a word bank with a mixture of physiognomic and geometric- technical words. 4. We then collected the data on excel spreadsheets and created charts to display the results

 1. We believe when presented with a simple image, younger children (2 nd grade) will choose more physiognomic terms. 2. When presented with a simple image we believe older children (6 th grade) will choose more geometric- technical terms. 3. We believe that when children, both age groups (2 nd and 6 th ), in a religious school are presented with a religious image they will be more likely to use physiognomic terms.

Image #1 Image #2 Image #3 Image #8

Image #4 Image #5 Image #6 Image #7

 16 2 nd graders and 8 6 th graders participated  7 words per image 3-4 Geo/Tech, 3-4 Physiognomic  Students circled 3 words per image  Image #1, 2, 3, and 8 were neutral  Image #4,5,6, and 7 are images that are generally symbolic of religious influence

Divided into Geometric Technical and Physiognomic. Then determined if student was more Physiognomic by seeing if they had circled >1 P items

- Geometric Technical - Physiognomic Image #

- Geometric Technical - Physiognomic

2 nd Grade6 th Grade  Only 2/16 students selected Promise (physiognomic) to describe Image #6- Dove  For #3 Star- all chose pointy (G), #4 Cross- all tall (G), #5 Heart- all red (G)  For Image #4Cross- 9/16 Faith (P), 7/16 Love (P)  7/8 students selected Promise (physiognomic) to describe Image #6- Dove  For Image #4-Cross 7/8 chose Faith (P) and 7/8 chose Love (P)  Image #1 All Students were G except for one P who chose all P words

 Overall 2 nd grade was more geometric technical than physiognomic, especially with the non-religious images  6 th grade was more physiognomic when presented with religious images  2 nd grade was more geometric technical than 6 th grade overall, especially regarding responses to religious images  So the younger group in this case actually tested more geometric technical than the older group, which was more physiognomic

 Looked at male vs female results  Had an even number of each age group participate (more 6 th grade)  Added music as another factor to see how it would effect the results

From our results and research we concluded Werner is more on the nurture side by a small margin. Music, art, images can influence a persons thinking/expression. Nature Nurture Werner

 Crain, William. (2005). Theories of Development: Concepts and applications. 5th ed. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.  Werner, H., & Barten, S. S. (1978). Developmental processes: Heinz Werner's selected writings. New York: Internat. Univ. Press.  Physiognomic Perception. Harry Blocker. 24/09/ :08