How do our expectations influence us?

Perceptual Set  A mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another.  What you see in the center picture is influenced by flanking pictures.  A mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another.  What you see in the center picture is influenced by flanking pictures. From Shepard, 1990.

(a) Loch ness monster or a tree trunk; (b) Flying saucers or clouds? Perceptual Set Other examples of perceptual set. Frank Searle, photo Adams/ Corbis-Sygma Dick Ruhl

Letter Home from college Dear Mother and Dad: Since I left for college I have been remiss in writing and I am sorry for my thoughtlessness in not having written before. I will bring you up to date now, but before you read on, please sit down. You are not to read any further unless you are sitting down, okay? Well, then, I am getting along pretty well now. The skull fracture and the concussion I got when I jumped out the window of my dormitory when it caught on fire shortly after my arrival here is pretty well healed now. I only spent two weeks in the hospital and now I can see almost normally and only get those sick headaches once a day. Fortunately, the fire in the dormitory, and my jump, was witnessed by an attendant at the gas station near the dorm, and he was the one who called the Fire Department and the ambulance. He also visited me in the hospital and since I had nowhere to live because of the burntout dormitory, he was kind enough to invite me to share his apartment with him. It’s really a basement room, but it’s kind of cute. He is a very fine boy and we have fallen deeply in love and are planning to get married. We haven’t got the exact date yet, but it will be before my pregnancy begins to show. Dear Mother and Dad: Since I left for college I have been remiss in writing and I am sorry for my thoughtlessness in not having written before. I will bring you up to date now, but before you read on, please sit down. You are not to read any further unless you are sitting down, okay? Well, then, I am getting along pretty well now. The skull fracture and the concussion I got when I jumped out the window of my dormitory when it caught on fire shortly after my arrival here is pretty well healed now. I only spent two weeks in the hospital and now I can see almost normally and only get those sick headaches once a day. Fortunately, the fire in the dormitory, and my jump, was witnessed by an attendant at the gas station near the dorm, and he was the one who called the Fire Department and the ambulance. He also visited me in the hospital and since I had nowhere to live because of the burntout dormitory, he was kind enough to invite me to share his apartment with him. It’s really a basement room, but it’s kind of cute. He is a very fine boy and we have fallen deeply in love and are planning to get married. We haven’t got the exact date yet, but it will be before my pregnancy begins to show.

Yes, Mother and Dad, I am pregnant. I know how much you are looking forward to being grandparents and I know you will welcome the baby and give it the same love and devotion and tender care you gave me when I was a child. The reason for the delay in our marriage is that my boyfriend has a minor infection which prevents us from passing our pre-marital blood tests and I carelessly caught it from him. I know that you will welcome him into our family with open arms. He is kind and, although not well educated, he is ambitious. Although he is of a different race and religion than ours, I know your often expressed tolerance will not permit you to be bothered by that. Now that I have brought you up to date, I want to tell you that there was no dormitory fire, I did not have a concussion or skull fracture, I was not in the hospital, I am not pregnant, I am not engaged, I am not infected, and there is no boyfriend. However, I am getting a “D” in American History, and an “F” in Chemistry and I want you to see those marks in their proper perspective. Your loving daughter, Sharon Yes, Mother and Dad, I am pregnant. I know how much you are looking forward to being grandparents and I know you will welcome the baby and give it the same love and devotion and tender care you gave me when I was a child. The reason for the delay in our marriage is that my boyfriend has a minor infection which prevents us from passing our pre-marital blood tests and I carelessly caught it from him. I know that you will welcome him into our family with open arms. He is kind and, although not well educated, he is ambitious. Although he is of a different race and religion than ours, I know your often expressed tolerance will not permit you to be bothered by that. Now that I have brought you up to date, I want to tell you that there was no dormitory fire, I did not have a concussion or skull fracture, I was not in the hospital, I am not pregnant, I am not engaged, I am not infected, and there is no boyfriend. However, I am getting a “D” in American History, and an “F” in Chemistry and I want you to see those marks in their proper perspective. Your loving daughter, Sharon

Schemas 7 Children's schemas represent reality as well as their abilities to represent what they see. Schemas are concepts that organize and interpret unfamiliar information. Courtesy of Anna Elizabeth Voskuil

Features on a Face 8 Students recognized a caricature of Arnold Schwarzenegger faster than his actual photo. Face schemas are accentuated by specific features on the face. Kieran Lee/ FaceLab, Department of Psychology, University of Western Australia

Eye & Mouth 9 Eyes and mouth play a dominant role in face recognition. Courtesy of Christopher Tyler

Context Effects 10 Is the “magician cabinet” on the floor or hanging from the ceiling? Context can radically alter perception.

Cultural Context 11 To an East African, the woman sitting is balancing a metal box on her head, while the family is sitting under a tree. Context instilled by culture also alters perception.

Perception Revisited 12 Is perception innate or acquired?

Perception & Human Factors Human Factor Psychologists design machines that assist our natural perceptions. 13 The knobs for the stove burners on the right are easier to understand than those on the left. Photodisc/ Punchstock Courtesy of General Electric

Human Factors & Misperceptions Understanding human factors enables us to design equipment to prevent disasters. 14 Two-thirds of airline crashes caused by human error are largely due to errors of perception.

Human Factors in Space To combat conditions of monotony, stress, and weightlessness when traveling to Mars, NASA engages Human Factor Psychologists. 15 Transit Habituation (Transhab), NASA

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Bad Designs  A kitchen timer that you can’t set to a time less than 15 minutes unless you first turn the indicator to a time greater than 15 minutes. The timer doesn’t go off if initially you set it for less than 15 minutes.  An oatmeal container with a new-style lid that looks like a handle. If you grasp the “handle” to carry the box, the lid flies off dumping oatmeal over the floor.  Two sets of doors within a couple of yards of each other. One set operates by pushing, the other set by pulling.  A kitchen timer that you can’t set to a time less than 15 minutes unless you first turn the indicator to a time greater than 15 minutes. The timer doesn’t go off if initially you set it for less than 15 minutes.  An oatmeal container with a new-style lid that looks like a handle. If you grasp the “handle” to carry the box, the lid flies off dumping oatmeal over the floor.  Two sets of doors within a couple of yards of each other. One set operates by pushing, the other set by pulling.  A refrigerator with no handle on the front. You have to hunt for it on the side.  Some cars, have a gas cap on the right, others on the left. One rarely remembers which way to drive into the gas station.  Gas cap and trunk lid releases immediately next to each other. To fill the gas tank, you inadvertently open your trunk 19

More bad designs  

Is There Extrasensory Perception? Perception without sensory input is called extrasensory perception (ESP). A large percentage of scientists do not believe in ESP. 21

Claims of ESP Paranormal phenomena include astrological predictions, psychic healing, communication with the dead, and out-of-body experiences, but most relevant are telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition. 22

Claims of ESP 1.Telepathy: Mind-to-mind communication. One person sending thoughts and the other receiving them. 2.Clairvoyance: Perception of remote events, such as sensing a friend’s house on fire. 3.Precognition: Perceiving future events, such as a political leader’s death. 1.Telepathy: Mind-to-mind communication. One person sending thoughts and the other receiving them. 2.Clairvoyance: Perception of remote events, such as sensing a friend’s house on fire. 3.Precognition: Perceiving future events, such as a political leader’s death. 23

Premonitions or Pretensions? Can psychics see the future? Can psychics aid police in identifying locations of dead bodies? What about psychic predictions of the famous Nostradamus? The answers to these questions are NO! Nostradamus’ predictions are “retrofitted” to events that took place after his predictions. Can psychics see the future? Can psychics aid police in identifying locations of dead bodies? What about psychic predictions of the famous Nostradamus? The answers to these questions are NO! Nostradamus’ predictions are “retrofitted” to events that took place after his predictions. 24

Putting ESP to Experimental Test In an experiment with 28,000 individuals, Wiseman attempted to prove whether or not one can psychically influence or predict a coin toss. People were able to correctly influence or predict a coin toss 49.8% of the time. 25