Culture and Perception With adaptations from Ronald Fischer PSYC 338

Overview  Perceptual sets and culture  Types of perceptions  Visual illusions and pictorial perceptions  Perception of music

Two fundamental perspectives Nativism (Gibson, 1950) Empiricism (Brunswik, 1956)

Perceptual sets  Environment shapes our perception  We create perceptual expectations  Increase particular interpretations (speed & efficiency)  Culturally functional and adaptive (mostly)

Culture and Sensory Functions  Conditions in the physical environment  Environmental conditions  Genetic factors  Cultural Differences in the interaction with the environment

Important Senses  Vision –Colour, depths  Hearing –Pitch, tone, mode, rhythm, etc.  Taste  Smell  Touch  Time

Visual Illusions  Ecological cue validity  Illusions occur when previously learned interpretations of cues are misapplied because of unusual or misleading characteristics of stimuli

The horizontal-vertical illusion

The Sander parallelogram illusion

What about if it was like this?

The perspective drawing illusion

Some early experiments  Optical illusions (Segall, Campbell & Herskovits, 1966) –Three samples from industrialised countries (US, South Africa) –Five samples from tribes living in dense tropical forests (Fang, Bete, Ijaw, Dahomea, Hanunoo) –Two samples from tribes living in open land, but in circular houses (Zulu, Bushmen) –Some of these tribes (Ankole, Toro, Songe, Bete) were not used to two-dimensional representations of three dimensional objects (e.g., photographs, drawings, murals, paintings)

Some explanations  Hypotheses about cultural differences 1.Carpentered World Hypothesis 2.Foreshortening Hypothesis: Front-horizontal foreshortening theory 3.Sophistication Hypothesis: Symbolising three dimensions in two

Carpentered World Theory

New Synergies

The Sander parallelogram illusion

Front-horizontal foreshortening theory

The perspective drawing illusion

Symbolising three dimensions in two

Perception of Depth  The organization of sensations in three dimensions even though the image on the eye’s retina is two dimensional

Challenges to this eco-cultural explanation  Effect of retinal pigmentation (Pollack, 1970) –Some support (e.g., Bornstein, 1973)  Other factors at play: –Sensitivity to different colours (colour naming) –Exposure to ultraviolet rays –Dietary differences –Age –Education

Implications  Design of instructions, manuals, safety signs, etc.  Education campaigns  Use in educational settings

Perception of Colour

Perception of Music  Relatively neglected topic  Western societies (incl. Psychologists) – literate societies; technology (paintings, photography) = emphasis on visual stimuli  Many traditional /non-Western societies = oral traditions, music and rhythm => Task!

Musical functions (Merriam, 1964)  Emotional expression  Physical response  Aesthetic enjoyment and entertainment  Communication & Symbolic representation  Enforcing conformity to social norms  Validating social institutions and religious rituals  Enables continuity and stability of culture  Integration of society

Summary  Culture influences our perceptions of the environment we are living in through perceptual sets  Cultural, ecological, biological and physiological influences interact  Perception research = example of the influence of culture and Zeitgeist on research agendas