1. Culture and Perception
Ronald Fischer
Social Psychology, PSYC 338

2. Overview Perceptual sets and culture Types of perceptions
Visual illusions and pictorial perceptions
Perception of music
Perception of time

3. Two fundamental perspectives
Nativism
Empiricism

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

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

6. The horizontal-vertical illusion

10. The Sander parallelogram illusion

17. What about if it was like this?

20. The perspective drawing illusion

22. 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)

23. Some explanations Hypotheses about cultural differences
Carpentered world theory
Front-horizontal foreshortening theory
Symbolising three dimensions in two

24. Carpentered world theory

25. The Sander parallelogram illusion

26. Front-horizontal foreshortening theory

27. The perspective drawing illusion

28. Symbolising three dimensions in two

29. 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

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

31. 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

32. Task Listen to the following excerpts Answer the following questions:
What feelings and emotions does this music arouse in you? Use four adjectives to describe the music.
Where do you think this music is coming from?
What is the likely function of this music? At what occasions is it likely to be played? Make a guess!

33. Excerpts Excerpt 1: Excerpt 2: Excerpt 3: Excerpt 4:
Java, Indonesia (Gending Pahargyan Penganten, Monggang)
Wedding ceremony, welcome and honor the family of the bride groom)
Excerpt 2:
Serbia, Ex-Yugoslavia (Kayah & Bregović, Sto lat młodej parze)
Wedding
Excerpt 3:
Salvador, Bahia, Brazil (Capoeira Angola, Iuna)
Capoeira, to show respect to the 2 experienced capoeiristas (Mestres) currently fighting/playing
Excerpt 4:
Bamanan people, Mali (Rokia Traore, Yèrè Uolo)
Song in praise of a great warrior

34. 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

35. Perceptions of time Another little experiment….
Pace of life (Levine & Norenzayan, 1999)

36. Dimensions of time
Past, present and future (Klockhohn & Strodtbeck, 1961)
Polychronic versus monochronic (Hall)

37. 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