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Psychology 307: Cultural Psychology

Perception and Cognition

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Perception and Cognition

1. Does culture influence visual perception?

2. Does culture influence cognition?

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Does culture influence visual perception?

● Perception: The process by which the brain selects, organizes, and interprets the sensory information that it receives from the sense organs; produces internal representations of external stimuli.

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● The internal representations produced through perception are not always accurate representations

of external stimuli.

In processing sensory information, the brain tends to reconstruct information or “fill in” missing information to make it more easily interpretable.

● The brain’s tendency to reconstruct information is illustrated by the following example:

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The Thatcher Effect (Thompson, 1980)

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● The internal representations produced through perception are largely influenced by prior experience. Prior experience shapes our expectations and, therefore, our interpretation of sensory information.

● The influence of prior experience on perception is illustrated by the following examples:

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T E C T

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● Given the impact of prior experience on perception, theorists have long reasoned that there should be cultural differences in perception.

● Consistent with this assertion, numerous studies have identified cultural differences in visual

perception. These studies have found cultural differences in (a) susceptibility to optical illusions,

(b) pictorial depth perception, and (c) the tendency to focus on “object versus field.”

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(a) Susceptibility to Optical Illusions

● The Mueller-Lyer Illusion

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Research suggests that people from non-industrialized cultures are less susceptible to this illusion than people from industrialized cultures.

E.g., Segall, Campbell, and Hersokovitz (1963): Found that Americans and South Africans of European descent were more susceptible to this illusion than people from 13 non-industrialized cultures (12 in Africa and 1 in the Philippines)

Explanation for this cultural difference: The carpentered world theory.

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● The Horizontal-Vertical Illusion

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Research suggests that people who reside in enclosed environments are less susceptible to this illusion than people who reside in open environments.

E.g., Jones (1974): Found that people from rural areas were more susceptible to this illusion than people from urban areas.

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Explanation for this cultural difference: The foreshortening theory.

The influence of an enclosed environment on the ability to perceive objects as in the distance is

reflected in the following passage, written by the anthropologist Colin Turnbull. The passage describes the events that occurred when he traveled

to the plains of the Congo with a BaMbuti pygmy named Kenge, who had been raised in a forest:

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“And then he saw the buffalo, still grazing lazily several miles away, far down below. He turned to me and said, 'What insects are those?' At first I hardly understood, then I realized that in the forest vision is so limited that there is no great need to make an automatic allowance for distance when judging size. Out here in the plains, Kenge was looking for the first time over apparently unending miles of unfamiliar grasslands, with not a tree … to give him any basis for comparison .... When I told Kenge that the insects were buffalo, he roared with laughter and told me not to tell such stupid lies.” (Turnbull, 1963, p. 217)

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(b) Pictorial Depth Perception

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When looking at this figure, people who have been exposed to Western educational systems tend to perceive the hunter preparing to throw his spear at the gazelle in the foreground, while an elephant

stands on a hill in the background.

Research suggests that people who have not been exposed to Western educational systems interpret the figure very differently: They tend to perceive the hunter preparing to throw his spear at a baby

elephant.

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E.g., Hudson (1960): Found that South African Bantu tribes people who had been educated in European schools perceived the hunter to be pursuing the gazelle. In contrast, Bantu tribes people who had not been educated in European schools perceived the hunter to be pursing the elephant.

Explanation for this cultural difference: Western educational systems teach children to perceive

images represented on 2-dimensional surfaces (e.g., paper) as 3-dimensional spatial arrays.

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In order to perceive 3 dimensions from 2-dimensional images, individuals must be sensitive to depth cues. Common depth cues include:

1. The relative size of objects.

2. Object superimposition.

4. A linear perspective.

5. A texture gradient.

3. Vertical position.

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26Raphael: “School of Athens”

27Shama: “Moghul Hunting Scene”

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Research involving African children (e.g., Leach, 1975) has shown that educational programs

designed to increase sensitivity to depth cues can significantly improve the ability to perceive 3-dimensional spatial arrays from 2-dimensional images.

The sensitivity to depth cues that results from exposure to Western educational systems is well illustrated by the following image:

29The Two-Pronged Trident

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People who have been exposed to Western educational systems have significantly more difficulty interpreting this figure than people who have had little formal education.

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(c) Tendency to Focus on “Object versus Field”

The Rod and Frame Task (RFT):

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Research suggests that people from collectivistic cultures are more likely than people from

individualistic cultures to perceive the rod as tilted.

E.g., Ji, Peng, and Nisbett (2000): Found that Chinese, Japanese and Korean participants made more errors on the RFT than American participants of European descent.

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In light of findings such as these, theorists suggest that people from individualistic cultures are relatively high in “field independence,” whereas people from collectivistic cultures are relatively high in “field

dependence.”

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Explanations for this cultural difference:

(i) Socialization

In contrast, members of collectivistic cultures are socialized to focus on the relations among people or objects.

Members of individualistic cultures are socialized to focus on the attributes that distinguish people or objects.

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(ii) Landscape Complexity

American landscapes are less ambiguous and contain fewer elements than East Asian landscapes.

Accordingly, living in American environments directs one’s attention to distinctive and focal objects, whereas living in East Asian environments directs one’s attention to the whole field.

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E.g., Miyamoto et al. (2006): Found that (a) American landscapes contain fewer objects than Japanese landscapes and (b) the objects in American landscapes are more distinctive (i.e., stand out from the background more) than the objects in Japanese landscapes.

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Does culture influence cognition?

● Cultural differences in field dependence versus independence reflect a more general cognitive difference between people from individualistic cultures and people from collectivisitic cultures:

People from individualistic cultures tend to engage in analytic thinking, whereas people from collectivistic cultures tend to engage in holistic thinking.

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● Theorists (e.g., Nisbett et al., 2001) argue that these styles of thinking have their origins in the traditions of ancient Greek and ancient Chinese civilizations, respectively.

● In addition to their impact on perception (e.g., the RFT), these styles of thinking have a profound

influence on a variety of cognitive processes:

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1. Categorization

Americans are more likely than East Asians to categorize objects on the basis of their common attributes.

In contrast, East Asians are more likely than Americans to categorize objects on the basis of their temporal, causal, or spatial relationships.

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2. Attribution

In contrast, East Asians are more likely than Americans to attribute behaviour to situational or transient factors.

Americans are more likely than East Asians to attribute behaviour to the internal dispositions of the person (i.e., the fundamental attribution error).

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3. Prediction

Americans are more likely than East Asians to consider internal dispositions when making predictions about how people will behave in specific situations.

In contrast, East Asians are more likely than Americans to consider situational factors when making predictions about how people will behave in specific situations.

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Americans are more likely than East Asians to have difficulty tolerating contradiction.

4. Dialecticism (i.e., tolerance for contradiction)

In contrast, East Asians are more likely than Americans to accept contradiction.

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Yin and Yang

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Perception and Cognition

1. Does culture influence visual perception?

2. Does culture influence cognition?