Physiognomic Perception and Synesthesia

Inés and Clara Castillo de Molina

Heinz Werner• Born in Vienna Austria February 11, 1890.• Began as a Composer and Music Historian• He became a philosophy and psychology major (by

default although he fell in love with it)• Went to Hamburg 1917 and joined the Gestalt

Movement• In 1918, married Jo Gervai• 1933 he was expelled from the University of

Hamburg by the Nazi law because he was Jewish • After this he stayed in Holland for a short period of

time and then emigrated to the United States where he worked at many universities and eventually with mentallay impaired children and schizophrenics

• Died May 14, 1964

Theory-Satges• Self-Object Differentiation

–Sensorimotor: No outside world apart from my immediate

actions»Parallel to Infancy

–Perceptual: The outside world feels and thinks like me

»Parallel to Childhood

–Conceptual: Aware of all other people and their point of view

(that are different to mine).

»Parallel to Adolescence and On

Theory-Gestalt

• Gestalt Theory–“shape” or “figure”– is a theory of mind and brain that

proposes

that the operational principle of the brain is holistic, parallel, and analog, with self-organizing tendencies

– refers to the form-forming capability of our senses

Gestalt Theory Examples

• The Gestalt principle of Closure– We tend to close or complete

figures into whole patterns

                                                             The whole is greater than sum of the parts

Theory

• Organismic Orientation– we should study psychological processes as

they occur within the whole, acting, feeling, striving organism. It is a holistic approach to things.

• Microgenetic mobility– “The more creative the person, the wider his

range of operations in terms of developmental level, or in other words, the greater his capacity to utilize primitive as well as advanced operations”

Theory- Concept 1• Physiognomic Perception

– Perception characterized by movement without physical displacement. Organismic involvement. No separation between personal and impersonal qualities, perceived in context of feeling and action (Werner, 1955, p. 12). Things confront the observer with a peculiar objectivity of their own (Werner, 1963, p. 209) Dynamic emotional expressive qualities… naturally experience the inanimate world in terms of the same forces and emotions they feel within themselves (Crain, 2005, p. 96)

VS.• Geometric-Technical perception

– How we perceive an object in terms of objective, rigid, and measurable properties.

Theory-Concept 2

• Synesthesia– The unity of the senses.

• Specific stimuli can provoke a corresponding sensation. A second sensation can also be awakened that is united to the first sensation.

•Synesthetes-those who exhibits the phenomenon synesthesia.

Our study

The goal of this research project is to determine whether age or gender have an effect on the child’s physiognomic perception, as well as seeing if interposing music (i.e. Christmas jingles) will cause the occurrence of synesthesia and the possibility of affecting—and maybe even heightening—the level of physiognomic perception present.

The Children will be asked if they think that they are creative or artistic or not because Werner said that artists and those who are creative or artistic tend to be more in touch with their physiognomic perception.

Statement of the Problem

• Major Premise:– How do age and gender play into both of

Werner’s concepts of physiognomic perception and synesthesia?

• Minor Premise:– Can synesthesia being a sub-category/form of

physiognomic perception, cause a change in the perception?

Critical Questions

1. Will younger or older children see geometric shapes in a physiognomic manner?

2. Are 5th graders too old to view objects in a physiognomic way?

3. Which age group will respond more physiognomically to material presented with the use of more than one sense?

4. Is there a difference in response (physiognomic or geometric technical) depending on the gender of the participant?

5. Are (self-defined) creative or artistic children more likely to by physiognomic? Is synesthesia heightened more in these children in comparison to those who do not consider themselves creative or artistic?

HypothesisTaking into account Werner’s theory of perception in

which he states that adults have a geometric-technical perception while children tend more

towards a physiognomic perception we predict that the younger children (1st grade) will respond in a more physiognomic manner to the geometrical

shapes presented to them than the older children questioned (5th grade). Continuing with another of

Werner’s theories, synesthesia, we think that playing an animated Christmas song will cause an increase in the physiognomic perception in both of the age groups (1st and 5th), though more of an increase will be seen in the younger children. We

also thought that girls might be more physiognomic than boys because they tend to be more observant.

Trials• Demographic Information (Name, Age)

– Grade (1st/5th)

• Creativity (Yes/No)• First Meeting:

– Instructions– 10 images only

• Second Meeting:– Same children – Modified instructions– Same 10 images – Christmas music

• First Trial– “I have one question for you, ‘Are you creative?’. Okay,

now I am going to show you ten pictures and I want you to tell me what you see, think, or feel when you see them. There is no right or wrong answer, just tell me whatever pops into your mind.”

– After conducting the actual test, the researchers then said, “That’s it. Thank you so much for helping us with this project. Great job!”

• Second Trial– With introduction of musicAdded to the beginning of the

directions of the first trial– “I’m going to have some music playing in the background

while I ask you some questions. Okay?”

Directions

Image #1

Image #2

Image #3

Image #4

Image #5

Image #6

Image #7

Image #8

Image #9

Image #10

Are you creative? Yes or No Name of participant: Age/Grade Level:

Image #Description

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Researcher asking: __________________ Researching recording:_________________

Data Collection Instrument

Rating Information Sheet 1Name of Participant: Age/Grade Level:

Image # Description Points

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

TOTAL POINTS

Our RubricDYNAMIC Werner’s Definition(s) 0 POINTS 1 POINT 2 POINTS

PhysiognomicPerception

Perception characterized by movement without physical displacement. Organismic involvement. No separation between personal and impersonal qualities, perceived in context of feeling and action (Werner, 1955, p. 12). Things confront the observer with a peculiar objectivity of their own (Werner, 1963, p. 209) Dynamic emotional expressive qualities… naturally experience the inanimate world in terms of the same forces and emotions they feel within themselves (Crain, 2005, p. 96)

The description of the image is simply geometric, no emotion is shown, it is a matter-of-fact image, impersonal, with no movement, inexpressive qualities, no other description than the actual shape i.e. three triangles

The description associates some form of emotion or expression, going beyond the simple geometric shapes. A more personal or organismic outlook i.e. a tree

The description of the image is emotional, expressive, has feeling, action, or movement, and associates a more definite tie between shapes and an actual figure. Organismic, more personal image. Use of words to describe how object may affect observer. i.e. pine tree, Christmas tree, sharp, tall, burns.

What Happened??? Returning to the

Questions

First Grade

Name/Age 1st Trial 2nd Trial

Average of 1 & 2 Male/Female Creative (1T/2T)

Carlos Arenas 7

.8 .7 .75 Male Yes/Yes

Andy Almato 7

1.3 N/A N/A Male Yes/N/A

Sydney Barragan 7

1.2 1.4 1.3 Female Yes/Yes

Mikayla Beecham 6

.1 .1 .1 Female No/Yes

Fifth Grade

Name/Age 1st Trial 2nd Trial

Average of 1 & 2 Male/Female Creative

Thomas Gassert 10.5

1.2 1.6 1.4 Male No/No

Sarah Domalewski 11

1.3 1.3 1.3 Female Yes/Yes

Nicholas Romanelli 10

1.4 1.8 1.6 Male Yes/Yes

Samantha Blake 10

.7 .7 .7 Female Yes/Yes

Rating Information Sheet 2

• Average of Total Points

– First Grade• 1T: .85• 2T: .73

– OutlierMikayla– Andynot averaged in for 2T

– Fifth Grade• 1T: 1.15• 2T: 1.35

Rating Information Sheet 2

Critical Questions 1-3

• Answer to CQ1: Older Children saw geometric shapes more as physiognomic than the younger children

• Answer to CQ2: Therefore 5th graders are NOT too old to see shapes physiognomically.

• Answer to CQ3: The older children responded more physiognomically

Difference between the grades WITH the music?

• Introducing the Music was not very conclusive.– It decreased the average total score of the 1st

grader from 1T (.85) to the 2T (.73)– It increased the average total score of the 5th

graders from 1T (1.15) to the 2T (1.35)

Rating Information Sheet 3

# Participant Male (Average of 1 &2) Female (Average of 1 &2)

1 Carlos Arenas (7) .75

2Andy Almato (7) N/A

3 Sydney Barragan (7) 1.3

4 Mikayla Beecham (6) .1

5 Thomas Gassert (10.5) 1.4

6 Sarah Domalewski (11) 1.3

7 Nicholas Romanelli (10) 1.6

8 Samantha Blake (10) .7

TOTAL AVERAGE: 3.75 / 3 = 1.25 3.4 / 4 = .85

Critical Question 4

• Average of Total Points

– Male: 1.25– Female: .85

• Males scored higher than females (even if one of the boys’ scores is missing)

• OutlierMikayla

Rating Information Sheet 4

0 points 1 point 2 points

1st 5th 1st 5th 1st 5th

B G B G B G B G B G B G

1T 5 10 1 3 9 7 12 14 6 3 7 3

2T 6 9 0 3 1 7 6 14 3 4 14 3

Total 11 19 1 6 10 14 18 28 9 7 21 6

Total 30 7 24 46 16 27

Rating Information Sheet 4 in reference to Critical Question 4

• Gender analysis boys tended to be MORE physiognomic than girls in this study even in with the music—CONTRARY to what some studies say “[f]emales synesthetes predominate by a ratio of 3:1”.

• In the first grade – Boys received fewer zeros and ones

• Zeros: B:11, G:19• Ones: B:10, G:14

– Boys recieved more twos• B: 9, G:7

• In the fifth grade – Boys recieved fewer zeros and ones

• Zeros: B:1, G:6• Ones: B:18, G:28

– Boys recieved more twos• B:21, G:6

• Answer to CQ4: In all There were more physiognomic responses from the boys than the girls with and without the music.

HOWEVER: The overall average score as a 1 (70) compared to 0 (37) and 2 (43).

•Individual differencesHonkavaara

Rating Information Sheet 5Name 1T Creative 1T Average 2T Creative 2T Average Difference

Carlos Yes .8 Yes .7 -.1

Andy Yes 1.3 N/A N/A N/A

Sydney Yes 1.2 Yes 1.4 + .2

Mikayla No .1 Yes .1 0

Thomas No 1.1 No 1.6 + .4

Sarah Yes 1.3 Yes 1.3 0

Nicholas Yes 1.4 Yes 1.8 + .4

Samantha Yes .7 Yes .7 0

Critical Question 5• Unlike Werner who said that “[i]ntersensory experiences…

are the special domain of” people who are creative, such as “the artist” who can, from geometric shapes experience “‘inner tones [and] their own inimitable fragrances’”(Crain, 2005, p. 99)— in our study, there was NO conclusive trend in the scores of the self-defined creative children vs. the not self-defined creative children in physiognomic perception or synesthesia.– There were children who said they were creative that scored

lower than others who declared themselves creative.– Some of the not self-defined creative children had higher

scores, and higher improvement with the music than did others that were said they were creative

– There were some children that though they scored the same amount in both trials, changed their answer from one trial to the next.

***HOWEVERThere WAS an increase in the 5th grade Boys!

WERE WE WRONG???

WAS WERNER???

Why???

Werner’s theory might not have been visible due to the

multiple limitations of our study!

LIMITATIONS and VALIDITY• Restricted amount of time (took away from class and recess time)• School HolidaysAbsence• Sample Size too small to generalize• Humans are WALKING CONFOUNDScannot control external

factors– Environment– Cultural Background– Upbringing– Daily Factors

• Rest• Nutrition

• Creativity Question– ‘Right Answer’Sydney

• Unfamiliar Shapes• Study provided participants with what they were trying to avoid• Trouble Focusing

Pros and Cons of the Study

STRENGTHS

• Willing Teachers and Students

• Ability to Isolate each participant

• Easty to perform in time given (ony 2 trails)

• Good Location• 2 researchersmore

opinions• Defined procedureeasy

to record and smoothly run trials.

WEAKNESSES

• Absence skewed results• Small sample size• Time constraints• Focus limitation

– Going to recess• Images

– Problems to think abstractly– Not know all shapes

• Creative question– hesitation

• Machine to play music– Distraction

If we could make changes...

• Actual Images – Familiarity = focus on feelings

• Bigger Sample Size– Hard to generalize to entire population

• Presence Demanded– Absences impare results

• Creativity Question– Ask at end of session to minimize influence

• Bigger Age difference• Larger time Period between trials

– Children will not remember previous answers

Nature/Nurture Continuum

• Why there?– Development plays a major role in Werner’s pscyhology. Development cannot be

prompted, one must wait until the child reaches that particular stage; he/she cannot be forced to learn or perceive the world in a certain way on command.

– Nurture:• Microgenetic Mobility (ability to move back and forth). It is possible that

although the stages are achieved based on individual development, the capacity to move back and

forth between the two forms of perception is dependent on the upbringing and environment of each individual.

– Nature:• He believes that physiognomic perception does not die away as you grow

olderand that perception changes with development (intrinsic)

NurtureNature WERNER

Questions?

• For any further questions not asked in class we can be reached at ccastil@udallas.edu and at icastil@udallas.edu