Chapter 4 Flashcards
(35 cards)
Sensation
- psych experience process
process by which receptors are stimulated and transmit info to higher brain centers.
-All sensation begins from enviro stimuli (internal or external) in form of energy exciting nervous system. Sensation converts energy into internal neurophysio processes resulting in psych experience
Absolute threshold
Minimum amount of energy needed to notice a stimulus
Difference threshold
Smallest amount of stimulation needed to sense a change in stimulation
Sensory adaption
Tendency to get used to (or be less responsive to) a stimulus, as a result of repeated exposure
Constancy of our sensory processes
- ex
refers to the experience of an obj or quality as unchanging under changing conditions (color of banana still yellow under diff wave lengths of light)
Color sensation
- 3
Based on 3 different types of cones in retina; most detect as many as 1,000 colors
- shortwave light cones =blue
- middle wave= green
- long wave= red
Taste receptors (2)
consist of 2 paths:
- connected to primary gustatory cortex (detects taste)
- connected to limbic system (emotional response_
Perception
process that organizes sensations into meaningful patterns for interpretation; involves activation of assoc areas in cortex, integrating prior knowledge with current sensations
Perceptual Set
- does?
- culture
- examples (2)
Prior education and socialization create expectations which influence how fast we organize and interpret information; your perceptual expectations based on experience
- make interpretations likely to occur and increase speed and efficiency of perceptual processes
- common in ppl of a particular culture (relative to their experiences) and not necessarily developed in others of diff cultures
1. food/water deprived: deprived perceived need related words at shorter exposure times
2. children from wealthy families saw pennies smaller than actual size
Enviro conditions in s&p
- 2 examples
affect in many ways:
- hunter and gatherer cultures have lower rates of color blindness
- those in desserts don’t suffer hearing loss as often
Perception of pictures
- percp of pics?
- scanning patterns
- visual scanning
- perceptual diffs in Western vs. East Asia
Perception of pics linked to edu and social experiences
- scanning patterns are subject to cultural variations; most significant finding in direction we examine pics (linked to reading habits)
- visual scanning related to writing and drawing; diff in drawing circles related to how culture learns to write their language
- East asians more holistic, pay attention to context, backgrounds of pic. and slower at detecting changes but allocate attention more broadly
West more analytic, focus on center
Depth perception
- is?
- enviro conditions
organization of sensations in 3 dimensions (retina only 2D)
-Those not familiar with depth cues due to enviro conditions will only see 2D
Illusions in cultures
- Ponzo Illusion
- Muller-lyer illusion
- why the diffs?
- Nonwest and rural ppl less susceptible to illusion than westerners or urban ppl
- Westerners more illusion prone. Those from open landscapes more susceptible to illusions than ppl from areas were such views are rare
- Caprentered World Hypothesis: those in enviros shaped by carpenters (rectangle houses) interp non-rect. shapes as representations of rectangle figures seen in perspective. Also see lines in horizontal plane that look like they are moving away from the observer as appearing to be shorter
Cultural patterns of drawing
- those with no formal edu/ children (ex)
- perceptual distortions in drawing -2
- Polydimensional rep of space (ex)
- unable to convert 3D into 2D paintings. Sometimes display as objects, details, independently of one another.
- Austra Aborigines depict trunk of croc as seen from above while head and tail drawn as seen from side (objects shown as in reality rather than actual appearance)
- distortions found in art forms; many art traditions have no linear perspective
- used some times in most cultures (egypt paintings show head and egs in profile but eye/torso drawn frontally)
Perception of color
- 3
- cultural groups and color
- reason for differences in 2 colors (ex)
- most important explanation for diff in color perception
- study of 23 countries similarities in colors
- reason for similarities?
- Study of pre-k light and dark colors (reason?)
- Bottom line of color perception
Three psychological dimensions universal:
- Hue-color
- Brightness-intensity
- Saturation-purity
- Most cultural groups are able to identify differences and similarities in color, but they lack the language descriptive.
- Colors have psychological and historical meanings attached to them
- diff in green & blue maybe due to racial groups; (visualpercep skills related to retinal pigmentation, those with denser pig. more trouble seeing color blue)
- Learning experiences and linguistic norms of perception; subjective social and individual psych meaning of colors crucial to understanding color perception
- 23 countries: similiarite in perciveing red as salient/active, black/grey as bad, blue/green as good, yellow/white as passive
- History of human civilization reason for trends in color interp (red is political symbol of violence/revolution)
- pre-k from diff cultures prefer light to dark skinned; white assoc with positive feelings, black kids have same bias. May be due to light dark cycle of day
- We have similarity in color terms in cultures
Hearing
- culture diffs
- sensation vs perception of diffs in hearing in cultures
- Most variations due to psych diffs (age, edu, career, enviro) but most important diff related to meanings attached to sounds in diff cultures
- No cultural differences in sensation but differences in perception (preference and meaning)
Smell
- cultural diffs
Differences exist in scent/fragrance preference
Taste
- 4
- cultural diffs
Universally there are 4 basic tastes: Sweet, salty, sour, bitter
Differences exist in taste preference; diffs in ability to sense these four very similar
Touch
- 3 qualities
- main cultural diff
- reason?
- cultural norms (labor)
- proprioceptive sense
- Sense of touch combo of: pressure, temp, pain
- Differences exist in the interpretation of pain
- Individ/situational characteristics (skin texture, social status, presence of others, motivation) affect pain perception; passively exp anxiety can increase; fear anger stress can decrease
- some cult norms can influence: labor pain lower in places birth not defiling event or little comfort offered
- helps ppl register body positions and movement; variations in ability to detect/ coordinate body can be signf.
Perception of time
- cultural diffs
- westerners
- Arab cultures
- calendar
- America vs. Africans
- Swahili (2)
- Study of US, Germany, Australia, South Korea, Canada
- factor possible related to time perception
- diff cultures perceive time differently
- westerners define punctuality using precise measurements (1 min/15 min) others time measured with longer intervals (today, technology making it more uniform)
- less structure time oriented than west; more interested in event occurring in present than future
- most use Gregorian calendar which counts years since incarnation of Jesus
- Americans time treated as commodity or product that can be bought; Africans elastic and include events that have already taken place, those right now, those in future
- language used by Africans, sasa and zamani both mean time. Sasa is prescence and immediacy. Zam is past but not warehouse of time
- found all express dissatisfaction with lack of time as income increases
- Age: especially in industrial world; in Cross cultures, accelerating self-reflecting time flow expanding with age
Perception of beauty
- term
- cause
- cultural sims
- (ex)
Aesthetic experience - perception of beauty, used to identify feeling or pleasure evoked by stimuli
- Aest. responses due to amt. of cortical arousal
- several common perception mechanisms lead to sim across cultures in beauty; many sims even when SES diffs
ex: US and Japan both preferred foreign scenes to native and clean streets
Summary of sensations
- diffs
- sensory processes
- Most agree diffs in cultures are insignif. and impact on behavior small
- sensory processes thru perception system same across cultures
Consciousness
- and culture
- consciousness
- difficulty of C-C examination
- 2 views of consciousness
- Culture is inseparable unit of consciousness
- subjective awareness of own sensations, perceptions, mental events. has several states. normal flow of c consists of full attention, concentration or relative detachment from outside events
- concept of consciousness elusive
1. Monists- believe body and soul insep.
2. Dualists- opposes insep. saying independence of soul and body
Behavioral Environment
Proposed by Hallowell, a mental rep of time, space, interpersonal world. Cult. beliefs shape it.
