Psychological perspectives

Visual perception is the human brain’s ability to see and interpret information and surroundings from the effect of visual light on our eyes. The result of visual perception is our ability to see.

The four Psychological perspectives

The behavioural perspective of psychology is concerned with overt, observable behaviour. It seeks to explain the way humans act through studying human actions and how they are formed, shaped and changed. Modern psychology focuses on how behaviour is learned and reinforced. Behavioural psychology is mostly used in mental health settings where therapists and counsellors use these techniques to explain illnesses or abnormalities. One of the most significant examples of behavioural psychology can be traced back to a behaviourist named John B Watson. He studied humans’ and animals’ reactions to stimuli, and conducted an experiment on an eleven month old boy known as ‘Little Albert’. The experiment was to create fear in relation to a stimulus that Albert had not reacted to before. The experiment was a success, though it raised many issues.

‘Socio-cultural’ made up of the words ‘social’ and ‘cultural’ and is the perspective of psychology that is concerned in investigating how humans are influenced by their surroundings. Factors of influence can include peers, traditions, upbringings and cultural morals.

The biological perspective of psychology manipulates ethics of biology to study mental processes and behaviour. It is based on the fact that structures such as the brain and the nervous system play a large role in human interaction with each other and the world. It makes large use of anatomical evidence, which means looking at the body, the brain and it’s relationship with human behaviour. The famous psychologist William James, who published ‘Principles of Psychology’ stated that all psychologists must at least have some form of understanding of biology or physiology in order to be able to conduct successful and accurate experiments, as it is evident that psychology is largely based on brain-physiology.

The cognitive area of psychology is most interested in investigating internal mental processes such as thinking, memory, decision making and language. A very popular psychologist in this field is Hermann Ebbinghaus, famous for his work on memory and his discovered principle, the Ebbinghaus (or forgetting) curve. This demonstrated that most forgetting of new information occurs within the first two hours of it being learnt. He also explained that meaningful information was much easier for humans to memorise.

Visual perception Gestalt principles

‘Gestalt’ is a psychological term which means ‘unified whole’. ‘Gestalt principles’ refers to the rules that organise visual perceptual features and integrate them into connected patterns or whole forms so that the human brain can better understand and make sense of them. Gestalt principles

The figure is the white vase and the ground is the black. The figures are two black faces and the ground is the white in between. Figure ground; Involves perceptually grouping and separating features of a stimulus so one part of it appears to stand out as the figure or object against the other, plainer or unfocused background. The figures are the trees and the ground is the sky. The figure is a man’s silhouette and the ground is the brown of the trees.

Closure; Closure is the viewer’s tendency to fill in an incomplete figure with an imaginary contour line, so the object seems solid or consistent. Although it is not a complete shape, our brain fills in the gaps to tell us it is a cube. Our brain fills in the top of the panda’s head, and it’s back to give a completed shape.

Perceptual Set; Past experiences. When we see a creature on four legs, we usually perceive it as an animal. In this case, the animal has stripes and horse like features, and those who have seen a zebra, should be able to relate the pattern and characteristics to a zebra. Application of closure in the real world This is my drawing of a zebra. Though there is no definite line to separate the zebra from the background, our brain is still able to make out where the zebra ends due to closure. Psychological Perspective; Cognitive perspective can be applied in this example, as cognition involves memory and thought. Sociocultural may also play a part, as if you’ve lived in a city all your life you may not have seen a zebra.

All the queen’s crowns ‘belong’ together because they are similar. Similarity; Similarity involves the viewer’s tendency to perceive objects or stimuli that have similar visual features (size, shape, colour…) as belonging together as a single unit or group. The triangles and circles seem grouped despite them being alternated.

Both groups are seen as complete even though the second contains different shapes. Proximity; Proximity is where stimuli situated close together are perceived as a single unit or group, and anything outside or further away is considered an outlier. All the black figures are considered a large group, and the coloured one is considered an outlier.

Visual perception Visual constancies

Visual constancies are a group of perception principles that enable us to see things as unchanging even though they may cast different images on our retina in terms of size, shape, brightness or orientation. Visual Constancies

Size Constancy; Size constancy is a perceptual constancy in which our brain allows us to perceive an object’s size and constant, despite it casting different images on our retina.

Shape constancy; Shape constancy is a perceptual principle that allows us to see an object’s unchanging shape, regardless of any changes to the object’s shape that may be cast on the retina.

Brightness constancy; Brightness constancy is a perceptual principle in which an object’s perceived brightness in comparison to its surroundings remains consistent under changing light conditions. Despite the samurai’s apparent change of colour, we know he hasn’t changed, but the lighting conditions in his environment have.

Application of Brightness constancy in the real world In the first picture, the kitchen light was switched on, and we can see the mug’s real colour; green with white detailing. In the picture on the right, the kitchen light was turned off, and so the mug looks a darker green with pinkish detailing. Though due to brightness constancy we are able to perceive both as being the same solid coloured glass.

Perceptual set Past experiences; If someone had just been able to see for the first time, they probably would not be able to grasp the mug’s two different colours. They would think that the mug mysteriously changed colour as the light switched on and off. Context; Relying on context helps us to see why the mug is changing colour. We can see the change in colour in the mug’s environment, for example, in image one, the surface appears illuminated which tells us that there is some form of light shining on the object. Psychological perspectives Biological perspective can be applied in this example because it has a lot to do with light, and how the human retina’s rods and cones react before the message is sent to our brain to be interpreted. Cognitive perspective can also play a part, as though the process between recognising the two mugs is long, our brain with much practice is used to it and can do it in a moment.

Orientation constancy; Orientation is a perceptual constancy where an object’s real orientation is perceived as unchanged despite changes in the orientation of the object’s image cast on the retina. Orientation constancy tells us the bear isn’t standing on his head, but he’s just flipped around.

Visual perspective Visual illusions

Visual Illusions Our brains use rules of visual perception (eg. Gestalt) to help interpret images that are cast on our retina. However, it is possible for errors to occur and the images that we percieve become inaccurate. ‘Visual illusion’ is the name given to stimulus that defy rules of perception during interpretation. The stimulus (or illusion) provide the eyes with cues that mislead what is seen. This results in a confusion between perception and he reality of the actual stimulus

Crooked Leg Illusion In this illusion, the two men’s legs appear to be crooked. But are they really? The lattice pattern in the area where their legs stretch allow us to see their legs as being bent, when in reality they are actually perfectly straight. Perceptual set Top down processing, when looking at this image as a whole, the legs appear to be crooked. But if closely examined, it is possible to see that the lines that form the legs are actually straight down. Psychological perspectives Again, cognitive perspective can be applied. Our brain automatically pieces the picture together as a whole before completely analysing it.

‘Perspectives in Modern Psychology’ 2011, http://psychology.about.com/od/psychology101/a/perspectives.htm ‘Studying Workplace Learning’ April 1st, 2009, http://workbloglearning.wordpress.com/2009/04/01/socio-cultural-perspectives-the-influence-of-our-social-environment-on-development/ ‘Crooked Leg Illusion’ 2011 http://www.eyetricks.com/4501.htm ‘Visual Perception’ 2011 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_perception H. Van Iersel, K. Bradley, D. Coon, K. Kendall, J. Koerner, S. Nailer, R. Pringle, A. Rossborough, Nelson Psychology Units 1 & 2, 2009, Nelson Cengage Learning Australia, Second Edition, South Melbourne, Victoria 3025. Pages: 49, 51, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 85, 90, 94, 94, 95, 96 & 97. Bibliography

Psychological perspectives