PSYCHOLOGY & PERCEPTION

Psychology can be defined as the scientific study of

behaviour and mental processes.

So the Key words are:

Scientific
Mental process
Behaviour
 Psychologists have different perspectives about human
nature and abilities.

Under these perspective psychologists study either only the

human behaviour, feelings, experience or mind as well.

Psychology is the study of human behaviour and mental

processes. We need to get the necessary information for
mental processes. It is our senses that take information to
the brain.
 As the primary function of sensation is to take in
information so the primary function of perception is to help
us make sense of that information. (ability to see, hear or
become aware of something through sensation)

Sometimes it becomes difficult to draw the line between

sensation and perception.
 Psychologists divide the process of perception into three
steps:
Selection
Organization
Interpretation

We focus upon only some of the sensation created by our

environment. And the process by which we do this is called
Attention.
 Organization

It is the second fundamental step of perceptual process.

There are three basic type of perceptual organization:

Form perception
How we organize stimuli into meaningful shapes and patterns like
this text.
Depth and distance perception
How we organize world into 3 dimension when our retina records 2-
d images.
Perceptual constancies
How do we perceive object to be constant. Like a round plate is
perceived even when we view it at an angle.
 Interpretation

This is third process in perception.

Next step is that we interpret sensory stimuli. It can be

affected by what we want to see, motivational factors (like
hungry people may imagine an ambiguous figure as food)
and our early experiences can provide ground for the
interpretation of the stimuli (thing or event that evokes a
specific reaction).

Childhood experiences play important role in setting the

grounds for our future approach towards life, perception
and our behavior.
 Our environment, culture, customs have an impact on our
perception. So by changing environment we can also have
influence on behavior and habits.

There is interplay between humans and their surroundings.

Changes in physical space and related physical stimuli can
affect the behavior of individuals. Now this field is studied
by architects and designers as well to understand human
need and behavior in order to improve their designs.
 Illusion

Our sensory stimuli help us accurately perceive the world

around us. But sometimes our perception misrepresents the
world. When this occurs we experience an illusion
(misinterpreted perception).

ARE LINES EQUAL?

COUNT NO. OF BLACK DOTS
PARALLEL LINES?
PARALLEL LINES?
 WELL THESE LINES ARE
PARALLEL AND STRAIGHT
PRACTICAL EXEMPLE
UNENDING ASCENDING
DESCENDING STAIRS!
ARE WE LOOKING THROUGH
GLASS?
CITY IS ON FIRE?
INTELLIGENT PAINTING
ENVIRONMENTAL
PSYCHOLOGY
 Burroughs (1989):
The study of interrelationships between the
physical environment and human behaviour.

Gifford (1987):
Environmental psychology is the study of
transaction between individuals and their
physical settings

Both definitions show the process as reciprocal

between the person and environment.
 The roots of environmental
psychology

It was established as separate field in 1950s. The

current title environmental psychology was given in 1964
by William Ittelson.

In the intervening period it was variously called

psychological ecology, architectural psychology and
ecological psychology.

The turning point occurred with the ideas of Kurt Lewin

(1890 1947) who developed some of the main
principles upon which environmental psychology is
based.
 Psychological roots
Lewins legacy to this field can be subsumed
under three of the major concerns:
First, the interdependence of theory and application

Second, research should be based on real world

situations.
Third, his interactional model for explanation of
behaviour and experience.
 Architectural roots

The use of term architectural psychology

reflects a trend which unites a number of
professionals who were concerned with the
design of the physical environment and
subsequent influence on behavior.
 Interest in the area re-emerged in the 1960s
and architectural psychology became
popular again with one of the first European
conference on architectural psychology
held in Glasgow in 1969.

Several research units focusing on the

evaluation of buildings and their
effectiveness were formed at British
universities during the 1960s.

The term architectural psychology was

dropped in USA but still used in UK.
 In Canada a psychiatrist (Humphry
Osmond) contributed the initial ideas
on socio-fugal and socio-petal
settings which described the
different ways in which seating can
be arranged
 In mid 50s these ideas were implemented in
psychiatric hospitals.

Magenau (1959) reported on attempts to draw on the

physical, Biological and social sciences in planning
human environments.

Lynch (1960) discussed his own large scale research

on the effects of living in cities.

During about the same era funds were allocated to

carry out research in UK to find out ways to involve
more psychological concepts to environment
design. e.g. Thomas investigated the effects of
lighting in homes in 1944.
 Response to environment
There are three areas which are important in
explaining the ways people respond to their
environment:
Environmental perception
(how we actually perceive the context we live in with its rich
physical and social elements)
Environmental appreciation
(the emotional or evaluative element in terms of how we feel
about our environment)
Environmental personality
(based on the notion that there may exist stable traits
reflected in our differential responses to different
environments)
 Environmental perception
A good place to start discussion about theory and
practice is by looking at how a person sees his
context i.e. the environment.
The study of perception in cognitive psychology
attempts to explain how we become aware of the
information in our environment, how we process that
information and how we give meaning to that
information which eventually leads us to respond to it
in one way or another.
 Number of theories have been developed by people
like Gibson (1979), Gregory (1966) and Neisser (1976).
Initially theories tended to be of one of the two types:
Bottom-up theories, which focus on how the information
itself and ultimately the environment determines our
interpretation

Top-down theories, which focus on how our stored previous

experience influence our interpretation of new information.

It is accepted these days that any universal theory

must include both aspects.
Lets look at the e.g. to see how both theories are
important in process of perception.
1. If we were to become aware of mixture of exotic aroma while
standing outside a Thai restaurant we would know the source to
be that restaurant. However we might be confused if we picked
up information on some deserted island.
2. Although light reflection hit our retina are
essential to seeing, it is true that we see with
our mind. Here we see an overlaid triangle which
in fact is not there because we add information
from our experience which leads us to form a
complete picture. This principle of closure is
 Gestalt approach is based on the assumption that the
whole is greater than sum of its parts
In psychology it refers to the experience of the individual.

In making the transition from laboratory to the real world, the

psychology of perception went through several phases.
In the beginning there were gestalt theorists who focused on
phenomenological world rather than objective world of the
individual. This was challenged by the ecological theorists
who Focused on the physical environmental. Meanwhile
the constructivist approach had evolved from the Gestalt
roots. Eventually came the interactionist who tried to
incorporate the phenomenological and the physical under the
theme of transaction.
 Gestalt approach

The Gestalt school originated in Germany and was a very

strong force in European psychology during the 1920s and 30s.

Originating in the work of Kohler (1929, 1940), Koffka (1935)

and Wertheimer (1944), it focused an the world that exist
within the mind as opposed to the external physical and
social environment.
They talked of phenomic world which was what determined
behaviour.

The Gestalt school argues that studying aspects of the external

environment is irrelevant since it is the picture of that external
world that people have inside their heads which motivates and
directs them.
 In other words, if I believe an overhanging rock is going to
fail I will quickly get out of its way even if an expert on rock
structures assures me that it wont fall. This discrepancy
between what is and what we believe is what Allport (1955)
described as the inside-outside problem in psychology.

For the Gestaltists the solution to the problem was to see

the inside as being dominant over the outside.

Koffka (1935) described this internal or phenomenoic world

as the behavioural environment, because it was here that
we would find the causes for behaviour.
 One of their major pieces of evidence rested on the
principle of closure which was demonstrated by the
illusion in Fig showed earlier. We see the overlaid
triangle, yet there is no physical evidence of it in the real
world.
In other words no matter how we measure the drawing
we could never predict from it alone that the overlaid
triangle would be perceived. Clearly what we see is often
more than the sum of the physical or social elements
that make up the external environment.
An essential ingredient in the equation is the role of
meaning.
 The significance of meaning
Since the meaning given by the individual to experiences in
central to process of perception, any analysis must pay
particular attention to personal meaning, All too often research
ignores the very simple rule embodied in the first principle of
George Kelly (1955), who suggested, If you really want to find
out what is wrong with a client, ask them, they may tell you.

The ecological response

While we accept a role for the phenomic world it seems rather
naive to suggest that the external environment doesn't matter.
After all in the case of the illusory triangle, if the physical
elements in the drawing didn't exist we wouldn't see the
overlaid triangle at all
 Brunswick's ecological validity

Brunswick's theory of perception is referred to as the lens model

and is based on the probabilistic nature of the perceptual
process. He was concerned with the ecological validity of
perceptual cues and with need to understand the outside or
environmental aspect in perception.

Brunswick, seems to have been particularly critical of Lewins

field theory concept of life space which he saw as a
psychological rather than a physical environment. Lewin in return
from his position was critical of Brunswick 's approach. Brunswick
argued environmental cues contain information which is more or
less accurate in terms of representations of the external world.

Essentially he sees the process being driven from the bottom up,
with the person reacting as a physiological organism. Elements
of Brunswicks theory are similar to the more directly
environment approach of Gibson.
 Gibsons affordances

Gibson's ecological theory is very much a bottom- up theory,

with a focus on the fundamental properties of the external
world in generating a perceptual repertoire.

Gibson argued that all stimuli in the environment contain

information and posed the central problem of perception
research as determining how stimuli provide this information,
what he called the laws of stimulus information ( Gibson
1950, p.702).

He saw meaning as existing in the physical environment in

terms of affordances. As he says, The affordances of the
environment are what it offers the animal, what it provides or
furnishes, either for good or evil (Gibson 1979, p. 127)

However, while it demonstrates the existence of bottom-up

processes in perception it doesn't preclude the existence of
top-down processes.
 The constructivist contribution

In the area of perception two well-known theorists have

adopted a constructivist position, Neisser and Gregory.

Seeing and thinking

Neisser distinguishes between two aspects of perception. The
first he refers to as seeing a process which he assumes is
fairly passive and driven by the information contained in the
environmental stimuli. This accords with Gibsons model of
perception. However the other part of the process of
perception involves thinking and this is where top-down or
constructivist aspects intrudes.
Neisser proposes a perceptual cycle which involves attention
motivation and perceptual processes in a dynamic process
being stimulated by and acting upon information from all
sense modalities. Whereas Gibson saw the person as reacting
to the information in the natural environment.
 In the case of illusions, where information is sketchy,
information is drawn from previous experience. When we
come to look at the work of George Kelly we see the
similarities between Neisser's model of the person and
Kelly's Analogy of the person as scientist.

From illusion to perception

Gregory suggested that the perceptual process is analogous
to scientific method of generating and testing hypothesis.
His approach is top- down and considered previous
experiences of importance in this process.
 Transactionalism

The transactional approach considers the person and the

environment (subject and object) as interdependent parts of
one transactional process.

The focus of study is switched from analysis of subject or object

to a focus on the process of interaction between the two.

The term transaction seems to have been introduced by Dewey

and Bentley (1949) and is reflected in the work of Ames (1355),
Cantril (1950). Kilpatrick(1961), Ittelson(1950) and more
recently in the work of Altman and Stokolus (1987).

In many ways the transactionalists come to the same

conclusion as the constructivist perspective, that the outcome
of the perceptual process is a phenomic or psychological
environment.
 The transactional process is based on a model of the person having
autonomy or freewill in choosing among the stimuli available in
producing a perceptual image. In addition, the major driving force in
the process is the function it serves.

Ames' work centered around designing experimental conditions

wherein the external environment was distorted in some way. As a
result the person has to work to interpret the information. In the
famous Ames' room floor height and the distance of walls are
manipulated to produce distorted views of the relative size of people.

Using thin room

researchers have shown
that when participant have
time to perform actions
Such as throwing a ball or
touching the walls with a
stick, they come to see the
room as distorted.
From shape perception to shaping perception
The way in which cultural differences influence perceptual
processes was explored by psychologists within the
transactions! school For example Allport and Pettigrew (1957)
found differences between 'angular' cultures and 'non-angular'
cultures in response to visual illusion* based on angles.

Cultural differences in the ability to see depth in two-

dimensional pictures have been observed.
The carpentered world hypothesis
A proposed explanation of how different environmental
experiences can lead to differences in perception between
cultures is the carpentered world hypothesis demonstrated by
Turnbull (1961).

Turnbull took his pygmy guide onto the plains and showed him
the plains buffalo. As they walked towards the buffalo, the
guide grew fearful and wanted to run away in terror. He
couldn't understand how object (the buffalo), which appeared
tiny insects at a distance, grew larger as they approached The
phenomenon is explained in terms of our cognitive schemata
(view of the world) becoming shaped to fit the physical
environment within which we live.
Environmental illusion
Just as our perceptual processes can be demonstrated to be
vulnerable to deception in the form of visual illusions in the
laboratory, so also can we be deceived by the physical
environment. An example of this is the terrestrial saucer effect
discussed by Gifford.

This is an illusion created by the juxtaposition of mountains in a

natural landscape which can Lead to rivers appearing to run
uphill or to roads which actually incline upwards appearing to be
sloped downwards.

In terms of environmental perception the evidence presented

allows us to draw three conclusions.
The environment provide information (affordances) are necessary
and important in the perceptual process.
 The environment shapes our perceptual processes by determining the
content of our perceptual memory, in the developmental process.

The person selects, interprets, and gives meaning to the information

received and constructs a phenomic environment which than
overrides the objective environment in determining behaviour.

Because of the overriding role of the phenomic environment, each

of us will see the environment we look at in different ways. For
example for a developer, a farmer, and a tourist looking at the
same piece of countryside will have quite different perceptions of
it. Though they receive much the same physical stimuli, the
tourist might have an overall view {a gestalt) of "a pretty scene",
the farmer may see the fields in terms of current crop, who they
belong to and so on. whereas the developer may superimpose a
new bypass or superstore complex. The different ways in which
we appraise the environment influences our attitudes towards it.
Attitudes lo the environment are important on two counts.
First, they influence our likes and dislikeshow we appreciate our
world; and
second, they are related to how we use and abuse our environment.
 Environmental appreciation

The work of Kaplan and Kaplan (1982) in the USA is

the most prolific in the area. They have conducted a
great deal of research into the factors that influence
our likes and dislikes and hence preferences for
different types of environment.

David Cantor. His work demonstrates the ways in

which our evaluation of the environment and
meaning we give to it influence our behaviour in
that environment and this can be usefully applied in
the planning of physical environments such as new
housing projects.
 Kaplan and Kaplan and Kaplan have helped to enlighten us by
linking environmental cognition with environmental evaluation.
Here too the person-environment process is an interactional or
transactions! one. We react emotionally in different way? to
different environments, but our feeling about our world is also
coloured by our previous experiences. A good example of this is
the way in which professional training engenders different world
views. Architects sec form and light where moat of us see
buildings, and developers see buildings where most of us see hills
and valleys. The differences between perceptions of different
professionals has been demonstrated by studies such as
Hershbergers.

The empirical evidence from perception and social cognition

research raises important questions about our definition of reality.
It would appear that, in fact the real world of our experience is
more a subjective than an objective realitythe notion that
"beauty really does partially "lie in the eye of the beholder".
 However to ignore aspects of the environment would be to provide an
incomplete picture. Four aspects of environments which are important in
relation to our emotional response are coherence, legibility,
complexity and mystery (Kaplan & Kaplan. 1973).

Coherence refers to the organisation of parts and how well the whole fit
together, and will be closely related to legibility, which reflects how
easily the observer can "read" the environment i.e. how they can
process the information available and understand what they see.

Complexity and mystery art elements which attract attention nod

hold our interest with more complex environments and those with some
degree of mystery providing most interest. Another aspect that is
important is the novelty of the environment. Numerous animal and
human studies in psychology have shown that novelty attracts attention
and arouses interest, whether explained at the very basic physiological
level of initiating the alarm reaction, the initial reflexive stage in the
fight/fhght response, or at a higher cognitive level. The general
conclusion from research in the area is that these different dimensions
 Environmental personality

The traditional approach to understanding the person aspect in

determining behaviour was to identify personality traits. In the
area of environmental appreciation this involves categorising
people in terms of their typical reaction to the environment.

For example, some people like cities while some prefer rural
life. Some people enjoy sandy beaches white others prefer
rugged mountain terrain. In considering these ex ampler we
have identified one of the problems with personality
approaches, i.e. they provide a description of behaviour or
experience not an explanation. We describe a person as being
a "city lover" as opposed to a "country Lover", but doing this
does not provide us with an explanation as to why this is the
case.

The personality approach has obvious utility in environmental

design and trying to fit people to places.