QUIZ FRIDAY 10/21: Top Down Processing, Sensory Adaptation

Baby X Studies

Schemas and perceptual sets can lead to stereotyping which can mislead our perception.

Studies were done where a baby's gender was either unknown, or changed by giving it a boy's or girl's name and then dressing it in the named gender.

Participants were asked to play with the baby and the "boys" were given more physical play and toys like toy hammers and footballs, while the "girls" were treated more gently and were given dolls.

These studies show that there is a gender role stereotype from a very early age

Top Down Processing

Perception using expectations, experience, and assumptions - We perceive by filling in gaps in what we sense

Related to perceptual sets and schemas

Sensory habituation (perceptual adaptation)

Our perception of sensation is partially determined by how used to them we are

Examples:
(1) no longer hearing traffic from the nearby freeway after having lived in a place for years
(2) not feeling your shoes and socks on your feet even though they are touching your feet

People who have THIS can still perceive it if directed to focus attention on it

Perceptual Set

Mental representations of how we expect to the world to be. It is a predisposition and readiness to perceiving something in a certain way

Look at the picture: if you look across at the numbers, you are "ready" to perceive the middle as 13. Look down at the letters and instead you are "ready" to perceive the middle as "B"

Another example: you may perceive a cloud as being shaped like a heart around Valentine's Day

Schema

Cognitive rules we use to interpret the world

For example, a child's schema for a dog might be any animal with fur and four legs

Related to perceptual set and top down processing

Bottom Up Processing

Opposite of top down processing

Instead of using our experience to perceive and object, we use only the features of the object itself to build a complete perception

Extrasensory Perception (ESP)

ESP is NOT real and has never been scientifically proven - there is NO extra perception

Includes telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition

Fortune tellers and mediums have no actual powers - they just use psychological tricks to make customers THINK they have ESP powers

Sensory Adaptation

Decreasing responsiveness to stimuli due to constant stimulation

Examples:
(1) We eventually stop perceiving a persistent scent in a room
(2) We eventually stop feeling the cold swimming pool as cold

People who have THIS cannot perceive it unless they re-adjust

Forer Effect (PT Barnum Effect)

"Something for everyone"

General statements, like "you have a tendency to be critical of yourself," feel very personal even though these statements can apply to anyone and everyone

This is used to fool people into thinking things like horoscopes, fortune telling, and speaking with the dead are real, but ESP is not real