PS124- Introduction to Psychology – Unit 8 Seminar

Perception How we identify and interpret our

sensations and how we organize them into our thought processes

Sensation vehicle through which we take the

information in

Motivation Culture Upbringing Religion Gender Profession Geography

Does our perceptions remain relatively stable, or change throughout the lifespan?

Embodied Perception – Profitt’s runner experiment Superbowl phenomenon

Gestalt –the whole is more than the sum of its parts (unified whole) Figure and Ground Similarity Continuity Proximity Closure The following figures were taken fromhttp://graphicdesign.spokanefalls.edu/tutorials/

process/gestaltprinciples/gestaltprinc.htm

Figure Ground – We organize visual images to have a figure, and a background, resulting in an initial image, but upon further examination, the background can become the image

Similarity – Similar Stimuli tend to be grouped together

Proximity – grouping figures in close proximity to one another

Continuity – perceiving stimulus in smooth, continuous ways

Closure – filling in the gaps of an image to form a whole unified image

Five senses Sight Smell Taste Hearing Touch

Failures in our senses Effect on first impressions Sensation disorders – CIPA

Taste Picky eaters? – Taste Receptors Taste disorders

Smell Pheromones Smell disorders Synesthesia

Alternate senses can step up and compensate for lost sensation – for example a blind person having an acute sense of hearing

Sensory adaptatoin Why doesn’t my garbage stink anymore?