Psychology Perception

1. Go to a coffee shop with a notebook, order some coffee and sit down. Find someone in the room to stare at for two minutes or until they look back. Write a one or more page response on how they reacted and how it made you feel to do this.
2. How do your perceptions compare with those of other people? What does a red apple look like? Do we see the same color of red? What does chicken taste like? What does falling in love feel like? If we both place our hands on a hot stove, will our pains be similar?
   
3. Go to http://www.gerardkeegan.co.uk/psychart/psychology_art.htm. Examine the pictures. Write a couple of paragraphs about which theories or neurological functioning explains how seven of these pictures exploit our perception of the world.

For my CECS 5300 class I was instructed to complete one of the above tasks and write a blog about the experience. A friend of mine loves cognitive psychology and told me she wants to be included in any tasks I need to complete this semester. I love her enthusiasm and willingness to assist me. My dad was visiting from out of state when classes began and I mentioned the class to him. I told him one of my optional tasks was to go to a coffee shop and stare at someone until they looked back at me. My dad replied that this is a great way to get shot and seemed as a slightly dangerous task.

Dad is from a small town so I mentioned the task to two of my friends from the Dallas area to see what they thought. Both women, older than me, agreed with my dad and felt the task could be potentially dangerous and questioned what they might do if they found someone staring at them intently. I have to say, I agree with them and the coffee shop option is way too far outside my comfort zone. Flirting is done with small glances and looking away if the other person sees you looking at them, staring seems to be a very aggressive type of body language. I don't mind reaching outside my comfort zone and my dad would agree that I often live outside the comfort zone of most people. I don't mind going out in my pajamas and when traveling I usually prefer pajamas, especially when flying. If I'm going to be stuck in an airport with potential delays then I'm going to be comfortable and I don't care if other people do stare at me since they'll be wishing for pajamas if our flight is delayed. 

I do believe that everyone has different perceptions. I grew up in Nebraska and went to college there. Once I moved away from Nebraska I discovered that most people do not wear bright red all the time, and many people never red at all. In Nebraska red and white are the college colors for the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, also known as the Huskers. Many people, especially those living in Lincoln, have a large amount of red in their wardrobe and we were it year round. When I was married I had to separate our laundry into three piles: whites, colors, and always a load of red colors. I made the mistake of washing white undergarments with a red tshirt and my husband did not appreciate pink underwear.

My idea of a red apple is likely to be based upon my ideal of the color and shade of red compared to Husker red. Other teams also wear red but their colors are more burgundy than bright red. It is a subtle difference but college football fans notice the difference.

The taste of chicken is also likely to be different although many different foods are said to taste like chicken. I don't notice the taste of chicken so much but I did notice the taste of tomatoes after living in Dallas for a summer and then moving to northern Michigan (aka the Upper Peninsula). Tomatoes in Texas always taste fresh to me and taste more home-grown. After being in Michigan a few months I could really taste the difference of the imported tomatoes, they were not ripe even though the red coloring looked the same. They were not as juicy and the tasted very bland when compared to the taste of Texas tomatoes. Living closer to where the fruit is grown made a huge difference. Guacamole also tastes quite different in more northern states. The avocado is not fresh and is often overly mashed so the guacamole has a texture of pea soup or runny mashed potatoes. In Texas there are still small lumps of avocado in the guacamole so the texture is thicker.

Pain tolerance is very difficult to measure, even when one person is trying to describe their own pain and compare the differences within their own body. I have chronic pain in my lower back and right hip due to a car accident several years ago (someone turned in front of me and when I hit them it caused my car to roll over and slide about 100 meters, I was able to get out of the car by myself and did not appear hurt right after the accident). The nerve endings were damaged and I have since learned that the body only feels the pain in the area where the pain is most concentrated. In other words, I do not feel pain in other areas of my body unless that pain is greater than the usual pain I always feel in my lower back. My lower back pain will often change depending on my level of activity, the weather, and how much sleep I have had.

This past summer I had a very serve sunburn on my arm that eventually had blisters, probably a second degree burn. However, I could barely feel the burn even though a few blisters were popped when I scratched the area since I had a very active weekend due to my younger sister's outdoor wedding, a very long drive, and very little rest that weekend. My back pain was still worse than the sunburn so most of my pain was still focused on my back. My own pain is difficult to compare, from one area of the body to another but trying to compare my pain to another person's pain seems impossible. Everyone deals with pain differently and all of us have a very different pain tolerance, partially dependent on how much pain a person has known throughout their life. My pain tolerance used to be average but now my pain tolerance is much higher than it used to be before my car accident.

I also looked at the link in the third option for this class. I like optical illusions, probably because I can't draw and find it interesting how people learn to draw these illusions. Many of them are based on shading within the picture and perceptions that our eyes see. I often find the same type of shading can be done with fabric when people make quilts. I used to quilt when I had more time to devote to the hobby and still have a collection of fabric I hope to use one day when I am finished with school.

I've seen the same quilt pattern used throughout many quilts but the overall look and appearance of movement changes depending on the color of fabric and the gradients of shading seen in the fabric. One very popular quilt pattern is called Log Cabin, it involves a small square in the middle and rows added around the square in a circular pattern. However, once all of the quilt squares are sewn together many different looks can be achieved depending on the layout of the squares.

I did an Internet search for "Log Cabin quilts" and found the two following images. They use the same pattern, one quilt has red squares in the center, the other uses yellow, but the placement of light colors and dark colors results in very different overall images when the quilt is complete. The pattern can also be done with leftover fabric so there is no overall pattern with the planned shades creating another shape when finished. No optical illusions are created but the small patterns create bigger patterns depending on the placement of the pattern, color shades, and placement of the blocks next to one another. I could use the same quilt pattern over and over again and never create the same quilt twice but they could look very different.