The Effect of Culture on Perception (AQA GCSE Psychology): Revision Note

Cultural differences in perception

• Culture is the social world a person grows up in – their family, community and country, and the beliefs, attitudes and ways of doing things they share

• Culture shapes perceptual set because it determines what we are used to and familiar with

  • e.g. the kinds of buildings, landscapes and images we have been surrounded by

• Cross-cultural research compares perception in different cultures to test the nature–nurture question:

  • If perception is innate, it should be the same everywhere

  • If perception is learned, it should differ between cultures with different experiences

Hudson (1960)

• Aim: To find out whether people from different cultures interpret depth cues in 2D pictures differently

• Sample: Black and white South Africans, some of whom had been to school and some of whom had not

• Method:

  • Participants were shown 2D drawings of a hunter with a spear, an elephant and an antelope

  • The hunter was pointing the spear at the antelope, but the pictures contained depth cues (height in plane and relative size) suggesting the elephant was further away

  • Participants were asked three questions:

    • What do you see?

    • What is the man doing?

    • Which is nearer the man – the elephant or the antelope?

• Results:

  • Many participants said the hunter was aiming at the elephant, i.e. they did not use the depth cues

  • Schooled participants, both black and white, were more likely to perceive depth than unschooled participants

  • White schooled participants were more likely to perceive depth than black schooled participants

• Conclusion:

  • The ability to interpret depth cues in pictures is learned. Schooling gave participants experience of 2D images; under apartheid, white families also had more access to books and magazines at home

  • This supports Gregory's constructivist theory – at least some aspects of perception depend on experience

One of Hudson's (1960) drawings: the depth cues suggest the elephant is further away, so the hunter is aiming at the antelope.

Evaluation of the effect of culture on perception

Strengths

• Research such as Hudson (1960) shows that people from different cultures interpret the same visual information differently. This suggests perception is not universal but is shaped by experience, supporting Gregory's constructivist theory and the nurture side of the debate

• The findings fit with wider evidence that culture shapes cognitive processes, e.g. Bartlett's War of the Ghosts study showed cultural schemas distort memory, so culture affecting perception is consistent with what we know about how the mind works

Weaknesses

• Task and language problems: instructions often have to be translated, and the researcher cannot be sure the translated question means the same thing. Participants may give a different answer because they misunderstood the task, not because they perceive differently

• Unfamiliar materials: many of Hudson's unschooled participants had never handled paper or seen printed pictures. Their answers may reflect unfamiliarity with pictures as objects rather than an inability to use depth cues – so the study may not be measuring what it claims to (low validity)

• Dated findings: Hudson's participants grew up before global media; with near-universal exposure to 2D images through screens today, the same differences may no longer exist (low validity)