Culture’s Influence on Perception

1. Culture’s Influence on Perception How culture affects sensing How culture affects the perception process Distinctions between high & low context The concept of face How cultural interpretations reflect other elements of culture

2. culture and perception • Our perception and thought processes (cognition) are influenced by the cultural environment. • The external world and our experiences with it shape our perceptions and vice versa. • We will look at the interrelationship of perception, language and thought.

3. Sensing: Western Perceptual Tendencies • Autonomous beings. • Separated human from non-human objects. • External world distinguished from internal world. • External world was static (unchanging). • Reasoning was used to persuade others to see things differently • Attributes become categories verifiable through analysis and discovery of truth.

4. Sensing: Eastern Perceptual Tendencies • Based primarily on Chinese/Confucian understanding. • Harmony is fundamental. • Self-control is emphasized as a way to minimize conflict within family/village. • World is in continuous flux, all is connected. • Views consider the entire context.

5. Effect of Culture on Sensing • Sensory input is a physical interaction. • Our brains shape the external world and hence we are shaped into a human-made environment. • Our thoughts are not independent of the cultural environment. • Studies of Japanese & Americans perspectives on relational vs. objective ways of viewing the world.

6. The notion of field dependence illustrates how culture influences perception. The degree to which we perceive an object is influenced by the background or environment.

7. Effect of Culture on Sensing • No two people will sense things the same way and hence could make similar or different meanings out of those sensations. • Depends on the cultural conditioning of the individual. • Seeing things in your environment, in the Pacific Northwest we are attuned to different kinds of humidity, rain, drizzle, foggy wet, downpour, showers, snow, sleet, hail…

8. The Process of Perceiving • What we learn to perceive is as much related to sensation as it is to culture. • Perception is described as a three-step process • Selection • Organization • Interpretation

9. Process Step # 1: Selection • On a physiological level, our brains sort out stimuli subconsciously. • Needs often determine what it is we attend to (hunger, temperature, time). • We also learned to select certain stimuli to attend to in our environments. • Language Hearing sounds from another language that are unfamiliar to you in your language.

10. Process Step # 2: Organization • How do you categorize perceptions? According to Ludwig Wittgenstein, language provides the symbol to group perceptions of any kind together (p. 64). • We use conceptual categories • Grouping like objects together.

11. Process Step # 3: Interpretation • Attaching meaning to sense data = decoding • Same stimuli can be interpreted very differently depending on the meaning you attach to it (police officer). • Be mindful of applying your cultural meanings to new cultural experiences. • How do we interpret the meaning of such diverse things as foods and religious icons?

12. Tasting Experiment • People took a chance on getting a regular Jelly Belly jelly bean or one with a disgusting flavor such as booger or baby wipes • "Disgusting. I can't even describe it, " said Chelsea Ericson of Bellingham, after trying a centipede-tasting Jelly Belly jelly bean.

13. Jelly Bean taster

14. High versus Low Context • Communication model in Ch 2 – context or environment. Edward T. Hall see context as a spectrum ranging from high to low. • Low context cultures rely on language (explicit codes) to convey information. • High context cultures are those that implicitly code their environments (extra-linguistic).

15. The concept of Face • The Chinese have conceptualized “face” in two ways: • Lien (face)- Integrity of the individual’s moral character. Losing this makes it impossible to function (with respect) in the community. Mien tzd ( image) – Western idea of reputation or prestige (status) one has achieved in life. ☻Westerners tend to engage in direct face management while Easterners tend to use an intermediary to save face.

16. Case Study: perception and food • Chinese Cuisine: Influences of Confucianism and Taoism on its development. • Balance: Fan (grains) and Chai (vegetable & meat dishes). • “the Way” – Lao-tzu. Living in accord with nature is guiding principle. • Yin and Yang reflects desire for complementary food groups/balance.

17. Yin and Yang = balance between life and nature • Yin qualities include cool, dark, moist, shady side of the hill. Foods like water plants, crustaceans, and certain beans. • Yang qualities include the warm, dry, & sunny side of the hill. Oily and hot foods, peppery hot flavoring, fatty meat, and Oil plant foods (peanuts) are yang foods. • Goal is to eat in proper amounts to have balance.

18. Yin and Yang

19. From the Intercultural Perspective • Learn to train your senses to pick up on alternative interpretations or even to pick up on sensations that we are not accustomed to experiencing and decoding. • Learn to perception check – ask for feedback if you are uncertain about your interpretation – builds community too!

20. In your own experience • Identify a food that you feel is exotic. • Why is it exotic? • What role does the food play in the culture? • Identify foods that are everyday but might be considered exotic in another culture.

21. Our Senses and their limitations • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGQmdoK_ZfY

22. Update on dolphin killing in Taiji • http://blog.seattlepi.com/candacewhiting/2014/01/22/u-s-state-department-expresses-concern-about-the-japan-dolphin-drive-supports-ambassador-kennedy/