• Objectives

To provide evidence for the nature nurture debate from cross cultural studies

To state some methodological problems with cross cultural research.

Infant Studies

• What studies can you remember from last lesson?

• What did it tell us about visual perception and the nature nurture debate?

• Complete the worksheet ‘infant eyes’ using the handout from the Folens book- try to use NEW studies we didn’t look at last time.

Cross Cultural Studies

• How can a cross cultural study provide some insight into the nature- nurture debate?

• If something happens across all communities, there is good evidence that this is innate. If it only happens in one culture, it’s probably down to learning.

Example- The Muller- Lyer IllusionSegal, Cambell and Herskovits (1963) showed this illusion to people around the world.

People who lived in the Western word were much more susceptible to the illusion than those from less urbanised groups.

They came up with the CARPENTERED WORLD hypothesis. (see page 69 from your book)

……HOWEVER (AO2)

• Not all research has found this effect!

• Jahoda (1966) didn’t find this when she researched in Ghana.

• She believed that there is an alternative explanation, possibly that participants from non-western groups were not familiar with drawings and photos.

Depth Perception

• Colin Turnbull took a BaMbuti Pygmy from the Congo, used to living in dense forest to visit the plains for the first time, and wrote this account: ‘And then he saw the buffulo, still grazing lazily several miles away, far down below. He turned to me and said “ what insects are those?” At first I hardly understood, then I realised that in the forest, vision is so limited that there is no need to make an automatic allowance for distance when judging size’. (Turnbull, 1963)

Hudson (1960)

• Even in western cultures, young children don’t seen to show evidence of understanding depth cues.

• If the language used in Hudson’s study was changed slightly (from “which is nearer to the man?” to “Which is nearer to you?” performance improved (indicated problems with methodology/validity)

Showed line drawings of three dimensional scenes to people from different African cultures and asked them questions about what the spear was pointing at (“Which is nearer to the man”).

Participants often got the ‘wrong’ answer which indicates that they did not see the picture as a 2d representation of a 3d scene. No depth perception using these pictorial clues!

Hudson- part two!

• Showed Zambian and British schoolchildren a line drawing of a geometric figure. Gave them some sticks and clay and asked them to build it.

• British Kids made 3d models, Zambian kids made 2d models.

Visual Constancies

• Size constancy

• Shape constancy

• Segall and the Muller Lyer illusion-Zulus lived in circuar huts and so have not learned the depth cues proposed to explain the illusion.

Shape constancy

• Allport and Pettigrew (1957) tested Zulu people in SA with the trapezoid window illusions. The Zulus did not have rectangular windows and were less likely to experience the illusion, showing the shape constancy had not been learned.

• http://www.exploratorium.edu/exhibits/trapezoidal_window/trap_window.html

Pictorial conventions

• Pictorial conventions differ in different cultures.

• Objectives

To provide evidence for the nature nurture debate from infant studies.

To provide evidence for the nature nurture debate from cross cultural studies

To state some methodological problems with cross cultural research.

Methodological Issues with C.C research

• Imposed Etic

• When a psychological technique designed for use in one culture then used inappropriately in another.

• Use of Natural experiments

• IV is culture, but obviously this cannot be directly manipulated! Validity issues, no way we can control all of the extraneous variables.

Methodological Issues with C.C research

Methodological Issues with C.C research

• Language/ communication issues

• Are the concepts directly translatable?

• Objectives

To provide evidence for the nature nurture debate from infant studies.

To provide evidence for the nature nurture debate from cross cultural studies

To state some methodological problems with cross cultural research.