Aim:Do people in all cultures perceive pictures in the same way, and if they do, can we regard pictures as a universal language.Method:Review article investigating the differences between cultures in the way they understand pictures.Sample:Adults and children from an African country.Children from a school in Zambia.Procedure:African children were shown pictures which contained different depth cues. These included familiar size, overlap and perspective drawings. They were asked 'What do you see? And other questions relevant to the pictures and the study. The questions were asked in the subjects' native language.Another experiment invol ...view middle of the document...
In the trident experiment those who were able to copy the illusion figure were seen as 2D perceivers as they simply copy what they see as they see the image as being flat, simply a set of lines. On the other hand 3D perceivers could not copy the image correctly as they tried to imagine what the image would actually look like and were therefore confused.Discussion/Evaluation:The problem with this study is that there is not enough cross-cultural work involved in the experiment and psychology all together. For too long Psychologists are taking a view that Western principles of human behavior and experience is correct and therefore other actions are always compared to this. This can give a negative view of other cultures and in many cases religions as well.Strengths and Weaknesses:The main strength of this experiment was that the experimenter was able to control the independent variable completely to his own choice. This was important as specific requirements were needed.Ethical Issue:There were no real ethical issues involved except for that their answers were evaluated using western views and this is unfair to the group of people taking part in the study.Use:This study gives us fuller insight into the understanding of how different cultures communicate with each other using pictures. It allows us to understand that different cultures use different methods to communicate. Also the review article concludes that pictures are not a universal means of communication which exceed culture and language.