Optical Illusions

Gestalt psychology is a topic that is a bit off of the path that I usually take. Where my usual topics are related to personality theories and the like, the Gestalt psychology is a set of rules and observations that relate more to the way our brain works to process the information that we perceive.

In the Gestalt package, there are six laws:

• Law of good figure - Stimulus patterns are seen so that the perceived structures are as simple as possible.
• Law of similarity – Similar items are grouped together.
• Law of good continuation – Points that, when connected create a striate or smooth curve, are seen as belonging together.
• Law of nearness – Things near one another appear to be grouped
• Law of common fate – Things moving in the same direction appear to be grouped together.
• Law of familiarity – Things are more likely to form groups if those groups would be familiar or meaningful.

These laws, along with other attributes of our perception such as motion and color perception, can be used to explain and create interesting and fun optical illusions found at your local internet web site, such as here.

I have personally observed something interesting though. Most people that I have talked with about optical illusions said that while some optical illusions seem to work on them, others do not come across as strongly. This made me think that perhaps there was a natural susceptibility to optical illusions. I looked into it a bit, and found that there has indeed been some research into the effects of unilateral brain lesions and their effect on the perception of optical illusions. The abstract of the research can be found here. This research shows that some lesions on the brain do affect the strength of the illusions. As a side note, the research also shows that the hemisphere of the brain in which the lesion is placed does not seem to matter.

Anyway, this has me wondering about biological susceptibility. I think that some people are just more prone to some optical illusions. The one question that I keep asking myself is: Is susceptibility to optical illusions a sign that one's perception is stronger or weaker? Lesions weakening the perception of illusions would suggest that the strength of an optical illusion is a sign of healthy perception, but in some cases, I can see the advantages of not being confused or tricked by particular optical illusions. I suppose I am taking a far too broad and simplistic a stance on "optical illusions." Many play on different aspects of perception, and likely function on differing parts of the brain.

The illusion that gets to me the most is the breathing box, while the hidden bird illusion does not work on me. I can see it no matter what. What illusions are your favorites? Which illusions work well on you, and what ones are lost on your perception?

Next week I will discuss Ellis's fifth trait, flexibility, and the time after that I will start talking about the "Big Five." As always, thanks for reading.

Ellis’s fifth trait of a healthy personality: Flexibility.

Hold up.

In the last few weeks I have been pretty swamped with final projects for some of my classes, so I have been unable to work on the next post. I will need to postpone the post until next week, after my projects and finals are finished. I apologize, but maintaining my GPA is priority at the moment. Thank you for your understanding and patience.

Ellis and Healthy Personalities #4: Acceptance of Uncertainty

Ellis’s fourth trait of health personalities is acceptance of uncertainty. I feel that the wording here is pretty self explanatory, and the rationale behind this can be easily deciphered. The world is a naturally uncertain place. Regardless of numerous claims and attempts, there is no definitive and accurate way to decipher future events. There are many ways to react to the undeniable uncertainty of the world. Many have constructed elaborate scenarios and conspiracies in their minds to feign some understanding of the world’s workings, take practice in various rituals to promote luck so that they may have some control of the future, or turn to theology to provide some assured and definitive certainty in their lives. It is not a big leap to say that failure to accept the uncertainty that exists in life may lead to fear and anxiety. One of the cornerstones of Ellis’s idea of psychotherapy was to aid the individual into becoming minimally anxious. In this line of logic, gaining some acceptance of the uncertain future can help reduce one’s anxiety. This is a pretty simple idea to grasp, but there are a few finer points that could use some exploration.

What does it mean to accept uncertainty? Well, I believe that acceptance in this particular context comes in a few stages. Firstly, to accept something, one must first acknowledge it. Acceptance can not come from escapism, and hiding from the frightening idea of vast possibility and unknowable future only surrenders to the anxiety caused by lack of knowledge. Being able to acknowledge the uncertainty means that an individual can, when there is a lack of sufficient evidence, shrug one’s shoulders and say “I don’t know.” I don’t know what will happen, I don’t know how this will work, and I don’t know what is going on. Secondly, and likely a bit harder, is being okay with it. This is a complicated thing to do, with a simple way to say it. So now we can add “but that’s okay” to the end of our “I don’t know.” Thirdly, there is a healthy desire to investigate the unknown through exploration and discovery, rather than attempting to control the unknown through speculation and superstition.

One thing that I have been doing lately is a great deal of cross cultural research. One of the methods that researchers use to identify differences in cultures is Geert Hofsted’s five cultural dimensions. One of these dimensions in which cultural context is defined is avoidance of uncertainty. This means that an entire culture’s tendency to avoid or explore the unknown and uncertainty is one of the five traits that researchers have agreed are vital enough, and universal enough, to define the cultural context and pattern of thought of an entire people by. This means that avoidance of uncertainty is a cultural thing. It varies widely, depending on a plethora of cultural and theological factors. Also, across cultures the definitions and attitudes regarding healthy personalities differ. Admittedly, this casts some doubt on the use of Ellis’s model for a healthy personality across varying cultures. On the other hand, there are great similarities in many western cultures, and that is the cultural context that both I and Ellis reside. So, in the cultural context in which I live, is the same in which this concept was created and is applicable. This works for me, as this is the context that I plan on working in. Yet I think it is good to know where an idea falters, and where the weaknesses lie.

Next time I will begin discussing Gestalt psychology, and the time after that I will be discussing Ellis’s fifth trait of a healthy personality: Flexibility.