Perception: An Approach to Personality

460 Pages·1951·21.896 MB·English

by  Robert R. Blake, Glenn V. Ramsey

PERCEPTION
AN APPROACH TO
PERSONALITY
By
ROBERT R. IBLAKE
Associate Professor of Psychology
The University of Texas
and
GLENN RAMSEY
V.
Professor of Psychology
The University of Texas
' in collaboration with
FRANK A. BEACH ERNEST R. HILGARD
URIE BRONFENBRENNER GEORGE S. KLEIN
JEROME BRUNER ALFRED KORZYBSKI
S.
NORMAN CAMERON JAMES G. MILLER
WAYNE DENNIS LOUIS MORAN
J.
ELSE FRENKEL-BRUNSWIK CLIFFORD T. MORGAN
CARL R. ROGERS
THE RONALD PRESS COMPANY NEW YORK
i
Copyright, 1951, by
The Ronald Press Company
All Rights Reserved
The text of this publication or any part
thereof may not be reproduced in any
manner whatsoever without permission in
writing from the publisher.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 51-10243
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
PREFACE
This book presents the view that the study of perceptual activity
provides a basic approach to an understanding of personality and
interpersonal relations. Perceptual activity supplies the materials
from which the individual constructs his own personally meaningful
environment. This concept is employed in this volume as the frame
of reference for interpreting and interrelating data from many diverse
fields of personality investigation.
The advances being made in the perceptual approach to personality
at a dozen different research centers are here combined in organized
form. Following a general orientation to this approach, the book
discusses the physical and chemical determinants of perception, the
social and developmental factors which influence the individual's per-
ceptual activities, and the role of perceptual constructs in unconscious
processes, behavior pathology, and psychotherapy. So fruitful has
been the impact of the perceptual approach upon the investigation of
personality organization that, in the authors' view, it provides the
means for constructing a comprehensive theory of personality.
In addition to the total contribution which the studies included
in this book make to perceptual theory in the field of personality, each
one records recent thinking and developments in the particular area
which it covers. Throughout the book it is evident that the percep-
tual approach lends itself to the formulation of testable hypotheses
in the field of personality research.
The thirteen papers comprising this volume were delivered in
substance at the 1949-1950 Clinical Psychology Symposium held
at the University of Texas, an undertaking which received finan-
cial support from a grant awarded by the National Institute of Mental
Health of the United States Public Health Service. The book itself
is an outgrowth ofthe Symposium, which was organized and directed
by Robert R. Blake and Glenn V. Ramsey.
>v^M^
'^ In the effort to achieve continuity aanndd integration of the discus-
> s„:ion, eac1h a„„u4.tihor „w.a„s^ prov,.i:d^e^dA ,w,irtuhu a^^n outline of the theoretical
framework of the Symposium at the start of the project. The
speakers were scheduled at intervals of two or three weeks, so that
^ each one had time to familiarize himself with the contributions of
those who had preceded him. Each author likewise was given the
opportunity to revise his chapter after all of the papers had been pre-
4
PREFACE
iv
sented. This plan of operation has, we beheve, produced a book with
greater unity of theoretical approach than is commonly achieved in
projects of multiple authorship.
The book is intended for use in upper-level courses in perception,
personality, and experimental, clinical, and social psychology. Stu-
dents in the neighboring disciplines of psychiatry, physiology, an-
thropology, sociology, social work, and semantics can profitably refer
to it for information and integrative concepts which are helpful
in understanding basic psychological aspects of these subjects. Clini-
cal psychologists and psychiatrists will find a conveniently classified
guide to recent perceptual research on personality in the text of the
various chapters and the extensive chapter bibliographies. Compre-
hensive indexes of authors and subjects provide a means of rapid
reference to the several hundred separate investigations cited.
The authors wish to express their appreciation of the assistance
given at various points by Jacob Berg, Mrs. Wayne E. Brand, Ralph
Fingar, Mrs. Mary S. Ramsey, Nina L. Smelcer, James D. Vander-
plas, and Glen P. Wilson. The University of Texas contributed
financial assistance in the final preparation of the manuscript.
R.R.B.
G.V.R.
January, 1951
CONTENTS
chapter ....... page
^1 Perceptual Processes as Basic to an Understanding of
Complex Behavior 3
By Robert R. Blake, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Psychology,
The University of Texas with Glenn V. Ramsey, Ed.D., Pro-
;
fessor of Psychology, and Louis J. Moran, M.A., Teaching
Fellow in Psychology, The University of Texas ...
2 Some Structural Factors in Perception 25
By Clifford T. Morgan, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology and
Chairman, Department of Psychology,.Johns.Hopk.ins.Unive.rsity
3 Body Chemistry and Perception 56
By Frank A. Beach, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology, Yale
University ....
4 The Role of Learning in Perception 95
By Ernest R. Hilgard, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology and
Executive Head, Department of Psychology, Stanford Univer-
sity
5 Personality Dynamics and the Process of Perceiving . 121
*" ' By Jerome S. Bruner, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Social
Psychology and Research Associate in the Laboratory of Social
Relations, Harvard University
6 Cultural and Developmental Factors in Perception 148
.
""^ By Wayne Dennis, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology and Chair-
man, Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh
7 The Role of Language in the Perceptual Processes 170
"^ .
By Alfred Korzybski, Late President and Director, Institute
of General Semantics
8 Toward an Integrated Theory of Personality 206
. .
By Urie Bronfenbrenner, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology and
of Child Development and Family Relationships, Cornell Uni-
versity ....
9 Unconscious Processes and Perception 258
By James G. Miller, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Psychology in
the Department of Psychology and in the Division of Psychiatry
of the Department of Medicine, and Chairman, Department of
Psychology, University of Chicago
CONTENTS
vi
chapter page
10 Perceptual Organization and Behavior Pathology 283
.
By Norman Cameron, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Psychology
and Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin
.........
11 Perceptual Reorganization in Client-Centered
Therapy 307
By Carl R. Rogers, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology and Execu-
tive Secretary of the Counseling Center, University of Chicago
12 The Personal World Through Perception 328
. . .
"""" By George S. Klein, Ph.D., Department of Research, Men-
ninger Foundation ....
13 Personality Theory and Perception 356
By Else Frenkel-Brunswik, Ph.D., Lecturer in Psychology,
and Research Associate of the Institute of Child Welfare, Uni-
versity of Cal.iforni.a .......
Index of Names ........ 421
Index of Subjects 427
ILLUSTRATIONS
FIGURE PAGE
.......
1. Rods and cones found in the eyes of different vertebrates . . 27
2. Principal cutaneous receptors 29
3. Relative excitability of four types of receptors found by Granit in
.31
different mammalia.n eye.s .. .. .. .. .. ...
4. Thresholds of response at different frequencies for individual
auditory.neur.ons ......... 32
5. Pfaffmann's results with individual fibers from the taste nerve of a
cat 33
6. Coupling of "red" and "green" receptors in the eye of the snake
and of "blue" and "yellow" components in the eye of the frog . 34
....
7. Composite schematic diagram of inhibitory and response areas of
individual elements of the.cat's.audit.ory s.yste.m ... 35
8. Activity of three types of ganglion cells distinguished in the verte-
....
brate eye by Hartli.ne ....•••• 36
9. Pain units mapped in an experiment by Bishop 38
10. Synaptic summation 39
11. Diagram illustrating projection of images on cerebral cortex . . 40
12. Schematic diagram of the electrical theory of.dir.ect i.nhibi.tion.. 42
13. Somatic areas of the cortex in the rabbit, cat, and monkey . . 43
14. Auditory areas of the monkey, cat., and.dog..... 44
15. Main excitatory and suppressor areas of the sensory and motor
cortex of the.chimp.anze.e ....••• 46
16. Interrelations (homolateral) of various cortical areas of the
chimpanzee ^8
17. Compositediagram of the supposed "association" areas ofthehuman
.51
cerebral cortex .... .. .. .. -. •• •••
18. Performance of rats trained to dim light, tested by brighter one . 60
19. Adrenalectomy ^'
20. Androgen inject.ions .to ra.ts be.fore .and a.fter.castr•ation•.•. 78
21. Tracings of microscopic sections through the glans penis of seven-
....
87
teen rats
22. Section of epithelium of glans in a normal animal
23. Section of epithelium o.f gla.ns in.a ca.strat•ed an•imal •••
24. Section through the epithelium of a normal glans, magnification
approximately 230
vii
ILLUSTRATIONS
viii
FIGURE PAGE
.........
25. Section through the epithelium of a normal glans, magnification
approximately 375 89
26. Relation between number of "spikes" and mating behavior 89
...... ..
27. Silhouette that looks like a hawk when moved to the right and like
a goose when moved to the left 96
28. Discrepancy between retinal.ima.ge an.d th.e figu.re th.at is.perc.eived 98
29. Three arrangements, each perceived monocularly as a cube 99
...... ..
30. Plan of distorted room 101
31. How the distorted room appears 102
.......
32. Distorted sizes of faces at the windows of a distorted room 108
. .
33. Judgment of size at a distance 109
34. Distance as prod.uced.by n.atura.l gra.dient.of t.extur.e . .... 109
35. The process of abstractingfrom an electro-coUodial non-Aristotelian
point ofview ......... 173
36. Macroscopic abstractions and submicroscopic process level of two
apples, side by.side......... 187
37. Correlations between self and self-ideal Q sorts before, during, and
after therapy 319
....
38. Conceptual map of the leveling-sharpening dimension . . . 340
39. Alternative manifestations of the same drive 362