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GEOMETRIC ILLUSIONS AND ENVIRONMENT: A STUDY IN GHANA
Author(s) -
JAHODA GUSTAV
Publication year - 1966
Publication title -
british journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.536
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 2044-8295
pISSN - 0007-1269
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8295.1966.tb01019.x
Subject(s) - psychology , illusion , openness to experience , replicate , social psychology , cognitive psychology , statistics , mathematics
Segall, Campbell & Herskovits (1963, 1966) put forward the view that the Müller–Lyer illusion is a function of rectangularity in the environment, and that the horizontal–vertical one depends on openness of terrain. Existing contrasts in these two variables in Ghana were used in an attempt to investigate the hypotheses. A total of 213 illiterate subjects were tested, and 41 subjects in Britain. A significant overall difference in the expected direction between Ghanaian and British subjects was obtained with the Müller–Lyer, but no differences corresponding to environmental variations emerged on either of the illusions within the subgroups of Ghanaian subjects. The reasons for this partial failure to replicate are examined in the light of other studies, and some theoretical implications discussed.