On the Perception of Incongruity: A Paradigm

Bruner, Jerome S.; Postman, Leo

doi:10.1111/j.1467-6494.1949.tb01241.x

Cited by 482 publications

(279 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…We continuously presuppose and thereby easily sort what we face into categories familiar and already known. This phenomenon is similar to findings of early studies on perception, illustrating how we tend to perceive the details for which we have a category, and tend to ignore those for which we do not have a category (e.g., Bruner & Postman, 1949). Also regarding communication, both Rommetveit (1974) and Bakhtin (1981Bakhtin ( , 1986) have repeatedly described how both speaker and listener are oriented towards what they assume the other to think and to know.…”

Section: Imprisoned In Meaningsupporting

confidence: 58%

Beyond imprisonment of meaning: Technology facilitating redefining

Akkerman

Overdijk

Admiraal

et al. 2007

Computers in Human Behavior

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Defining is a natural and necessary response to an ambiguous world, but causes fixation of categories and perspectives. On the basis of two earlier studies of project groups, we came to argue that redefining, and hence constructing various ways in which one perceives and understands something, enables groups to overcome imprisonment in meaning, establishing continuous development and flexibility. In this article, we first build a rationale for facilitating a process of redefining, to be taken into account when designing technology. Departing from this rationale, we discuss features of groupware technology that permit change by being flexible, and evoke redefining by engaging the user more actively. In so doing, we argue to think along new lines in the design of communication and collaboration technology. This paper proposes a specific perspective on technology, facilitating groups to engage in a productive, creative fashion of exploiting meaning potential.

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Section: Imprisoned In Meaningsupporting

confidence: 58%

Beyond imprisonment of meaning: Technology facilitating redefining

Akkerman

Overdijk

Admiraal

et al. 2007

Computers in Human Behavior

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“…Seeing is believing and believing is seeing. 6 In a famous experiment, Bruner and Postman (1949) showed playing cards to people using a tachistoscope to control exposure time to the stimuli. Most subjects could identify the cards rapidly and accurately.…”

Section: Limited Informationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Learning in and about complex systems

Sterman¹

1994

System Dynamics Review

883

238

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Change is accelerating, and the complexity of the systems in which we live is growing.Increasingly change is the result of humanity itself. As complexity grows so do the unanticipated side effects of human action, further increasing complexity in a vicious cycle.Many scholars call for the development of 'systems thinking' to improve our ability to manage wisely. But how do people learn in and about complex dynamic systems? Learning is a feedback process in which our decisions alter the real world, we receive information feedback about the world, and using the new information we revise the decisions we make and the mental models that motivate those decisions. Unfortunately, in the world of social action various impediments slow or prevent these learning feedbacks from functioning, allowing erroneous and harmful behaviors and beliefs to persist. The barriers to learning include the dynamic complexity of the systems themselves, inadequate and ambiguous outcome feedback, systematic 'misperceptions of feedback' where our cognitive maps omit important feedback processes, delays, stocks and flows, and nonlinearities that characterize complex systems, inability to simulate mentally the dynamics of our cognitive maps, poor interpersonal and organizational inquiry skills, and poor scientific reasoning skills. To be successful methods to enhance learning about complex systems must address all these impediments. Effective methods for learning in and about complex dynamic systems must include (1) tools to elicit participant knowledge, articulate and reframe perceptions, and create maps of the feedback structure of a problem from those perceptions; (2) simulation tools and management flight simulators to assess the dynamics of those maps and test new policies; and (3) methods to improve scientific reasoning skills, strengthen group process and overcome defensive routines for individuals and teams. D-4428

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“…Yes, sensory evidence may be overridden, thus reducing dЈ. That is evident in the case of the subjective contours visible when one resolves the fragmented figures shown in Pylyshyn's Figure 4, as well as in the compromise reactions (e.g., a red spade is reported as purple) obtained in the incongruous playing card study of Bruner and Postman (1949).…”

Section: An Even Stronger Case For the Cognitive Impenetrability Of Vmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, the exposure duration required to correctly recognize an anomalous playing card (e.g., a black ace of hearts) is much longer than that required to recognize a regular card (Bruner & Postman 1949). Also, as in the letter and word recognition cases, the perceptual thresholds reflect the relative probabilities of occurrence of the stimuli, and even their relative significance to the observer (the latter being illustrated by studies of so-called "perceptual defense," wherein taboo words, or pictures previously associated with shock, show elevated recognition thresholds).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

An ecological approach to cognitive (im)penetrability

Withagen¹,

Michaels²

1999

Behav Brain Sci

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We offer an ecological (Gibsonian) alternative to cognitive (im)penetrability. Whereas Pylyshyn explains cognitive (im)penetrability by focusing solely on computations carried out by the nervous system, according to the ecological approach the perceiver as a knowing agent influences the entire animal-environmental system: in the determination of what constitutes the environment (affordances), what constitutes information, what information is detected and, thus, what is perceived.

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On the Perception of Incongruity: A Paradigm

Cited by 482 publications

References 6 publications

Beyond imprisonment of meaning: Technology facilitating redefining

Beyond imprisonment of meaning: Technology facilitating redefining

Learning in and about complex systems

An ecological approach to cognitive (im)penetrability

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