The Effects of Reward and Punishment on Perception

The Visual Perception of Built Environment

“…Comparison with a control group showed that the 'value' of the token influenced the adjusted size. Similar results were obtained in other experiments (Proshansky and Murphy 1942, Bruner and Goodman 1947.…”

Perception, Cognition, and Behavior

“…Generally, these theories are only minimally concemed with the mechanisms which mediate hetween motivation and perception Their interest is m the manner in which perception serves motivational requirements Perceiving is here regarded as regulated hy the economy of personality It operates to aid in wish-fulfillment, in the reduction of tension, m reality testing, in ego defense, etc. One may make predictions ahout the selectivity of perception hased upon psychoanalytic principles and, indeed, make predictions ahout differential and ahsolute sensitivity But Freudian theory tells us nothing ahout the mechanisms which hring ahout such perceptual changes Yet, either directly or indirectly, there have heen inspired hy the Freudian view of personality such provocative studies as those hy Murphy and his students (24,32,36) on perceptual autism, hy McClelland and his collahorators (1, 26) on need gratification; hy Sanford (34, 35) on the same topic, hy Klein on threshold phencttnena (21) , and hy other authors on a host of other topics mostly chnical in nature Our own work, too, has heen mdirectly influenced, as have the continuing studies of Witkin and Asch (41) on personality determinants of onentation m space Yet few of these studies have sufficiently concemed themselves with intervening mechanisms-^although it may he argued that all of them may be handled hy Gestalt trace theory, for example, or hy conditioning principles.…”

Emotionality and perceptual defense.

“…No longer do we view perception as organized solely in terms of the structural characteristics of stimulus objects or the frequency with which the individual has been exposed to these objects. Perceptions are structured not only with respect to the limiting stimulus conditions, but also with regard to the possibilities of reward (11,12), need fulfillment (1, 7), attitudinal orientation (10), potential anxiety (4), symbolic value (3), and release from tension (2), to mention just a few. In order to describe such facts as the perceptual selection and accentuation of valued objects and the elimination or distortion of inimical stimulus objects, it has been found convenient to invoke mechanisms of sensitization, defense, and value resonance (10), vigilance (2), and primitivation (4).…”