28/5/11

Perception:
part two:


It's amazing how we perceive the world around us. Due to our inbuilt, fight or flee response, we tend to notice things as the foreground and background. Meaning, we will notice the object that 'sticks out' because we have been wired. The object that sticks out is due to movement, colour and shape etc. We notice these because they may be of harm to us, relating back to the 'fight or flight' response, which means we have to be able to distinguish the objects that stick out in order for us to make the decision to fight or flight. This means, that our perception is selective because we only notice some things and overlook others. If we noticed every fine detail, our brain would overload with information.


It's interesting to think that not only do we perceive things due to fight or flight, but also depending on our mood. For example, if your having a bad day, your likely to perceive the world in a negative view. However, if your in a good mood, you may look around the world with optimism. My favourite example is


"While an optimist sees a glass as half-full, a pessimist sees the same glass as half-empty"


Another interesting point about perception is that we see the world differently depending on our interests. For example, now that I'm a Learner driver, all I see are learner drivers everywhere! This might be a similar situation to pregnant people, who would see pregnant people everywhere they go! It might not be because there are more learner drivers or pregnant people, but because our interests are focused on that, we seem to notice it.


Something else that I started to think about before reading the textbook was ultimate reality. Not so much about specific terms, but as I was in biology class and learning about photosynthesis and how certain colours are absorbed and others reflected. Also, if 'white' was all the colours of the spectrum, that meant if there were all of these colours being reflected, which is why we see grass as green etc., that means the grass isn't actually green is it? Because its just reflecting that colour so we see it. This lamp below, sums it up in one, that white light is actually all of the colours of the spectrum together.

Spectrum Lamp

Which left me to think, is our world colourless? I later read the tok textbook chapter on perception and saw the remark about how our world must have no colour at all because all different species on the earth perceive it differently. Meaning, we may see the visible colours on the spectrum, however other species will see radar wavelengths. Which obviously means, this species would not see the world as an assortment of different colours like we do. Which leads us to believe that each species perceives the world differently, which is true, but the hard thing to wrap our heads around is that if each species see's the world differently depending on their adaptations, then there is no specific colour of the world. Leaving it to be colourless. This gave me satisfaction because it's a possible answer to my theory.


I could go into the other sense and how in theory, we can't trust much, however, in reality, if we did question everything and try to find an answer for each of those questions, we would get nowhere. People always ask me what's the point of TOK, if all you do is question everything? But to me, I find it very intriguing because you see and think of what's going on around you differently, which I guess is one of the main goals in TOK.