Young Women and Their Career Aspirations – Part One

Organizational Psychology: This division of science is also celebrated as Unskilled or occupational Science. It is meant to alter the efficiency and effectivity of line organizations patch determination the organizational problems. It seeks to determine the leadership styles, organizational conflicts and the psychological characteristics of the workplace so that there may be respectable advance in the functioning say of a sector. Not exclusive it’s haunted with line utilisation but also the powerfulness and efficiency in cost of employees’ performance. The linguist or the consultants of this upshot are in extraordinary demands as they promote greatly to the summate organizational grouping and evolution.

Multiethnic Science: patch treatment with the interpersonal behaviour on the one crewman, it is meant to improve the fill in solving their sociable problems on the remaining. It is focused on how the personation of elite and its civilization work in the developing of one’s personality. This tract of psychology is curious to describe the mixer situations and the attitudes of the grouping towards them so as to improve the people in altering and improving their attitudes spell disagreeable to lessen tensions and making them surmount weak beings.

Clinical Psychology: This region of science is untold favorite among additional braches. It deals with psychological, moved and anomalous doings of the fill. It seeks to service the grouping amount out of their psychic disorders. Its preparation involves psychological sorting and psychotherapy while different grooming programs and personality and information tests are conducted low this furcate of Science for the handling of rational problems. Mostly, the linguist of this tract utilize with psychiatrists.

Counseling Science: Counseling psychologists are attentive with the problems of every day chronicle, concerning academic, sociable, bathetic, occupational and organizational. They win logical noesis of their land and ameliorate their clients to overcome situations causation informal prosody. They are working in colleges, universities and hospitals. Though the preeminence between Clinical linguist and the counseling psychologist may be thorny but primarily the region of counseling psychologist involves corresponding methods as those of clinical psychologist’s.

Educational Psychology: It deals with educational processes and practices and is convergent on how respective learns finished educational settings. It is concerned with doctrine methodologies and processes. It is laboursaving to the students in the achievement of merits spell providing required services and substance to the physically unfit students. The psychologist of this subfigure are appointed in schools and colleges.

Some the expanse of psychology it is, the final verifiable is to screw near weak nature patch serving out the individuals in different problems and seemly exceed hominid beings. Psychology seeks to translate and pretend and discipline the activeness that the activity may ultimately be such that lets one springy peacefully by facultative him or her to surmount problems of life.

All women do is complaining and all men are idiots. Well, that’s how it looks like to a lot of people, but why? Why are woman usually the one cleaning after the man? Why are men such slobs at home in the first place? Why aren’t men romantic? Why do woman nag men to death about not being romantic enough?

These questions have been asked all around the world and since people spoke for the first time. First and foremost you have to understand that the brain has change because of human’s physical traits and evolution. For 100,000s of years women had to stay home to protect they’re child especially when they’re pregnant. Woman wouldn’t want to hunt a saber tooth and risk the life of their unborn child, so they stay home a let the men do the hunting. Only in a proximately 50 years, women were known to go out and take charge in the work force, but there is still evolutionary bits left in woman’s (and man’s) brain that stayed with the humans.

In general when it comes to problem solving, men and women have different ways in viewing things. consciously a woman will ask “How do I solve it?” An example that could be used for 1,000s of years; when a mother’s child gets sick, she needs to find the solution to that problem right away, without asking any other questions.

when problem occurs to men they will first ask “Why should I solve it?” Another example that can be used for 1,000s of years; when men go out to hunt for food and risk their lives, they want to know why instead of how first, to make sure the risk is important and worthy.

In modern times where the differences in roles between men and women had blurred significantly but their attempt to solve the problems has not change, so as they attempt to solve everyday challenges subconsciously the woman will only ask “why?” after their attempt. “Why is this happening to me? Why am I even doing this in the first place?” In that attempt the woman will complain because she doesn’t have the answer that she was asking subconsciously, While men in the other hand will ask “how” after their attempt, usually looking like incompetents.

If you go to a woman’s house usually it will be clean, pretty and with lots of decoration while inside of a man’s house usually dirty and barely any decorations whatsoever. The reason behind that is evolution. Remember that for 100,000s of years the men would hunt while the women would stay home. That has affected both sexes up to even today. Men in general do not like to stay home compared to women (they much more rather go fishing, hunting or go play football) Women in general much rather stay home and read a book. Because of evolution, men are more comfortable to go outside of their environment.

Psychologists at Queen Mary, University of London did a research that shows gay men and straight women share a poor sense of direction. The Sun news site says: “Both (women and gay men) are poor at navigating and rely on local landmarks to get around, the study suggests.

They are also slower to take in spatial information than heterosexual men.

This means driving in a strange environment is likely to be more challenging for gay men and women than for straight male motorists.

Psychologists at Queen Mary, University of London, conducted computer-based tests of spatial learning and memory on 140 volunteers recruited through advertisements in newspapers and magazines.

They showed that gay men, straight women and lesbians navigated in much the same way and shared the same weaknesses.

But there were also differences between gay and heterosexual men and straight and lesbian women.

Previous research had already shown that the male myth of women being poor navigators has some bearing on reality.

Men consistently outperform women on tasks requiring navigation and discovering hidden objects.

Women, on the other hand, are more successful in tests requiring them to remember where objects lie.”

This means the female human learned to organize to their surroundings; the human male did not.

As hunters the men tend to be visualized and be systematic; women (who were left in the village) were socializing, tacking care of the children, and doing whatever they can at home. This can explain why men are not as romantic as women would like them to be. Women sexuality is stimulated on touch, and tends to sympathize when it comes to romance. Men sexuality is stimulated more on visualization, and tends to systemize when it comes to romance. This would explain why men are known to be more sex oriented, and woman to be more oriented towards relationships.

It is common knowledge that men and women are different; these differences have caused a great deal of arguments that has ended in terrible circumstances, all because they do not quite understand each other. Men and women both have they’re strong points and weaknesses but together with two different mindsets, they can complete each other, and lets not forget some of the best romantic literature were written by men, and some of the best world leaders were women, we should never judge anyone simply because of their sex.

       ” who am I on the inside?”

        ” why did I do this when I should have done that?”

        ” Why am I so afraid of this thing I should not be afraid of?”

      Some of these people wanted to find the answer to these questions. These people wanted to look at the source of the problems, and they wanted to understand it, they wanted to look inside themselves because they did not know where else to look.

     Eventually these people discovered the power of the brain, and how it affected our behavior. They wanted to study the brain, to know how it worked, to know how to properly use it to create a better person. Nowadays people tend to call this psychology, so how does this thing called psychology help you, how can it improve you?

To know thyself

    You might ask yourself this question ” why did I do this?” or you might ask yourself ” why did I react that way?”, some people might think that they are the only ones who ever ask that question but the truth is, people have been asking themselves those questions since the dawn of civilization and probably even before that.  As I said before, some of these people have found answers to those questions, all sitting neatly in a book for you to read or study in a class. To understand what these people have found, what they have discovered is to help understand you, and once you do that, you will know a better way of dealing with some annoying emotions or get through a tough time in your life… after that.. the sky is the limit.

The better conversation 

        Psychologists have over time, looked at how people naturally interact with eachother, how people to talk to eachother, how people send messages to eachother. What people want to hear, and what people do not want to hear. The skills, the findings, the research that you would find in a psychology book, can make your next conversation with a stranger a rather pleasant one.

What is he thinking?

          If there is some psychological technique for reading a person’s mind, then I did not hear about it, nor did I read about it. However while it is difficult to know for sure what a person is thinking, psychology can help give you a decent idea of what they are thinking. We all have things that we want, things that we don’t want, and things that push us, drive us, these are motivations that psychology can help us understand.  If you know what a person wants, then you know how they might decide to get it, if you know how they will decide to get it, then you might know how to either stop them or help them get it. It does not get simpler then that. Understanding others can help us connect to others, and the ability to make these connections is vital.

              A shiny degree on the office door

         If nothing else, I am sure studying psychology in college is enough to get you a decent job. As sad as it is to admit, we are approaching a future where stress and anxiety levels are only going to get higher and higher, and more and more people are going to suffer for it. People are going to have problems, but as a trained psychologist and as a professional you can help them overcome their problems. You can help guide them in the right direction. In these tough economic times I have heard that alot of people have lost their jobs, but I did not hear about any psychologists losing theirs.

  So what does it all come down to?

         The human mind is a very powerful thing, it can a very productive thing, or it can be a very destructive thing. They are still many mysteries of the mind, and I doubt most of these mysteries will be solved before I die, but slowly and surely we are uncovering more and more about the mind. To know what drives you, to know why it drives you, is to know how to manipulate it, how to change it, and how to make it work your way. There is a type of power in that. If you do get the chance to study psychology one day, then please take the chance.

    If you aren’t going to believe everything else I wrote in this article, then atleast believe this.

   ” studying psychology is not something you will regret”

Psychologists’ Job Description
The principle duty of psychiatrists is to help folks cure their emotional and mental conditions. Talking therapy is trusted by psychologists to help remedy stress. In order to become some sort of psychologist you must have good written and talking skills. When it comes to considerable mental diseases, researchers are responsible for analyzing diagnostic tests, conducting individual periods with patients to acquire a complete picture regarding person’s mental overall health. The ability to establish a highly effective interaction with individuals is an essential ability regarding becoming a psychologist.

Have a Bachelors Degree inside Psychology
The next step to become a psychologist is getting any Bachelor’s degree and that is considered to be the first step towards the profession. A good information and training are really important to become a psychiatrist. As a rule, students get started with a Bachelor’s degree, and once it’s completed they choose either to continue towards a Master’s degree or maybe get a job. Which has a Bachelor’s in therapy one can get an helping job only. People that want to become a psycho therapist in an independent train will have to advance their degree.

Get a Master’s Degree in Therapy
If you complete a Masters degree program in mindsets be sure to discover a selection of careers available to you. Professions with a Master’s stage in psychology fork out great salaries as well as benefits. As you may know until now, salary rates intended for psychologists largely rely on degree level and also work experience anyone have. Given that fact, a Master’s with psychology have a bigger range of job choices as compared to Bachelor’s level holders. Graduates together with Master’s qualification find jobs in the area of college and industrial-organizational psychology.

Go Ahead in Your Psychology Occupation
Individuals who want to put in place an independent practice should complete a Doctoral Stage program which is 5 to 7 years in length of time. This degree plan also requires twelve months of internship. Doctoral amount holders can apply for a license in their express which allows them to training independently. Keep this info in mind if you want to turn into a West Los Angeles Psychologist. Psychologists have likewise great possibilities to improve their knowledge and greatly improve their experience through attending seminars as well as other educational events given by various organizations, such as American Board regarding Professional Psychology (ABPP).

Abertillery, Wales

At the time of Harold Jones’s killing spree, Abertillery was the second largest town in Monmouthshire, Wales.  The town had a population of nigh on 40,000 inhabitants, the majority living in tightly packed, back-to-back terraced houses in narrow streets and most of the men worked hard in the thriving coal mines.  But, apart from the usual crimes that prevailed in such poor conditions – drunkenness, theft, robbery and the like – Abertillery was a close-knit, family orientated community.  So it was no surprise that the most heinous crime of child murder shook this community to its core.

Young Harold Jones

It all began on a normal Saturday morning – 5 February 1921 – when 8 year old Freda Burnell of Earl Street was sent by her father, Fred, to go to Mortimer’s Corn Stores in Somerset Street to buy some poultry food and spice.  This errand shouldn’t have taken more than a few minutes and Fred Burnell became concerned as time went by and his young daughter hadn’t arrived home.  As most parents would do, he visited Mortimer’s to check whether the child had gone to the store and met with the 15 year old assistant, Harold Jones, who told the distraught man that Freda had indeed visited.  Harold told Fred that she’d been the first customer of the day just after 9.00 and had left with the purchases about 10 minutes later.

Fred went home and waited a bit longer but became increasingly worried so began searching the nearby streets.  After searching for about six hours he alerted the police who began to speak to local people, including Harold Jones, but couldn’t find out any more about Freda’s disappearance than had Fred Burnell.  A police search of the area began aided by members of the public but, by midnight, the search was put on hold and it was recommended that everyone should return home and rest before a further search began at dawn the following morning.

At about 7.30 the following morning – Sunday -  in a lane running behind Duke Street, a collier saw in the distance what he thought was a load of rags.  Being naturally inquisitive, he approached the bundle and could then see it was the body of a small child and, on closer inspection, it became clear that the child was Freda and she had obviously been brutally attacked.

As is normal in such circumstances, an examination was undertaken and it was discovered that this small innocent child had died some time during the morning of the previous day.  Scotland Yard detectives  were sent  to Wales from London to assist the investigations being carried out by the local police, the local force not being used to dealing with such horrific crimes.  After thorough investigation, by the following Thursday Harold Jones had been arrested and charged with murder.

Amongst the evidence, a witness came forward who confirmed that screams had been heard coming from a shed used by Mortimer’s Corn Stores for which Harold Jones held the only key. Furthermore, a handkerchief used by Freda was found in the shed together with an axe which it was claimed may have been used in the attack.

Jones denied that he had murdered Freda and, despite the weight of evidence laid before the Court, it was considered circumstantial and so he was acquitted at his trial which took place on 21 June 1921 at Monmouth Assizes.

Strangely enough, Harold Jones returned home to an extremely warm welcome, presumably because the neighbourhood couldn’t believe that a young, hard working local boy who was well known in the area, could possibly be guilty of such a dreadful crime.  But this euphoria was short lived as a couple or so weeks later 11 year old Florrie Little went missing.

Late on the evening of Friday 8 July, Jones apparently lured the girl, who lived just three doors down, into his home while his parents were out.  Jones was said to have horrifically attacked the girl and then hid her body in the attic. Unfortunately for Harold, but fortunately for the police, it was difficult for Harold to keep the body hidden for any length of time without his parents becoming aware, so  in effect he was completely trapped.

Presumably he was certain in his own mind that if he held his nerve he could come up with a plan to dispose of the body without being seen so be confidently assisted the police out on the streets when they began a search for Florrie,  When a search of the streets and surrounding area didn’t bear fruit, the police then began a house to house search.  Eventually they reached Harold’s house and Harold’s father, Philip, gladly invited them in considering he had nothing to hide from them.  Harold, prior to  the search of his own home, had left the house but when Florrie’s body was discovered in the attic, his father, being an honest, law abiding and community spirited man, went out in search of the boy and found him on one of the nearby streets and brought him home.

The neighbouring streets were now a-twitter with the news which spread throughout the town that young Harold Jones had been arrested.  Harold was sent for trial at Monmouth, and this time he confessed to the crime of murdering Florrie.  At the time, he also made a statement in which he admitted murdering Freda Burnell.

Luckily for Jones he was still under the age of 16 by just a couple of months at the time of his trial, so he managed to avoid being hanged but he served a 20 year prison sentence.

Harold Jones following his release from prison (1941)

Again, his release seems somewhat odd.  He had gone to prison having been considered a “dangerous psychopath”, but upon applying for parole in 1941, much to  strong opposition from the governor and the prison psychiatrist, Harold, by this time 35-years old, was freed.  He immediately changed his name and vanished from the area

But it seems that the tale of this evil murderer may not have ended upon his release from prison … to be continued!

For that particular purpose, articles are often written about career choices. This one is no exception – it will tell you about the differences between psychologists , psychiatrists and counselors and let you choose on your own.

Let’s examine psychologists first. Psychologists , or at least ones that can use this title formally, need to receive either a PhD or a Psy.D (doctorate of psychology) in order to be licensed to use their title. They need to have certain contributions to the world if they want that title, as well as a 5 to 7 year educational program and some internship or guided training. The idea with psychologists is that they observe the human mind using several theories, find patterns in behavior and actions, and help people cope with their emotional or cognitive problems. All of this happens with the use of specific mental exercises or techniques that allow the person to navigate between the different states of mind.

Psychiatrists on the other hand, are people with medical education , which receive the M.D. title after they graduate and go through an extensive course of internship and residency. They study longer, but they’re also educated in the fields of anatomy, know the basic structure of the brain and the essentials of brain chemistry, and can prescribe medication, something that psychologists cannot do in most states.

If you’re looking to merely become a practitioner, you can take a master’s degree for 2 to 4 years , with psychology as your major. After some further licensing, you will be completely capable of counseling people on their problems – whether they’re interpersonal problems, marriage problems, anger management issues and similar things. It’s important to know what you want to do when you graduate. If you think that psychological tests and research in that field is what interests you, then you should head for psychology. If you’re good with chemistry and want to understand the anatomical part of the mind, and also be able to prescribe medication, then you should head for psychiatry.

Either way, you’ll be practicing psychotherapy and you’ll be informally called a psychotherapist – the process of using the means of both psychology and psychiatry to help others treat their minds is what psychotherapists (the Danish term is godt psykoterapeut københavn) are known to do. Whatever you choose, be sure to be really motivated to help people, this is crucial for this particular type of job, since it requires a certain amount of empathy to work in such a field.

I wish I had it all figured out. I wish I knew exactly which career path I am going to take. I envy those people who just know that they are going to be a doctor, a teacher, a police officer, an engineer, etc… I don’t even know which field I am interested in. I know I want to work with people and have a career that makes me feel very important. I know there are many careers out there that suit these preferences. So for now I am taking a Bachelor of Arts because this will be an excellent starting point for me, then I will go on into further education.

I still have to figure out what my major is going to be. I am thinking of either French or Psychology, but it is hard to know right now because I am just going to take the intro psychology courses in the fall. I took French courses last year and really enjoyed them. I also had French throughout high school. I should know what I am going to major in by December, or I intend to know by then. I remember reading that by December of your second year; you should have a major chosen.

At my university, I have been to career counselling, but I picked the wrong time to go, because I had my sessions around exam time. That was a lot of stress! So I plan to start career counselling early on in the school year, especially since I want to know my major by the end of first term. Sometimes, when I think about majoring in psychology I think, “Hmm, well I probably shouldn’t be a counselling psychologist like I have wanted to for quite some time”. I probably shouldn’t aim to be a counselling psychologist because I think sometimes I, MYSELF, need a psychologist to talk to! I could major in psychology and study to become a university or college professor. I know this is aiming very high, but I am willing to work extremely hard and I am a very determined person. This is a career path I have been considering since observing my professors at university. I know they work extremely hard!

So I can’t wait to get back to school and figure everything out! This summer has been so long and I still have almost two weeks left!  I am excited for classes and to see my friends, to move and maybe eventually get a new job, while in school!

This study was a follow up to Robersons & Davidoff (2000), looking at the effect of language on the perception of facial expressions. An opportunity sample of 74 students at Aston University were used. The experiment was conducted in 2 parts during a lecture, to begin participants were shown 12 slides each with groups of 3 different emotional faces (Ekman 1992[1]) morphed to be equally spaced from each other but with 2 from one category and one from another. They were then asked to mark down the odd one out. Part 2 of the experiment was conducted in the same way with another 12 slides, however this time participants were given a verbal interference task consisting of a 7 digit number. My hypothesis was that participants would give more categorical then non categorical responses, but this effect would be reduced with the addition of verbal interference.

This was correct and verbal interference did appear to lower the number of categorical responses, however it was only by a small amount. Despite this is can be concluded that language does influence our perception of facial expressions.

Introduction

There has been much research into the influence of language on perception; one early theory the linguistic relativity hypothesis by Whorf (1940) suggested that our language has a large influence on thought and perception in every area of life. With language having such a profound effect on our perception a large amount research has been put into the area, much of this has been investigating the link between language and the perception of colour categories. One such piece of evidence comes from Özgen (2004) who looked at many different pieces of research examining the effect of language on perception. He concluded that our perception is indeed influenced by language and that it may even be possible that how you perceive a rainbow is dependent on what language you speak. However it is not only our perception of colour that can be influenced, another example used is different emotional faces. This (along with a colour perception experiment) was conducted by Roberson & Davidoff (2000) who used a triad of continuous emotional faces in their experiments on categorical perception and the effect of verbal interference, they found that the use of verbal interference significantly reduces the benefit of cross-category comparisons, they concluded that verbal coding was indeed used in categorical perception. However there were certain limitations to this study, to begin with they have been criticised for having conducted an investigation on memory rather than actual perception. This is due to the way in which the experiment was carried out, participant would view the stimulus (face or colour) with no interference at all (therefore perception was not altered), the verbal interference would come between perception and forced recall of the stimulus. Again the fact that participants have to recall the stimulus after a delay also suggests that memory as well as perception may be playing a role in the findings. I will be conducting a follow up study to Robertson and Davidoff (2000) and addressing these issues by using an odd one out task as oppose to a recall task. In this way my study will only examine the effect of verbal interference on perception not memory. My study will also differ in that I will be looking in more depth at the facial expressions stimulus and not including colours.

Aim

To investigate whether our odd-one-out task (using Ekman 1992 faces) induces categorical perception and if so find out if verbal interference reduces the categorical perception effect?

Hypothesis

My one tailed hypothesis is that in part one of the experiment participants will give more categorical than non categorical responses. For part 2 I predict that the categorical perception effect will be reduced due to verbal interference, therefore participants will score lower in part 2 categorical then in part 1 categorical.

My null hypothesis is that there will be no difference and any difference found between the conditions will be caused by chance or extraneous variables.

Methods

Design

IV (Independent Variable) – Type of interference (no interference / Verbal interference)

DV (Dependent Variable) – Number of categorical responses

A within subject design was used, participants took part in both conditions of the experiment, this was to allow for a greater number or results to be collected and also helped to eliminate error due to individual differences. The data collected will be quantitative, at ordinal level. An experimental design will be used to allow for control of variables and to ensure the experiment is easily repeatable. Using an experimental method will mean a lack of ecological validity (rarely asked to recall number sequence between before matching pairs) however we will have a higher level of reliability.

Participants

An opportunity sample of 74 second year psychology students at Aston University.

Materials

- Computer with projector and PowerPoint

- Pens

- Hand in sheet (participant to write down odd one out and recalled number sequence in part 2)

Procedure

To begin with participants enter the Lecture Theater and are given the hand in sheet, they were free to sit in any location they chose. They were then shown a presentation on the computer (using projector/PowerPoint), this informed them the lecture would be the Language and thought practical and they would be “participating in an experiment” in edition to this they were also told “participation is entirely voluntary” and “Your data will be anonymous”. Participants were then reminded that their data could be withdrawn if they wished. A slide was then show explaining part 1 of the experiment and that participants would need to observe 3 faces (Ekman 1992 faces (Roberson, D. & Davidoff, J. (2000)) and judge which appeared to be the odd one out. The Ekman faces consist of 3 emotional faces (happy, angry, scared) which have been morphed to form a continuous circle of faces e.g. 20% scared 80% happy, 40% scared 60% happy etc, however while the faces still hold more of one emotion than another they are deemed to be in that category. In each slide there were 2 faces from one category and one from another but all were evenly spaced[2]. When this was complete part one of the experiment began and 12 slides were shown. The faces were arranged in a rough triangle on the slide and each lasted 5 seconds, to record their answer participants were asked to put a tick in the box they thought related to the odd one out (left, top, right). The participant were then given a 2 minute break before being show a slide explaining part 2 of the experiment. Part 2 then began and participants were asked to view another slides 12 and as before mark down which face appeared to be the odd one out, however in addition to this they were also required to memories and recall a 7 digit number sequence and record this on the same sheet. In this part of the experiment the numbers were shown for 5 secs, faces were shown for 5 secs and participants were given 5 secs to recall number and mark which face was the odd one out. Participants graded their own results as described on the side. The nature of the experiment was then explained to the participants and they were given the opportunity to submit their results at the front of the room, the lecture then ended and all participants left.

Results

Figure 1 – Means table

A t-test was use as the data showed a fairly normal distribution.

The hypothesis for part 1 that participants will score higher on the categorical faces than non categorical was examined using a repeated measures t-test. Descriptive statistics showed that the categorical faces (Mean 10.01 SD 2.03) scored higher than the non categorical (Mean 1.98; SD 2.03). This difference was shown to be significant t (73) = 17; p < 0.001.  As such, the experimental hypothesis can be accepted and the null hypothesis rejected.

Part 2 of the hypothesis “participants will score lower in part 2 categorical then in part 1 categorical“ was also examined using a repeated measures t-test. Descriptive statistics showed that without verbal interference (Mean 10.01 SD 2.03) scored higher than with verbal interference (Mean 8.69 SD 2.45). Again this was shown to be significant t (73) = 5.9; p < 0.001. Therefore the experimental hypothesis can be accepted and the null hypothesis can again be rejected.

Discussion

My results suggest that the hypothesis for part 1 is correct with the means table showing a higher mean score for categorical data than non categorical data. This shows that our experiment does include categorical perception and therefore allows us to investigate the effect of verbal interference on categorical perception in part 2.

The results also support my hypothesis for part 2 of the experiment in the same way showing that verbal interference does seem to have a negative effect on the number of categorical responses. This supports the findings by Roberson & Davidoff (2000) and suggests that categorical information is verbally processed and that language does indeed affect the way in which we process and perceive facial expressions, this is because when faced with verbal interference participants can not link the word/category “happy” with the emotional face. More broadly the results also support the research by Ozgen (2004) in that both showed the effect of language on perception. The research has contributed to current research by showing the effect of a purely perception based take (not memory) and how language can effect this. If as Whorf (1956) suggested it is seen that language can have a profound effect on our perception of our environment it will have a huge contribution and effect on the real world as well as in other areas of psychology. For example it may help explain different attitudes/scores/perception in cross cultural psychological research as often different cultures will use a different language, in the real world it may be of use to companies looking at advertising and trying to alter the perception of the customer towards certain products etc.

However the study was by no means perfect and did suffer from my criticisms, to begin with the difference between the verbal intf and non intf condition in part 2 of the experiment were only small (drop of 1.32 see means table). This would suggest that although language does play a part in our perception it is my no means the most important factor and some would argue only a minor contributor.

It may have been possible to draw up a firmer conclusion with firmer analysis of the raw data sheets. It may have been the case that some participants did not put much effort into remembering the verbal number sequence, therefore the interference may not have taken full effect and participants may still have used verbal processing. If we could compare number of categorical responses to number of correct digit recalls for each participant we could form a better understanding of why the results were found (such small difference between intf & no intf).

A methodological weakness of the study is that a repeated measures design was used; this meant the results may have been obtained due to order effects. Participants may have stopped thinking about their answers for part 2 of the experiment due to exhortation / boredom. Therefore the verbal interference would not be to blame for the results found.

This study has opened up many other possible pieces of research, one may be to re-conduct the study with a independent groups design or alternatively look into the relation between time and number of categorical responses given. This would allow for us to be sure that the verbal interference and not the order effects are leading to the results shown.

Another possibility is to conduct research looking at the effect of verbal interference (testing effect of verbal processing) on other categories to see how much we can generalize the effect of language on processing. Examples could be different types of animal, foods or any categories in order to give us a broader understanding of languages effect on categorical processing.

Conclusion

 My hypothesis for both part 1 and part 2 of the experiment were confirmed by the results. It does appear that categorical information is verbally processed and in turn that language does indeed affect the way we perceive our environment. However due to the weakness of the results it may be necessary to conduct further research into this area to draw a stronger conclusion.

References

Roberson, D. & Davidoff, J. (2000) The categorical perception of colours and facial expressions: The effect of verbal interference. Memory & Cognition, 28, 977-986.

Davidoff, J. (2001). Language and perceptual categorization. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 5 (9), 382-387.

Ozgen, E. (2004). Language learning and color perception. Psychological Science, 13 (3): 95-98.

Whorf, B.L. (1956). Language, thought and reality. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

[1] See appendix 1

[2] See appendix 1