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examBoard: AQA
examType: GCSE
lessonTitle: Constructivist Theory Introduction
Richard Gregory (1923-2010) was a British psychologist who developed the Constructivist Theory of perception in the 1960s. His theory suggests that perception is not simply about receiving sensory information (what we see, hear, etc.) but is an active process where we construct meaning based on our past experiences and knowledge.
Key Definitions:
Gregory believed that what we perceive is not a direct copy of what's in the world. Instead, our brain takes the incomplete information from our senses and fills in the gaps using our existing knowledge. This means perception is a bit like being a detective - making the best guess based on limited clues!
This theory helps explain why people can see different things when looking at the same object, why optical illusions work and why our expectations can sometimes lead us to misinterpret what we're seeing. It shows that perception is subjective and influenced by our personal experiences.
According to Gregory, perception follows a specific process:
When we encounter something in our environment, our brain goes through these steps:
Our sensory organs gather raw data from the environment (e.g., patterns of light hitting the retina).
Our brain forms a 'perceptual hypothesis' about what we might be seeing, based on this limited information.
We use our existing knowledge and past experiences to fill in missing details and make sense of the information.
A central idea in Gregory's theory is top-down processing. Unlike bottom-up processing (which starts with sensory data), top-down processing begins with our existing knowledge and expectations.
Starts with raw sensory data and builds up to perception (data-driven)
Example: Seeing individual lines and curves before recognising a letter 'A'
Starts with knowledge and expectations to interpret sensory data (knowledge-driven)
Example: Quickly reading a text with mssng lttrs because your brain fills in the gaps
One of Gregory's famous examples is the hollow face illusion. When looking at a concave (pushed-in) mask of a face from a distance, most people perceive it as a normal convex (pushed-out) face. This happens because our brain has a strong schema that faces are convex, not concave. Our prior knowledge overrides the sensory information, demonstrating top-down processing in action.
Even when we know the face is hollow, we still see it as normal - showing how powerful our existing knowledge can be in shaping perception!
Gregory supported his theory with several key pieces of evidence:
Gregory was particularly interested in visual illusions as they demonstrate how our perception can be misled by our expectations and prior knowledge.
Two lines of equal length appear different because of arrow-like figures at their ends. Gregory explained this as our brain interpreting the lines as 3D corners in a room, with one appearing further away (and therefore perceived as longer).
Two identical lines appear different in size when placed between converging lines (like railway tracks). Our experience with perspective makes us perceive the upper line as longer because we think it's further away.
Gregory was fascinated by images that can be perceived in two different ways, such as the famous duck-rabbit picture or the Necker cube. These demonstrate how perception can flip between two interpretations of the same sensory information, showing that perception isn't fixed by sensory data alone.
Gregory's theory helps explain how we can read text even when it's partially obscured or contains errors. When you read a sentence with a few missing letters, your brain often fills in the gaps automatically based on your knowledge of language and the context. This is top-down processing in action!
For example: "Th_ q__ck br_wn f_x j_mps _v_r th_ l_zy d_g."
Most people can read this easily because their brain uses existing knowledge to fill in the missing letters.
When discussing Gregory's theory in exams, always include:
Remember to use specific terminology like 'schema', 'constructivist' and 'top-down processing' to show your understanding.
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