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perception
Your environment shapes how you perceive basic lines.
In a study of 14 societies, people living in 'carpentered' environments were more susceptible to the Müller-Lyer illusion.
Growing up in a world of square buildings and corners teaches your brain to expect three-dimensional depth from two-dimensional lines. Those from non-carpentered cultures were less likely to perceive the lines as different lengths. Your physical surroundings literally train your visual cortex to interpret the world.
You do not see the world as it is.
Where this comes from
- Study
- Segall et al., 1966, Science
- What the check found
- The 1963 Science article by Segall et al. confirms the 14 groups. While the study is a classic, the 'carpentered-world' explanation remains a widely discussed, albeit debated, theory in cross-cultural psychology.
- Confidence
- Well replicated
Related
One of these every day, and every one names the study it came from. When a finding is contested, it says so.