youths in the age of project proposals

ABSTRACT
The aim of the practical was to investigate the pictorial depth perception capabilities of university of Zambia students. The data was collected by giving 38 psychology students at the University of Zambia a Hudson picture of depth perception so that each of them selects 2 students of which 1 was supposed to be female and the other one male, and interview them. The researcher students had also, each one of them, to interview one subject student with a rural background and the other one with an urban background. The results obtained in this study were that 53 (67.95%) out of the total of 78 subjects did fully perceive pictorial depth perception, 7 (8.97%) did not perceive and 18 (23.08%) partially perceived. It was concluded that gender, background and age have effects on the pictorial depth perception capabilities among individuals, in this case, University of Zambia students.

INTRODUCTION
The process by which we give meaning to the information we get from our senses is called perception. In other words, perception is the interpretation of the detected sensory information. It involves higher order cognitions in the interpretation of sensory information, (Louw and Edwards 1997). Studies have shown that vision accounts for about 90 percent of human perception in understanding the world around them. There are differences among individuals in the ways they perceive the world around them. This was proved by some researches conducted on pictorial depth perception such as the Hudson Depth Perception Test (1960). Hudson (1960), defined pictorial depth perception as the interpretation of stimuli presented on a paper in form of a drawing, painting or photographs.

Deregowski (1966), is of the view that the information laid out on the retina is inherently two dimensional (2-D) yet human beings need three dimensional (3-D) to construct an accurate representation of the world. This results in the differences among individuals in pictorial depth perception. However, the construction of three dimensional (3-D) for an accurate interpretation of the perceptive cues depends on several factors, with the most notable ones including culture or background, age and gender or sex.

Hudson (1960) argued that there are differences in the ability to perceive pictorial depth perception between non westerners and westerners. He further argued that non western, tend to have difficulties in perceiving pictorial depth perception except in situations where they have been exposed to western culture or have received western education. Piaget in Atkinson (1994) argues that children and very old people have problems to interpret accurately perceptive cues, whereas adolescents and middle adults have little difficult in interpreting pictorial depth perception. Worsen (1942) is of the view that males interpret pictorial depth perception more accurately than females. The main objective of this study is to find out whether the differences in pictorial depth perception among individuals can been seen among the University of Zambia students with regard to their age, gender and residential background.


LITERATURE REVIEW
Several studies have been conducted to find out whether gender, background and age affect pictorial depth perception among individuals. Hudson (1960) conducted a systematic investigation of this issue at the National Institute for Personnel Research in Johannesburg. He developed the Hudson test for depth perception. Hudson assumed that individuals, who indicated that the hunter was aiming his spear at the elephant instead of the antelope, were not using depth cues to locate the elephant in the background. The main focus of Hudson` s study was to find out whether education has an effect on pictorial depth perception among individuals. Several groups of black and white South Africans of various ages, education and cultural background were given the Hudson test. The results were that black South Africans gave significantly lesser answers indicating three dimensional perceptions than white South Africans did. It was concluded that the differences in depth perception were related to both education and exposure to European cultures.
Another study was conducted by Worsen to find out whether age has an effect on pictorial depth perception. In this study texture gradient and relative height were used. It was found that misperception of the perspective cues was common among children and the very aged individuals compared to adolescents and middle adults, Worsen in Murch (1970). A study conducted by Deregowski (1970) showed that it is quite normal for young children in all cultures to draw split type figures (2-dimensional). Deregowski (1980:187) contends that" the tendency to draw spilt representations is present in all of us in early childhood and, depending on the dominant purpose for which drawings are used, in the culture in which we live, it is either allowed to flourish or it is suppressed”. In other words, children find it difficult to perceive pictorial depth perception because it requires the ability to perceive three dimensions (3-D).Rosemarie Fortes carried out a study to find out whether there are differences in pictorial depth perception between females and males. Fortes` s subjects were students at Glassmorgan University in Scotland. It was found that male students performed better than female students, (Atkinson 1994).

AIM:
The aim of the practical was to find out whether age, gender and background have an effect on the differences among individuals in pictorial depth perception.

METHODOLOGY
SAMPLE:
A sample 78 University of Zambia students was used, and these subjects included direct and mature entry students. About 40 students had rural background and 38 had urban background. The sample consisted of 38 female students and 40 male students. 34 students were below the age of 25 and 44 were 25 years and above.

MATERIALS:
A Hudson picture of depth perception, paper and pen were used to collect the data.

PROCEDURE:
The data was collected by giving 38 psychology students at the University of Zambia a Hudson picture of depth perception so that each of them selects 2 students of which 1 was supposed to be female and the other one male, and interview them. The researcher students had also, each one of them, to interview one subject student with rural background and the other one with urban background. The subjects between the ages of 20 and 24 years of age were considered to be young and those with 25 years and above were considered to be adults. The researcher students were instructed to create a rapport before they started to interview their respondents. The subjects were presented with the Hudson picture of depth perception and asked to point at the animal which was near the man holding a spear and which one the man was pointing the spear at. Responses were taken down by the researcher on a piece of paper. A subject who gave both responses as antelope was considered to have full pictorial depth perception, the one who gave both responses as elephant was considered not having perceived pictorial depth perception, and a subject who gave one response as antelope and the other response as elephant was considered to have partial depth perception during the analysis of the results.



RESULTS
The results obtained in this study were that 53 (67.95%) out of the total of 78 subjects did fully perceive pictorial depth perception, 7 (8.97%) did not perceive and 18 (23.08%) partially perceived. Of the 53 who fully perceived 19 (24.35%) were females and 34 (43.59%) were males, 29 (37.18%) had rural background and 24 (30.77%), and 23 (29.49%) were young or direct entry students and 30 (38.46%) were adults or mature entry students. About 6 (7.69%) out the 7 subjects who did not perceive were female and 1 (1.28%) was male, 4 (5.13%) were from rural and 3 (3.85%) from urban, and 1(1.28%) was young and 6 (7.69%) were adults. Of the 18 who had partial depth perception 13 (16.67%) were females and 5 (6.41%) were males, 10 (12.82%) were young and 8 (10.25%) were adults, and 6 (7.69%) were from rural and 12 (15.38%) were from urban.
The table below illustrates the results above;





Table 1

PERCEIVED FULLY
DID NOT PERCEIVE
PERCEIVED PARTIALLY
BACK
GROUND
RURAL
URBAN
RURAL
URBAN
RURAL
URBAN
29 (37.18%)
24
(30.77%)
4
(5.13%)
3
(3.85%)
6
(6.69%)
12
(15.38%)
AGE
YOUNG
OLD
YOUNG
OLD
YOUNG
OLD
23
(29.49%)
30
(38.46%)
1
(1.28%)
6
(7.69%)
10
(12.82%)
8
(10.25%)
GENDER
FEMALE
MALE
FEMALE
MALE
FEMALE
MALE
19
(24.35%)
34
(43.59%)
6
(7.69%)
1
(1.28%)
13
(16.67%)
5
(6.41%)


DISCUSSION
From the results obtained in this study, it can be argued that gender has an effect on pictorial depth perception. Out of 67.95% of those subjects who fully perceived pictorial depth perception 43.59% were males and 24.35% were females. Of 8.97% of those who did not perceive 7.69% were females and 1.28% were males. In other words, males performed better than females in pictorial depth perception, given that both females and males were university students. The results are in line with those obtained by Fortes in her study, Atkinson (1994), in which she found that most male students perceived pictorial depth more accurately than females. Deregowski (1980) argued that these differences may be due to physiological-genetic factors.

The results also showed that the subjects with a rural background performed better than those with an urban background in pictorial depth perception. About 37.18% of those who fully perceived pictorial depth had a rural background and 30.77% had an urban background. These results are not in line with those found by Hudson (1960). The assumption in Hudson` s study was that non western find it difficult to perceive pictorial depth compared to those from western cultures, because non westerners are not able to perceive three dimensionally (3-D). Hudson (1960) argued that those from non western cultures are able to perceive pictorial depth after they have been exposed to western cultures. In our case, all subjects were university students who have received western education, and more especially that those from urban areas have been exposed to western culture from childhood, therefore the disparities could be due to other factors rather than background. About 40 subjects interviewed were from rural and 38 from urban, giving a minimal differences of 2 which is not expected to have altered the results so much if background in this case had a significant effect on differences in pictorial depth perception. Even those who had partial perception, subjects with urban background were more than those with rural background, 15.38% to 7.69% respectively. When we look at those who did not perceive pictorial depth, 5.13% were from rural areas and 3.85% were from urban areas, also giving a minimal difference.

The results indicated that more adults did perceive pictorial depth than the young ones. About 38.46% of those who fully perceived pictorial depth were adults and 29.49% were young. When we look at those who did not perceive, adults were more than young ones, about 7.69% and 1.28% respectively. From these results, it can be argued that age has an effect on differences in pictorial depth perception because more adults were interviewed and more adults did not perceive than young ones. About 56.41% interviewed were adults and 43.60% were young ones. This is in line with Worsen` s findings which showed that young ones perform better than the adults in pictorial depth perception, (Worsen 1946). Since both groups have been exposed to western education, the disparities may be due to, among others reasons, mental abilities (Binet in Atkinson 1994).

RECOMMENDATIONS
The next time a study of this kind is conducted it would be better for the interviewers to follow the instructions strictly. For example, the researchers were given instructions to make sure that they split the sample into equal parts for all the three variables (gender, age and residential background), but they did not. If it could be possible to use one researcher, the results would be uniform and less biased. The other thing is that the study should include even the subjects without western education the next time it is carried out.

LIMITATIONS
This study faced a number of problems, among which were, more than half of the subjects had a rural background, more than half of the subjects were adults. Therefore, the possibility of data distortion was high. The other thing is that all the subjects had attained university education, therefore, the results could have been distorted. Finally, since there were about 39 interviewers, it is possible that results were manipulated.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, we are going to say that gender, background and age have effects on the pictorial depth perception capabilities among individuals, in this case, University of Zambia students. The results showed that males performed better than females, those with a rural background performed better than those with an urban background and adults performed better than young ones in pictorial depth perception. We defined pictorial depth perception as the interpretation of stimuli presented on a paper in form of a drawing, painting or photographs. A group of individuals showed partial ability in pictorial depth perception.












REFERENCES
Atkinson, L. R (1994) Introduction to Psychology, Hercourt Brace, New York.

Deregowski, J. B (1966) Sensation and Perception, William Heinemann, London.

Deregowski, J. B (1970) A note on the possible determinants of split representation as an artistic style, Journal of Psychology, vol. 5, New York.

Deregowski, J. B (1980) Perception. In Triandis, H. C and Lonner, W (Eds). Handbook of Cross-cultural Psychology. Basic processes. vol. 5. Allyn and Bacon, Boston.

Hudson, L (1960) Pictorial Depth Perception, Education Press, Durban.

Louw, D and Edwards, D (1997) Psychology: An introduction for Students in Southern Africa, Heinemann Higher and Further Education Limited, Sandton.

Murch, R (1970) Studies in Perception, William Heinemann, London.

Worsen, K (1942) Pictorial Perception in Human Beings, Random House Publishers, London.











THE UNIVERSITY OF ZAMBIA
SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY





NANE: MIYOBA STANLEY .H. C

COMP: 25049429

COURSE: PS 331

LECTURER: DR. MWABA

TASK: PRACTICAL REPORT

TOPIC: PICTORIAL DEPTH PERCEPTION








DUE DATE: 07- 11- 08