Perception
Philosopher Hilary Putnam talks about re-thinking his view of perception. He states that he's moving towards "direct realism"--the notion that we actually perceive real properties of things, rather than sensations conceived of as intermediaries.
Interpretations: Change Blindness
Daniel Simons and his colleagues were intrigued to learn which factors influence whether or not something is perceived. Many of the experiments they have conducted relate to what they term change blindness--changing some aspect of clothing or backgr...
Beneath the Surface
The challenge of understanding what makes customers buy is the focus of this episode. What influences a buyer's decision?
Interpretations: Selective Attention Research
The link between attention and perception was demonstrated on a basketball court in which people were asked to count how many passes the players wearing white made. After about 40 seconds, a gorilla walked on the court, thumped its chest and walked ...
Intuition and Perception
Nobel Prize winning professor of psychology Daniel Kahneman talks about the similarities between intuition and perception. "Intuition is very much like perception," Dr. Kahneman says, "except that we can have intuitions about abstract ideas, about t...
History of Psychology, The
Social psychologist Mahzarin Banaji talks about the history of psychology, examining the major schools of thought that have marked the evolution of the discipline. Dr. Banaji then explains that, at its core, psychology is about the interplay between...
Changing Families: Idealized Perceptions of Family
Idealized perceptions of family are often at odds with reality. For example, the 1950's was a decade many point to nostalgically as the golden age of family. Yet fathers were frequently so consumed with their jobs during that time that they had li...
What Is Philosophy?
Philosopher Stephen Toulmin talks about the challenge of defining philosophy. During the course of his remarks, Professor Toulmin mentions Ludwig Wittgenstein, with whom he studied in Cambridge. Wittgenstein used to say that the best way to understa...