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Heinz Werner: Physiognomic and Geometrical-Technical Perception. By: Sarah Hales and Becca Kee. Biography. Born in 1890, Vienna, Austria Loved music – started playing the violin at 7 Thought he wanted to be an engineer but changed to philosophy and psychology. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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Heinz Werner:Physiognomic and
Geometrical-Technical Perception
By: Sarah Hales and Becca Kee
BiographyBorn in 1890, Vienna, AustriaLoved music – started playing the violin at 7Thought he wanted to be an engineer but
changed to philosophy and psychology.Dr. Dissertation was on psychology of aesthetic
enjoyment.1917- joined Psychological Institute at Hamburg
– entered into Gestalt Movement
Bio. Cont.1926 – published Comparative Psychology of Mental
Development (republished 1948)1933 – dismissed from Hamburg bc JewishCame to U.S. – held research positions.1936-43 – research on developmentally delayed and
brain-injured kids1943- Brooklyn College = 1st teaching position1963 – Symbol Formation (On language)Died in 1964.
Key Terms in Werner’s Theory Physiognomic Perception: perceive objects in relation
to their dynamic, emotional, and expressive qualities.Face that most directly convey emotionsUnity of oneself and objects
Geometric-Technical Perception: perceiving objects in terms of shape, length, width, hue, etc. More realistic and matter-of-fact.
Synesthesia: syncretic unity of senses Microgenesis: developmental process that occurs each
time we confront a task, such as perceiving an object. Psychomusicology: physiognomic perceptions in
relation to music and musical experiences. Ideas derived “affections” in music
PurposeHeinz Werner suggests that children, at about
eight years of age, begin to express meaning more in geometric-technical terminology than in physiognomic terminology. With that in mind, the purpose of this research study is to investigate the impact of various stimuli on the perceptions that children associate with specific experiences.
Questions When children experience a slideshow of visually happy,
loving images without any other sensory input, do they associate physiognomic terms or geometrical-technical terms with the overall perception of the experience?
When children hear a piece of happy music without any other sensory input, do they associate physiognomic terms or geometrical-technical terms with the overall perception of the experience?
When children experience a slideshow of visually happy, loving images with the auditory stimuli that promotes the same happy, loving perception as that conveyed by images, do they associate physiognomic terms or geometrical-technical terms with the overall perception of the slideshow?
HypothesisWe believe that the kids who hear the music or
watch the slideshow independently from each other will choose terms that are more geometric-technical than those who watch them in combination. Likewise, those who watch the slideshow together with the music will choose the terms that are more physiognomic perceptive.
Procedure Separate children into 2 groups. One group leaves the room. The first group will:
watch the slideshow and fill out a pre-created worksheet filled with terms that are Geometric-Technical and Physiognomic Perceptive.
will listen to the music and fill out another copy of the previous worksheet.
Switch out groups. The Second Group will:
Watch the slideshow in conjunction with the music and fill out the same worksheet that the first group filled out.
(Some of) The Pictures We Used
And now for ….The Music“Life’s a Happy Song”, from Disney’s Muppets.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVgMcYrKvhQ
Research DataWorksheet used for collecting the data:
Some-what Geometric-Technical
Some-what Physiognomic Perceptive
Mostly Geometric-TechnicalMostly Physiognomic
Perceptive
OldYoung
Entirely Physiognomic
Perceptive
Neutral Entirely Geometric-Technical
DelightfulPlayfulHopeful Cheery
EnjoyableSweet
HappyPositiveUpbeatHomey
Alive
GrayGreen Grassy
Male FemaleFlowerTreesWedding
Line of Comparison
Results from Slideshow This chart shows how many times each word was chosen
on the worksheet after the students watched the slideshow.
= Physiognomic Perceptive
= Geometric-Technical
= Neutral
Results from Music This chart shows how many times each word was chosen
on the worksheet after the students listened to the music.
= Physiognomic Perceptive
= Geometric-Technical
= Neutral
Interesting FactsOne boy, age 10, perceived the slideshow as
entirely physiognomic perceptive, but perceived the music as entirely geometric-technical.Meaning for the Slideshow ALL 7 words chosen
were physiognomic and for the music ALL 7 words chosen were geometric-technical.
Results from Slideshow & Music
This chart shows how many times each word was chosen on the worksheet after the students listened to the music while watching the slideshow.
= Physiognomic Perceptive
= Geometric-Technical
= Neutral
Interesting Fact:All students chose the word “happy”.Another Boy, age 10, when watching the
slideshow with the music was at an “in between” stage.Meaning that of the 7 words he chose:
3 = Physiognomic3 = Geometric-Technical1 = Neutral
Final ResultsThis chart shows the results of whether the
children were more physiognomic or geometric-technical perceptive as determined from the data and based on their ages.
ConclusionWhile Werner suggests that children at about the age of
eight begin to express meaning more in geometric-technical terminology than in physiognomic terminology, this project seems to propose that the specific experience we provided for the students resulted in bringing forth their physiognomic perception rather than their geometric-technical one. Werner does claim that one never loses their physiognomic
perception. Rather, certain experiences and events can ‘trigger’ this response and we respond through the “eyes of an artist”. Things like high pitches and low pitches can convey a certain expression of emotion. Thus, causing this reaction in the kids.
Our hypothesis was wrong. No matter if the students watched the slideshow and listened to the music separately or together, the vast majority of the students provided physiognomic responses rather than geometric-technical.
What Would We Have Done Differently?
More “boy”-friendly images.Possibly added another emotional dimension. Order of viewingPossibly another age group to compare (3rd or 5th
graders)
Bibliography Crain, William. “Werner’s Organismic and Comparative.”
Theories of Development. 6th Ed. New Jersey: Pearson Education, 2011. 93-117.
Google: http://www.google.com Rosar, William H. “Film Music and Heinz Werner’s Theory
of Physiognomic Perception.” Psychomusicology: A Journal of Research in Music Cognition (Special Issue: Psychomusicology of Film Music) Spr-Fal Vol 13. 1-2 (1994): 154-65. PsycARTICLES. Web. 23 Sept. 2012.
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVgMcYrKvhQ
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