Are Ambiguous Figures Actually Ambivalent?
Author(s): G. Daniel Lassiter, Andrew L. Geers
Abstract: Psychologists have long held that certain stimuli—so-called ambiguous figures—lack intrinsic or objective meaning and therefore give rise to multiple percepts. We argue that such stimuli may actually be better characterized as "ambivalent figures." That is, rather than being devoid of inherent meaningful structure, these stimuli may simultaneously comprise two or more distinct structures, only one of which is detected at a time. Two samples of university students (Ns = 143 and 157) viewed a stimulus that could be identified as either human or animal following instantiation ofa human or animal interpretive set. Independently, location of initial fixation on the stimulus was varied to make a human or animal identification more likely. When the percept suggested by the interpretive set was opposite the percept specified by the initial fixation, the typical effect of interpretive set was actually reversed. These data support the proposed re-conceptualization from ambiguous to ambivalent.
Pages: 162-170
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