Heinz WernerJoirdan Cole and Meghan Frost

Heinz Werner• Born in 1890• Grew up in Vienna, Austria • Very studious • Played music – took up playing the violin

when he was 7 years old• After completing the Gymnasium (high

school), he thought about becoming an engineer but he changed his mind and entered the University of Vienne hoping to become a composer or an music historian

• At the university his interests quickly broadened to philosophy and psychology

• This change came when he accidently went to the wrong lecture hall one day, he had thought he was attending a music class but found himself listening to a lecture on the philosophy of Kant

More about Werner…• He became engrossed in the topic and soon

decided to major in philosophy and psychology (two fields were still combined)

• Werner’s interest in music still remained • Wrote his doctoral dissertation on the philosophy

of aesthetic enjoyment• In 1917 Werner joined the Psychological Institute

at Hamburg, where he participated in a discussion about a new psychological movement, Gestalt psychology

Gestalts• Gestalt psychologists argued that when we perceive things,

we perceive whole forms, gestalts, which cannot be analyzed in terms of their separate elements

• Our experience of forms is governed by organizing forces in the central nervous system

• Gestalt psychologists tried to show the principles at which these forces work– 1st principle = closure, tendency to complete patterns– 2nd principle = perception, too see two things as the same

form but in different elements

The Orthogenic Principle

• Development process from a relative lack of differentiation and grows to an increased state of differentiation and hierarchic integration.

• Hierarchic integration – higher regulating centers

Self-Object Differentiation• Gradual process by which children separate themselves

from their environment• 3 levels: infancy, childhood and adolescence• Sensorimotor-affective level = infants hardly experience an

outside world apart from their own immediate actions, sensations and feelings; they only know the objects that they suck on, feel and grasp (etc.)

• Perceptual level = perceiving things “out there,” apart from themselves; gain a measurement of objectivity; their perceptions remain strongly bound up with their actions and feelings

• Conceptual level = begin to think in a very general and abstract dimension

Unity of the Senses• We perceive objects as full of the same dynamic forces we

feel within ourselves• Physiognomic perception is based on synesthesia • Synesthesia is the syncretic unity of the senses• Colors or sounds invade us or envelop us or fill us up• Werner believed that various senses influenced one another

through general bodily feelings

SynestheteDying

I heard a fly buzz when I died; The stillness round my formWas like the stillness in the air Between the heaves of storm.

The eyes beside had wrung them dry, And breaths were gathering sureFor that last onset, when the king Be witnessed in his power.

I willed my keepsakes, signed away What portion of me ICould make assignable, —and thenThere interposed a fly,

With blue, uncertain, stumbling buzz,Between the light and me; And then the windows failed, and then could not see to see. Emily Dickinson

(1830—1886)

Summarizing Critical Terms• Hierarchically integrated – behaviors come under the control of higher regulating

center• Differentiation – occurs when a global whole separates into parts with different

forms or functions• Orthogenic principle – “Whenever development occurs, it proceeds from a state

of relative lack of differentiation to a state of increasing differentiation and hierarchic integration

• Microgenesis – the developmental process that occurs each time we confront a task

• Microgentic mobility – to regress farther back and fully utilize both primitive and advanced forms of thinking

• Eidetic imagery – photographic memory• Gemetric-technical – to perceive objects in terms of shape, length, hue, width and

other objective, measureable properties.• Onomatopoeic – sounding like what it means• Physiognomic – to respond to something a certain way to indicate unity with an

object; feeling, perceiving “with” it

Research Questions1. How do the senses influence children’s choice?2. Will children in the 2nd and 3rd grades be more

indecisive as they are subjected to more stimuli?3. Which sense (of smell, sound, feel and taste)

influences children most?4. How will the children explain their reasoning for

picking the professions?5. Will boys or girls demonstrate more physiognomic

responses?6. Will younger children respond in a more

physiognomic way than older children?

Hypothesis• In our opinion the two drastic controls (pictures of the professions and the

pictures with the addition of the sensual appeal) will show a major contrast. With that being said, the sense we believe that will have the singular most affect on students’ decision is taste.

• We think synesthesia will affect more children than not.• Taste is the sense that we think will appeal to most children, and we expect that

the influence of the stimuli: the cookie, to cause children to select the occupation of a baker.

• Initially, we expect the children’s reasoning to be based on influences of parents, teachers, and friends, but after being exposed to the controlled stimuli, we expect that the explanations will incorporate sensual appeal.

• We believe that boys will respond in a more physiognomic way than girls because girls typically mature and develop sooner than boys. Physiognomic activity is associated with lower stages of self object-differentiation and because we are using the concept that girls mature faster than boys, it is logical that girls will be able demonstrate higher stages of self object-differentiation and therefore be less physiognomic.

• Keeping in mind that a child becomes more conceptual in his/her development over time, we think that older children we not be as easily influenced in the study.

Setting• Holy Family of Nazareth• Classrooms of a 2nd and 3rd Graders• Students sat their own desks • Presented the project to them from the front of the

classroom• Walked around the room answering questions,

giving the children a better view of the pictures and passing out the material

Research Procedure1. We asked a group of 32 students to look at 4 pictures of different professions. The pictures were of a

pediatrician, a circus ringmaster, a musician, and a baker. We had the students sit in their normal classroom environment.

2. We then asked the students, “Which of the four professions would you like to be when you grow up?”

3. After hearing the student’s answers we then asked them why they had chosen that to be their profession.

4. After collecting data, we then moved on to the second experimental aspect.5. We tested to see if the students’ answers changed based upon sensual appeal.6. We presented the 4 different senses to them.7. First, we started with the sense of feel by having the children touch a soft blanket. 8. Second, we had the students smell popcorn.9. Third, the students listened to music.10. Fourth, we provided cookies for the students to taste. 11. After each sense we asked the children which profession they would like to be when they grew up? 12. If the student’s changed their profession, we asked them to explain what made them change their

mind. 13. After collecting all the necessary data, we made a conclusion based upon our observations.

ScriptHello, my name is Meghan and this is Joirdan. We are doing a

school project and would like your help. Is everybody okay with helping us? First we need to make sure nobody has any allergies or diet restrictions. Does anybody in this class have allergies or diet restrictions? (address any issues)

Let’s get started. Please take on handout and do not flip it

over. We are going to show you a series of four pictures. After you have seen all four pictures please fill out the front side of the worksheet. When you are finished, please raise your hand. We are going to wait for everyone to finish before moving to the second part of our project so please be patient. Are there any questions? (answer all questions and show pictures)

Please begin filling out your sheets. (wait)

Is anyone still working? Now we would like to move on to the second part of our

project. We are going to show the four pictures again, but this time there will be an added feature to each picture. Are there any questions? (go through with project)

Can everyone please flip over their handout and fill out the back page. Again, when you are finished please raise your hand and this time we will collect your papers. Any questions? (collect paper)

Thank ya’ll for your help!

RubricPoints 0 +1 +2 +3

Distribution

Students received zero points if their responses seemed completely unaffected by the presented stimuli.

The students will receive one point for writing an explanation that relates to the senses.

The child will receive two points if the occupation they selected changes regardless of their reasoning.

The student may earn up to three points if the reason for a change in job reflects any aspect of sensual appeal created in the project.

Werner

This would be a situation in which no physiognomic language was present in any part of the handout returned to us (Werner, p. 211-13)

In this part a child may already be drawing upon specific stimuli within their memory and this still reflects synesthesia (Crain, p. 96).

Regardless of why the child changed potential occupations, a change in itself indicates that the child was moved by some factor(Werner, p.209).

Certain stimuli can cause a related sensation; therefore, a child may change their mind based on a sensation that has been stimulated

Further Explanation• There are three parts of the handout we scored:

– Reason #1 (possible 1 or 0)– Occupation #2 (possible 0 or 2)– Reason #2 (possible 0 or 3)

• This scoring system would show children with synesthesia as having more points

• If we could reevaluate the data we would use more personal judgment on part 3 (Reason2) and give all points (0-3) based on the terminology used by the child

• The reason we did not do this originally is we wanted our results to be as diplomatic and scientific as possible

• In theory, the closer a child is to a score of 0, the further they are developmentally

ResultsName Age 1st Choice Reasoning Points 2nd

ChoicePoints Reasoning Points Total

Tommy Z. 9 BakerLoves working with batter and

family time 0 Ring Master 2 Likes the circus but would rather be

a cop 0 0

Maripatri 9 BakerLikes to cook and there are many

aspects 0 Baker 0 Bakers make a lot of different things 0 0

Lauren 0 BakerBecause she likes mixing

different foods 0 Baker 0 Because after making the food she might taste it 3 3

Sharon 9 Musician Because she likes to sing 0 Musician 0 The same reason was given 0 0

Hayden B. 9 MusicianTo make money and show it to

other people 0 Baker 2 Because he would like to eat his cookies 3 5

Matthew A. 9 Baker Because he could cook cupcakes 0 Baker 0 Because of cookies 0 0

Chris G. 9 Musician So that he can be on T.V. 0 Baker 2 Because he can taste his cookies 3 5

Zachary 9 MusicianBecause he loves playing

instruments 0 Musician 0 Because he likes playing instruments 0 0

Joshua H. 9 MusicianBecause he likes to play and feel

the music 1 Musician 0 For the same reasons 0 1

Emily 9 Doctor Because she likes helping 0 Baker 2 You can make sweets and food 0 2

Alexia 9 RingBecause she can lead the circus

and play 0 Baker 2 Because she can make money and eat her creations 3 5

Joseph U. 9 BakerBecause he likes cooking in the

kitchen 0 Baker 0 For the same reasons 0 0

Sophia 9 Baker Because she could save money 0 Baker 0 Because she could bake very good cookies 0 0

Everett 9 MusicianBecause he loves music and

instruments 0 Baker 2 Because you get to make your own food and eat it 3 5

Arturo 8 Ring Master

Because he wants to teach a circus 0 Baker 2 Because he can cook lots of cookies 0 2

Results Continued…

Kim 8 BakerBecause she likes to cook

desserts 0 Musician 2Because she likes to sing all of

the time 0 2

Jorge 8 Ring Master

Because he learned piano 0 Ring Master 0

Because he likes playing the piano 0 0

Josh L. 8 Musician Because he likes music 0 Musician 0 Because I love music 0 0

Savannah 8 Musician Because she loves instruments 0 Baker 2 Because she loves to bake 0 0

Josh S. 8 BakerBecause he wants people to try

his food 1 Musician 2Because he could make songs

about when he was young 0 3

William O. 8 DoctorBecause he wants to help poor

people 0 Baker 2Because he could give food to the

needy 0 2

Will 8 BakerHe would like to bake him and

his mom things 0 Baker 0Because he would like to bake

himself a cake 0 0

Thessaly 7 BakerBecause she like to help my

mom bake 0 Doctor 2Because she loves to take care of

babies 3 5

Emily 7 BakerBecause she wants to bake like

her mom 0 Musician 2Because she is learning to play

the piano 0 2

Genna 7 BakerBecause you get to make

birthday cakes 0 Baker 0 Because of the same reasons 0 0

Ivan B. 7 DoctorHe would rather be involved

with Tae-kwon-do 0 Doctor 2 Because he gets to do surgery 0 2

Tiffany 7 BakerBecause she wants to make

cake & cookies 0 Baker 0 Because I want to bake a cake 0 0

Elisabeth 7 Doctor Because you can help people 0 Baker 2 Because you can bake cookies 0 2

Andrew P. 7 Baker Because you can make food 0 Baker 0He would only kind of like to be

baker. 0 2

Bryce 7 MusicianBecause he loves to sing and

play instruments 0 Doctor 2Because he wants to help people

get better and healthier 0 2

Ben 7 MusicianBecause he would get to sing

for a crowd 0 Musician 0 Because of the same reasons 0 0

Benjamin N. N/A Doctor Because he could cure people 0 Baker 2 Because he could taste thinks 3 5

Name Age 1st Choice Reasoning Points 2nd Choice

Points Reasoning Points Total

Charts

Gender Comparison

Gender Comparison

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

1.2

1.4

1.6

1.8

2

Male Female

Gender

Po

ints

Sco

red

Age ComparisonAge Comparison

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

1.2

1.4

1.6

1.8

9 years old 8 years old 7 years old

Ages

Po

ints

sco

red

Percentage of ChangePercentage of Change

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

Unchanged Doctors Ring Master Musician Baker

Occupations

Perc

en

tag

e

Limitations• We think that the students that participated in our research study might have been too young. We would

have liked to target kids in a slightly older age group, as they would have been more likely to be influenced by their surroundings.

• One issue we did not initially consider is that the food used in the project might normally be regarded as a treat and reward. To make our study better, if we were to redo it, we would want to use two foods and not necessarily have either be a dessert.

• The students not only experienced sensual appeal but were also influenced by one another. The results cannot be entirely accredited to the project itself but should also, take into account peer pressure. In addition to classmates, there were other distractions.

• There is also, a question as to whether or not all students understood the instructions or project. As pointed out earlier, there was at least one ESL student. In addition to this, we also received several questions about answering the question in the same manner.

• One other problem we encountered, was that there were not enough handouts for the class of third graders. We addressed this issue by asking some students to complete their work on a sheet of loose leaf paper. This may or may not have affected the results, but there was a clear difference in the length of the explanations given by those with a handout compared to those without.

• Like most other projects, we feel that with a larger pool of students as well as, students with a variety of different backgrounds, that our results would be more accurate and conclusive when considering a population as a whole.

Were we right?

YES and noYES! =) Students were definitely affected by synesthesia, and the sense that most affected the children who participated in the study was the sense taste (although, we do admit to a question of validity). Boys did prove to be more physiognomic than girls.

no =( We thought that younger students would respond in a more physiognomic way, but the exact opposite proved to be true.

NATURE vs. NURTURE

Nature Nurture

Werner

Werner’s theories indicate that developmental stages play an important role in a child’s life. One must wait for a child to reach a “natural” stage in their life to understand things in the same way as them. A child perceives the world a certain way (in different stages) but can not be taught or forced into the next stage. With this being said, a child may have the resources (based on family and environment) to be exposed to the next stage sooner than peers the same age, and this is why Werner is closer to the middle. In support of this Werner also believes children can continue to go back and forth between stages based on nurturing aspects of his/her life.

Works Cited• Crain, William. Theories of Development: Concepts and Applications. Upper Saddle River:

Prentice-Hall, 2000.

• Dickinson, Emily. Dying. Museum of the Mind: < http://www.doctorhugo.org/synaesthesia/dickinson.html >.

• Heydenberk, Eric and Rob Okrzesik. The Human Brain: An Owner’s Manual – the Emotional Brain. Library Thinkquest. 31 Jul. 2003. <http://library.thinkquest.org/C0114820/emotional/eq.php3?tqskip1=1&tqtime=0801>.

• Hofstadter, Albert and Richard Kuhns, ed. Philosophies of Art and Beauty. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1964.

• Sylwester, Robert. “How Emotions Affect Learning.” Educational Leadership Oct. 1994. 31 Jul. 2003 < http://www.ascd.org/readingroom/edlead/9410/sylwester.html>.

• Wapner, Seymour and Heinz Werner. The Body Precept. New York: Random House, 1965. • Werner, Heinz. Comparative Psychology of Mental Development. New York: International

Universities Press, Inc., 1970.

• Werner, Heinz. Encyclopedia of Psychology. 2000. Volume 8, p.243-244.