See What You Can See

What do you see when you look at this picture? Why did you see what you saw?

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When we perceive images, we are not simply making objective mental notes of which colors were arranged in what sort of pattern. There is much more going on inside your head than you’re probably aware of. In fact, all that mental processing going on burns a large portion of the calories consumed at rest. In fact, every single moment your eyes are open, taking in the world around you: your brain looks like this:

A busy mind is a divine mind.

Within psychology, there are multiple fields of thought concerning what exactly takes place when we view and subsequently interpret our surroundings.

Behaviorists believe that psychology should not attempt to describe the innermost processes of the mind. Instead, psychology is best understood as a science that examines human behaviors in attempt to observe and measure the world directly.

Behavior is a mirror in which everyone displays his own image.

Phenomenologists focus on life experiences as perceived subjectively from a first-person point of view. Our ability to interpret objects within our environment comes from our understanding of its meaning based on previous encounters and experiences.

Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely.

Semioticians attempt to discover the significance contained in signs. Our life consists of ongoing connections made between certain images and meanings. For instance, we might commonly associate the color green with new life as a result of both observations of nature and cultural conditioning.

 

Green is the prime color of the world, and that from which its loveliness arises.

While Semioticians can be understood as passive recipients of the allusions present in particular signs and symbols, Rhetoricians focus more on the projection aspect of meaning. They infuse meaning into symbols and manipulate this meaning as a means of persuading other humans.