Monday, June 18, 2018

Beauty in the Eye of the Beholder

My mom showed me this optical illusion when I was younger, by artist Charles Allan Gilbert, and told me that we choose what we want to see. We can choose to see the skull, or death, or we can choose to see the vanity which can symbolize beauty. Our perception and outlook on life has a lot to do with our emotions. Having a positive mood encourages a positive environment.When people first see this painting, some say they see the vanity first while others say they see the skull first. I wonder if their initial thought of the painting determines their perception. It makes sense to think that having a positive perception on life results in seeing the positives in our surroundings. However, holding a negative perception no doubt will encourage seeing the negatives in every day life.

Reference
Zadra, J. R., & Clore, G. L. (2011). Emotion and Perception: The Role of Affective Information. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews. Cognitive Science, 2(6), 676–685. http://doi.org/10.1002/wcs.147
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2 comments:

  1. AnonymousJune 19, 2018 at 11:02 AM

    I wonder what it means if you see both images at the same time?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Tina NesbittJune 20, 2018 at 8:34 AM

    When I first looked at the image, I saw a skull then it shifted to the woman looking in her vanity mirror. Now I see both images together....

    ReplyDelete

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