Variability in perceptual dimensions.

The article focuses on variability in perceptual dimensions. The present study is an investigation of the differential variability of four dimensions of perception: discrimination, apprehension, comprehension and interpretation. The background for the problem is found in the different ways of investigating personality through perception. Researcher Else Frenkel-Brunswik has described the main alternatives as the "perception-centered" and the "personality-centered" approaches. Briefly, the perception-centered studies seek to describe relationships between perceiving and antecedent conditions. Alternatively, the personality-centered investigations describe relationships between personality traits and perceiving. The former search for the general laws, the latter for the kinds of individual differences in perception. Alternatively, however, the two approaches may be combined. To achieve such a synthesis, the first step is to establish the independent dimensions of perception. The second step is to investigate the kinds of variation in these dimensions as antecedent conditions were varied.