Lesson in Introduction to Psychology and General Psychology

1. Sensation, Perception & ESP
Prepared by:
Orlando A. Pistan, MAEd-GC
Psychology Instructor

2. What do you see?

3. What is Sensation?
 The result when
any of the sense
organs are
stimulated.
 The body's
detection of
external or internal
stimulation

4. What is Perception?
 The interpretation
of sensory
information; the
detection of
sensation.

5. Keywords to remember:
 Stimulus
 Receptor
 Absolute
Threshold

6. What is a Stimulus?
 External factors which
influence a
physiological and
psychological response
and activity.
 Any factor in the
surrounding which are
detectable by our five
senses.

7. What is a Receptor?
 Specialized cells that
respond to stimulus.
 Receptors converts
physical stimuli into
neural processes or
nervous impulses.

8. What is Absolute Threshold?
 The minimum
amount of stimulus
or energy capable
of exciting a
sensory receptor.

9. Absolute Threshold
 For hearing - is the quietest tone that is detectable by
a human's sense of hearing without any other
interruptions or other sounds.
 For vision - is the smallest amount of light that is seen
by the human eye.
 For touch - absolute threshold is the point in which a
person begins to feel the heat from fire.
 For smell - it is the slightest hint of a scent a person is
able to detect when in a room.
 For taste - the absolute threshold is the minimum
level of flavor a person can detect.

10. Sensation Sense organ Receptor Stimulus
Vision Eye Optic nerves Light energy
Audition Ear Cochlea Sound waves
Olfaction Nose Olfactory bulbs Gaseous particles
Gustation Tongue Taste buds
Soluble substances
in saliva
Cutaneous
Sensitivity
Skin
Meissner & Merkel
corpuscles, Free
nerve endings,
Ruffini cylinders,
Krause end bulbs
Pressure, Pain,
Warmth, Cold

11. Vision

12. Audition

13. Olfaction

14. Gustation

15. Cutaneous Sensitivity

16. Question:
Are all sensory
perceptions real?

17. Pareidolia / Apophenia
A state of mind where a
vague or unclear image is
perceived to be something
recognizable, regardless of
whether it's something you
expect to see.
The term was coined by
German neurologist and
psychiatrist Klaus Conrad
(1905-1961).

18. Let’s test your Pareidolia:

19. Let’s test your Pareidolia:

20. Let’s test your Pareidolia:

21. What is ESP?
Extrasensory Perception
is the ability to receive
and process information
independent of our five
senses.
It is commonly known as
“sixth sense”.

22. What is Parapsychology?
A field of study that
investigates the
paranormal or “psychic"
phenomena that cannot
be explained by current
scientific knowledge.
It is a intriguing field of
Psychology as a Science.

23. Forms of ESP:
1. Telepathy
2. Precognition
3. Retrocognition
4. Psychokinesis
5. Mediumship
6. Near-Death
Experiences
7. Apparitions
8. Aura-reading

24. Telepathy
 The ability to know another
persons’ thoughts or Mind-
reading.
 Telepath – a person who is
able to communicate with
another person by using only
their mind.
 This is the most popular, and
most researched type of ESP.

25. Clairvoyance
 Clairvoyance is the alleged
ability to gain information
about an object, person,
location, or physical event
through extrasensory
perception. Any person who is
claimed to have such ability is
said accordingly to be a
clairvoyant.
 from French words “clair”
meaning "clear" and
“voyance” meaning "vision“.

26. Clairvoyance: Precognition
 The ability to see into the
future.
 Allegedly, individuals who
possesses this ESP can
perceive information about
events, people, locations, and
scenarios before they actually
occur.
 “Pre” means “prior to”
 “Cognito” means “getting to
know”

27. Nostradamus
Michel de Nostredame, usually Latinized
as Nostradamus, was a French
astrologer, physician and reputed seer,
who is best known for his book Les
Prophéties, a collection of 942 poetic
quatrains allegedly predicting future
events.
Earthshaking fire from the center of the
Earth
Will cause tremors around the New City.
Two great rocks will war for a long time,
Then Arethusa will redden a new river.
“September 11, 2001, World Trade
Center Twin Tower Attack in New York
City, USA”

28. Clairvoyance: Retrocognition
 The opposite of Precognition.
 It is the alleged ability to see the
past, oftentimes, the distant
past.
 People with this type of
extrasensory perception can
recognize people, places, and
events of the past that they had
nothing to do with.
 Commonly associated with “déjà
vu”.
 “Retro” means “backward”
 “Cognito” means “getting to
know”

29. Psychokinesis
 The ability of moving an
object just by using one’s
mind.
 Coined by Henry Holt
 “Psyche” means “mind”
 “Kinesis” means
“movement”
 Defies the basic law of
Physics.

30. Mediumship
 It is the ability to
communicate with the dead
by channelling their spirits.
 It combines retrocognition
(seeing the past) and
clairaudience (psychic
hearing).

31. Near-Death Experience
 Phenomenal claims seeing
themselves out of their own
physical body, moving through a
tunnel, and heading toward a
bright light.
 Hieronymous Bosch’s painting
“Ascent of the Blessed”.
 Claimed to be a coping
mechanism by the brain, where
additional endorphins are
released.

32. Apparitions
 The alleged ability to see
ghosts.
 Talked and recorded for a
very long period of time and
immortalized in cultural
texts.
 Documented through
almost all forms of media.

33. Ghost Pareidolia:

34. Aura-Reading
The notion of the aura can be found
throughout history; taking the form of
the halo in religious art, or the bands of
color found on the Buddhist flag –
symbolizing the aura said to have
surrounded Buddha upon him reaching
Enlightenment. In more recent times,
the various hues apparent in auras
have been designated different
qualities. Orange auras occur when the
subject is excited, whereas calmer
personalities have a blue aura. And
according to some, the auras can be
cleansed using quartz crystals.

35. Joseph Banks Rhine
An American botanist who
founded parapsychology
as a branch of
psychology.
(1930) – the earliest to
conduct laboratory study
on ESP.
His experiment proved that
ESP exists. He used
mathematical probabilities.

36. Do you know them?

37. Criticisms on ESP
1. Failure to replicate instances of ESP
2. Possibility of fraud, especially in
media
3. Lack of empirical study and reliable
methodology

38. Sensation, Perception & ESP
Thank you for
paying attention.