Constancy Phenomenon
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The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.
Constancy Phenomenon
in psychology, the relative constancy of the perceived characteristics of an object (its size, shape, color, position) regardless of changes in the conditions of perception (distance, foreshortening, lighting). The problem of constancy, examined long ago by R. Descartes, has still not been worked out sufficiently in its theoretical aspects.
The development of perceptual constancy has been traced in children (E. Brunswik, Austria; J. Piaget, Switzerland) and a relationship has been noted between constancy and objectivity of perception (J. Piaget and others). Also, numerous special relationships describing individual concrete kinds of constancy have been detected (Y. Akishige, Japan).
REFERENCES
Venger, L. A. Vospriiatie i obuchenie. Moscow, 1969.Piaget, J. “Psikhologiia intellekta.” In his book Izbr. psikhologicheskie trudy. Moscow, 1969. Chapters 3 and 4.
Akishige, Y. “Studies on the Constancy Problem in Japan.” Psychologia: An International Journal of Psychology in the Orient, 1968, vol. 11, nos. 1-4.
The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.