A psychologist carried out a laboratory experiment to see whether or not culture affects perception. He asked Marc and José to look at the three images shown in Figure 2 (a sheep, some grass, and a cat) and decide which image was the odd one out.

Marc was brought up on a farm and still lives in a rural part of France. Marc said, "The cat is the odd one out. The sheep and the grass go together best because sheep eat grass.”

José was brought up in the Spanish city where he still lives. “No!” said José, "it's the grass. The cat and the sheep go together best because they are both animals."

Outline how culture can affect perception. Refer to both Marc and José's comments in your answer.

Culture, the shared beliefs, values, and experiences of a group, can affect perception by influencing how we interpret and categorise information from the world around us. This is a top-down process where our cultural background shapes our perceptual set. Marc, who has a rural farming background, perceives the items based on their functional relationship. His culture and experience have taught him to see the connection between a sheep and the grass it eats. Therefore, he groups 'sheep' and 'grass' together and sees the 'cat' as the odd one out. José, from a city background, perceives the items based on their taxonomic category. His culture and education likely emphasised grouping things by what they are. He sees that a 'cat' and a 'sheep' are both animals, so he groups them together. This makes the 'grass', which is a plant, the odd one out for him. Their different cultural experiences have led them to perceive and categorise the same three images in different ways.