By Vurdlak on November 25, 2007, with 123 Comments
This one has been circulating the net lately, so it would be shame if I didn’t share it with you guys as well. What is the story behind the picture below? The influence of culture and environment can have an effect on our visual perception – believe it or not. This theory was first explored by Robert Laws, a Scottish missionary working in Africa during the late 1800′s. Take a look at the picture below – what you see will largely depend on where you live in the world. After that you have examined the picture, scroll below for a more detailed explanation. Original article can be found here.
So What Did You See – What is above the woman’s head? When scientists showed a similar sketch to people from East Africa, nearly all the participants in the experiment said she was balancing a box or metal can on her head. In a culture containing few angular visual cues, the family is seen sitting under a tree. Westerners, on the other hand, are accustomed to the corners and boxlike shapes of architecture. They are more likely to place the family indoors and to interpret the rectangle above the woman’s head as a window through which shrubbery can be seen.
(38 votes)
I like this one a lot. I actually thought the “thing” above the woman’s head was a painting. i see them indoors, but I can see how it could be outside even though the leaves of the tree are at a funny angle.
Cool concept, I never saw it at first but it’s really good.
i dont gety it
wait, r we sposed to see the people (not to be racist) in any diferant way too? because I thought that they kind of resembled the people in the heart of africa which affected my desicion of saying they were under a tree, and balancing a box.
1st COMMENT!!
I saw a picture of a plant
May I also note that this picture could be a test for racism. What race are the people in the picture?
Neat illusion.
ya i didn’t think the window was a box and the woman’s head
i immediately though it was a family indoors
That is cool, but i think it is a window.
OMG I love this illusion. However, I find it hard to believe that anyone would think that line and stuff all around is a tree, c’mon. but i find this illusion meaningful :)
It looks to me like a Carabean family being a perfectly normal family.
Nice! I saw a room and a window above the woman’s head.
I saw them inside a house! Surprise, surprise!
Wow. That is really cool. I can’t believe it was correct. I live in the west, and I saw them inside a building.
Wow, that’s cool.
eh… ok and?
i love this illusion!! extremely interesting! i saw a woman carrying somthing on her head inside a house!
not very good
well, i guess im a westerner
WOW! That’s pretty cool.
That’s one dull illusion.
Wow, that is so weird! Lol.
wow, very interesting illusion indeed. thanks for sharing.
No the best illusion, but it’s still nice. I myself think it’s a window :)
Incredible!
I am defiently a Western LOL
first!
i see a window above the ladys head but what about the tree i see a tree but the tree is indoors or the windor is floting outdoors
I was shown this picture about 6 months ago by my Psych teacher in class with almost the exact same description… Cool differentiation. I still see ‘em inside, but if I come across somebody from Africa I’ll have to ask.
I actually considered the possibility that it was a box on the woman’s head, but if you look at it, the perspective’s all wrong. If it is a box, it’s really poorly drawn.
that’s nice, and true, but i’m not western…
When I was looking at the image, I thought “Where in the world is the illusion here? All I see is a famiy in a house.” After reading the explanation, though, I realized how it can really have different interpretations. I had a second look and – voila! – I could see the window as a box, the corner of the walls as a tree.
Kudos to Robert Laws, and to whoever did this image.
i dun see anythin (yaaaaaaay first coment!)
interesting
also if it’s not a “proper” illusion, it’s still great.
Man i read your damn site every day! I love it!
That’s actually really interesting!
I saw a family in a house. The box looked lie a window to me and I had to look really hard to interpret the corner as a tree.
thats sort of stupid hehehe
whoa! that was weird…..
FIRST TO COMMENT!!!!!
I sort of get it thats wierd
What I percieved from the picture is that the family are cannibals and they just finished killing and eating a missionary. His blood-splatter can be seen on the window above the woman’s head. They are very full and happy with themselves. The dog, who is looking at us is simply asking us to rescue him because he is dessert.
i see a family with a window. that’s unsual
Idol of the cave at its best!
That’s… brilliant. Never thought of these kind of illusions.
i didnt really see the tree and that lady balancing a box at first, but i saw that they’re sitting in a room and above that ladie’s head is a windoow.. weird..
that’s so cool…first post!!
hmm very interesting and very true.
I saw a window, i think that theory is true. but when i looked i could see the box and the tree as well! good image!
Wow..I’m from the Netherlands and I thought it was a window..that is pretty weird..
woot first comment
this is hella cool. at first i was a little confused about it, until i realized what the illusion was about.
it DOES look like a house, and that square does look like a window
wow! I automatically assumed they were in a room….
(although the men and women would be too tall if they sttod up)
Indeed. Awesome!
not much of an optical illusion but it poses an interesting social and cultural question.
amazing… i saw the window.. and i dont really think i would ever think of it as anything else…
but the conclusion is very interesting.. great one.. well done
Very interesting. :)
wow! thats bizzre but cool!
p.s. what happened to mighty magic trixs???
awesome thing
Whoa…
I DID see a window…
i get it and yet i dont get it x.
wow, that is the dumbest thing i’ve ever seen. take you a degree to figure out the inferences made by individual cultures? kill yourself.
A good idea for this illusion would be to state your country before you post. You know, to help others understand what you see.
United States
I see a family in a room, but instead of a window, a picture in a frame.
KOOL!!!! I’m the first one to comment! I live in the western world so I totally thought they were indoors, and there was a window. I love these kinds of physcological tests!
This is pretty cool. I saw the “window” but after a while i could see the others too. Pretty Neat
I saw that.
And the dog depending how you look at it can look like a goat. Goats are prised in third world counries for milk and seling for money.
Also the people on the left look like the are wearing kimonoes. If you look for it.
i saw indoors, and a window… i’d have to take your word on the under a tree box on the head idea… i don’t see it, i guess it’s possible people of other cultures would?
one of the best ever
i would never imagine that!
very interesting
It is true. I live in the US and I thought it was the inside of a hourse with a window. Really cool.
That is such a strange way to look at this picture. I wonder if it was meant to be seen like it is.
I found the explanation of this interesting, as I saw it as they were sitting in a “room with a window”. I don’t understand how people thinking they were sitting under a tree would explain away the “box” above her head, especially as it has ” interior depth” yet no outside width.
i saw it as a painting nice…
See, I saw it and thought they were indoors merely because the man was sitting in a chair. I guess theoretically they could be sitting outside, but my first instinct is to guess indoors.
I see a dog growing out a man’s side. Weird.
Ahhh… very interesting…
definitely a window! or a box with a small plant on the wall, and the ‘tree’, i see it as a pillar in the corner!
the first one! well, what i see in this picture is a family that is indoors. Its kindda weird to think that the woman is balancing a box and they are under a tree..
Interessting, even the people look like they could be either black or white. Very good one
Wowo, That’s Awesome!
This isnt an optical illusion.
I’m sick of these non-illusions.
You are off my homepage.
This is very true, Culture are different, I saw it as a window.
Wow, nice one. I placed the family indoors when I first saw it.
The corner is weird, but it looks like a corner.
wow! im really impresed with the comment more than the picture obviously, this is when our empiric sense comes to play… and plays with our mind… i think that is a very good psyco-visual illusion :)
really like this one (if you get the idea of how important is this small thing in the developmetn)