THE ABSURDITY AS A FUNDAMENTAL PROPERTY OF PERCEPTION

Abstract

Purpose. Analysis of the absurd perception phenomenon as the fundamental property of the human psyche.

Methods. A comparison of two versions of the folk song “Vine over water ...” with an antagonistic meaning in order to establish its authentic (primary) variant.

Results. The sample consisted of 230 people who have or receive higher education, mainly psychological, or professional psychologists. The results of the study showed: 73,9% consider the first version of the song authentic with logical errors, 26,1% – the second one is logically constructed. In the course of the study, we changed the variants of texts in places in order to avoid the influence of the sequence of their perception. 121 people were acquainted with the above sequence of text variants in electronic form, and 109 – with a changed sequence of texts in paper form. In both cases, the results were approximately the same. Electronic research has shown that rational type of perception (in accordance with the laws of formal logic) is inherent in 24,8%, while an absurd type of perception tends to 75,2%. The paper form of the study, respectively, revealed the following distribution of results: 27,5% vs. 72,5%. The paper version of the study was attended by 12 males. Of these, only 16.7% were prone to rational perception of the text, and 83,3% preferred the absurd version of the text. Accordingly, women who are prone to rational type of perception, turned out to be 28,9%, and prone to absurd type – 71,1%.

Conclusions. The results of the research give grounds to affirm that absurdity, or syncretism, is the primary form of perception. The ability to disabsurdization is secondary and requires subjective development of intellectual abilities and efforts. The study shows that a quarter of the subjects are incapable to carry out the disabsurdization even in the situation of comparing the logical version of the text with a text that contains obvious logic errors. The prospect of our study is to expand the empirical field and add it with the analysis of the subjects’ reflection.