Dominance of Form vs Dominance of Color

Posted by Bruce Kahl on June 21, 2005

In Reply to: Dominence of Form posted by Smokey Stover on June 20, 2005

: : What would be the meaning of the phrase Dominence of Form
: It would mean that whoever wrote it was a poor speller.

From a few psychology courses taken decades ago I remember experiments in dominance reactions that tested whether subjects had a dominance of color or a dominance of form.

People were shown playing cards. Some were regular cards such as red hearts or black aces.

And then they were shown cards that were fixed by the experimenters, cards that had the suit and color reversed--black hearts and red aces.

The experimenters then measured the time it took for the subjects to discern the differences.

I don't remember too many of the conclusions or details of the experiments but males tended to take a longer time to see the incongruities so they were deemed to have a dominance of color while female subjects were quicker to see the differences so they were judged to have a dominance of form.

I would google the terms but I need to blank out now but that is what I remember.

• Dominance of Form vs Dominance of Color Steve E 21/June/05