135 report

An Exploration of the Concept of Pagtatantiya as a Filipino Perceptual

Style via Lexical Analysis and Magnitude Estimation

Ingrid AcostaKevin MoalongAnj Rodriguez

Department of PsychologyUniversity of the Philippines - Diliman

Outline

• Introduction– Background– Estimation– Ambiguity– Field Independence vs. Dependence

• Hypothesis• Methods– Lexical analysis– Magnitude estimation

Introduction

• Filipinos seem to have a predisposition towards vagueness and inexactitude in dealing with measurements.

• Although this has not been formally explored in actual research, it seems to be evident in cooking ('pagtitimpla'), shopping, and driving, among others.

• This phenomenon is popularly known as pagtatantiya, which is roughly comparable to estimation.

Estimation and its applications

• It is the act of approximating judgment or calculation, as of the value, amount, time, size, or weight of something.

• When we estimate, we give a tentative guess to the value of the object at our scrutiny.

• Estimation is used in many different situations from discerning the value of antiques to driving cars.

• When we do not know the exact value of something, we use estimation to set an approximate value we can work with.• This can be seen in pricing antiques,

dating historical documents or buying clothes for other people.


• Estimation is also useful in quickly bringing forth schemas into our minds.– Gay and Cole (1967; as cited in Irwin, Vistro-Yu and

Ell, 2004) discovered that experience leads to accurate measurement.


Estimation in the Philippine context

• Estimation is primarily used in commerce (Añana, n.d.; Irwin, Vistro-Yu and Ell, 2004).

• Most Filipinos are familiar with terms such as kaban, gatang and dangkal, but not with more archaic ones such as dangaw and salop.

CapacityKaban 25 gantaSalop 1 ganta

Kaguitna ½ gantaGatang 1 chupa

Length

Dipa length of outstretched arms

Tumuro length between the tip of the thumb and that of the forefinger when extended

Sandamak the width of the hand with the five fingers pressed together

Sandali the width of one finger

Length/Distance

Philippine Measuring Units

Foreign Equivalent

Pirangot ¼ inch

Sandamak 4 inches

Dangkal 8 inches

Talampakan 12 inches

Bisig 16 inches

Dipa 68 inches

Mass/Weight


Foreign Equivalent

Dakot 10 grams

Guhit 100 grams

Kagitna ½ kilo

Gatang 1 kilo

Chimanta 6 kilos

Kaban 25 kilos

Volume


Foreign Equivalent

Salok 80ml

Saro 250ml

Mangkok 400ml

Time


Foreign Equivalent

Kisapmata .5 second

Saglit 1 second

Sandali 60 seconds

Estimation over actual measures?

• In 1974, a prudential decree ordered the change from using the imperial system to the metric system (Munsayac, O, 1994, as cited in Irwin, Vistro-Yu and Ell, 2004). Unfortunately, implementation fell short. This ruling wasn’t strictly followed, as evidenced by tools of measurement children use in school that show both the imperial and metric system (Irwin, Vistro-Yu and Ell, 2004)

• With the not so stellar implementation of the presidential decree, the average Filipino does not have enough expose to the metric system for him or her to be able to use it on a daily basis. Since Filipinos don’t always bring tools for measurement with them all the time, it’s more convenient for them to use instruments that can be found on their person.

• It can also be surmised that since Filipinos put a prime on their relationships, we prefer to use estimates since it allows for a bigger margin of error from both parties.

Estimation over actual measures?

Pagtatantiya in perceptual psychology

• In some situations, the ultimate goal of pagtatantiya may be to raise amounts of a particular stimulus to detectable levels, e.g. in cooking.

• A few experiments use perceptual methodologies that are based on estimation, e.g. the autokinetic phenomenon

• Studies have been done on estimation.– Estimation of distance is controlled by visual

fixation(VF) neurons and visual-tracking (VT) neurons.(Sakata et al, 1997).

– Depth estimates are mainly three-dimensional, controlled by areas in the intraparietal. (Sakata et al, 1997).

– Size estimates approach statistical optimality when both vision and haptic perception are used.(Gepshtein & Banks, 2003)


– Attention and emotion both affect time estimates. (Angrilli et al,1997)


• Pagtatantiya can even be linked to field dependence and independence.– Field dependent people are more

attentive to social cues and show strong interest in social relations. (Witkin & Goodenough, 1977)

The cultural roots of pagtatantiya

• In her book, Maggay (2002) details the pervasiveness of ambiguity in Filipino communication.

• She states that the dynamics of pahiwatig (hinting in indirect communication) and pakikiramdam are critical elements of the Filipino communication style - this peculiarity arises from the fact that a lot of aspects of Filipino culture (if not the culture itself) are highly dependent on context.

– This springs from a cultural desire to smoothen communication lines - dampening intense emotions by keeping their external manifestations to a minimum (anger = tightened lips + a slight glare as opposed to the traditionally overt expression) helps fulfill this need.– Ambiguity in this sense is advantageous, as it

helps preserve smooth interpersonal relations, as opposed to directness of expression (evident in Western cultures), which poses no such advantage to anyone.



• Pagtatantiya here is seen as a part of pakikiramdam (e.g. detecting hints). In this sense, pagtatantiya works hand in hand with intuition ("kutob").– Through pagtatantiya, one tries to determine the

antas ng pagtutunguhan (level of interaction based on depth of relationship) between him/herself and the other person by looking for cues that would tell him/her which particular communication style would be appropriate for the exchange.

– (A higher antas ng pagtutunguhan would prompt a lower degree of ambiguity, meaning speech is more direct and disclosure is higher; a lower antas ng pagtutunguhan, on the other hand, would be heavily dependent on indirect, nonverbal, contextual cues.)

– Therefore, one may say that pagtatantiya helps regulate the directness of communication.


• Maggay also very briefly notes the role of pagtatantiya in perceiving and determining time length - according to her, city-dwellers perceive province-dwellers as moving too slow, while province-dwellers perceive the former as moving too fast.

• Whether or not this form of pagtatantiya extends to other, more measurable aspects (such as size and duration) is an understudied, possibly even unstudied, idea that must be further explored.


The current study• Objectives– Determine and define the terms used in and

related to pagtatantiya– Determine the effect of culture, i.e., being Filipino

on visual estimation• Hypotheses– Terms used will bear little or no relation to

particular systems of measurement.– Filipinos will be more inaccurate than Americans

in the visual estimation task given the large range of answers in pagtatantiya that ambiguity allows.

Study 1: Lexical domain analysis (first objective)

• Participants30 participants who identify themselves as Filipinos who have Filipino values, convenience sampling

• Materials30 sets of questionnaires

Procedure1. A questionnaire is given to each participant.

a. Ano ang ibig sabihin ng pagtatansiya?

b. Isulat ang mga salitang kasingkahulugan ng pagtatantiya.

c. Anu-ano ang mga sitwasyon na ginagamitan ng pagtatantiya?

d. Anu-ano ang mga salitang ginagamit kapag nagtatansiya? Isulat rin ang mga kunteksto kung saan ginagamit ang mga partikular na salita.

2. The questionnaires are collected and examined using KJ analysis to reveal categories of meaning.

Salita Kahulugan Kunteksto

Study 2: Magnitude Estimation (second objective)

• Participants40 participants (2 groups composed of 10 males and 10 females each, (A) selected from the population of Filipino people [i.e. people who self-identify as Filipino] via convenience sampling and (B) selected from the population of American people via convenience sampling)

• Materials– 5 cups of water with varying water

levels (14.6 cm, 14.8 cm, 15 cm, 15.2 cm, 15.4 cm), the mean-sized one being the standard stimulus

– A black screen

Procedure

1. The experimenter will present the participant with the consent form.2. Once the participant has signed the form, the experimenter shall be briefed regarding: (1) the nature of the experiment, (2) what will basically happen during the experiment, and (3) the role of the participant (i.e. what he/she is expected to do).

3. The participant shall be asked to sit in front of a table with an opaque black screen, behind which the experimenter keeps the cups of water (henceforth known as the stimulus variables). The participant is first presented with the standard stimulus (the cup with the 15-cm water level) and is given 5 seconds to examine it.4. The standard stimulus is then placed behind the screen, and one of the stimulus variables is shown to the participant, who is then asked to estimate the value of the height of the water by giving a height value relative to that of the base stimulus. Afterwards, the stimulus variable is withdrawn and the participant is presented with the base stimulus once more.

5. Each stimulus variable will be presented to the participant in the same manner. The stimulus variable to be presented shall be selected at random, although only once for every trial cycle. There shall be five trials for every variable - twenty-five trials in total.6. All throughout the experiment, the experimenter shall record the participant’s responses.

7. After the last trial, the participant shall be debriefed, thanked, and be given a token.8. The data shall be analyzed via getting the graph of responses and its slope, which would reveal the relationship (response expansion, response compression, or response accuracy) between the actual and perceived intensities of the stimuli.

ThankYou!

References

Angrilli, A. et al. (1997). The influence of affective factors on time perception. Perception &

Psychophysics, 59(6), 972-982.Añana, F. V. P. (n.d.) Philippine units of measurements.Gepshtein, S. & Banks, M. (2003). Viewing geometry

determines how vision and haptics combine in size perception. Current Biology, 13, 483-488.

Halili, M. C. (2004) Philippines History. Quezon City: Rex Printing Company, Inc.

Irwin, K. C., Vistro-Yu, C. P., & Ell, F. R. (2004). Understanding linear measurement: A

comparison of Filipino and New Zealand children. Mathematics Education Research Journal, 16 (2), 3-24.Maggay, M. B. (2002). Pahiwatig: Kagawiang Pangkomunikasyon ng Filipino. Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press.Sakata, H. et al. (1997). The parietal association cortex

in depth perception and visual control of hand action. TINS, 20(8), 350-356.

Witkin, H. & Goodenough, D. (1977). Field dependence and interpersonal behavior. Psychological

Bulletin, 84(4), 661-689.

Outline

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