The Roles of Altitude and Fear in the Perception of Height

• Published in: Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance Vol. 35; no. 2; pp. 424 - 438
• Main Authors: Stefanucci, Jeanine K, Proffitt, Dennis R
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Psychological Association 01-04-2009
• Subjects: Altitude; Analysis of Variance; Correlation; Distance Perception; Experimental Psychology; Fear; Female; Humans; Illusions - psychology; Judgment; Male; Mathematical Concepts; Measures (Individuals); Phobic Disorders - psychology; Reference Values; Scientific Concepts; Spatial Ability; Visual Perception
• ISSN: 0096-1523
• DOI: 10.1037/a0013894

Previous research on perceiving spatial layout has found that people often exhibit normative biases in their perception of the environment. For instance, slant is typically overestimated and distance is usually underestimated. Surprisingly, however, the perception of height has rarely been studied. The present experiments examined the perception of height when viewed from the top (e.g., looking down) or from the bottom (e.g., looking up). Multiple measures were adapted from previous studies of horizontal extents to assess the perception of height. Across all of the measures, a large, consistent bias was found: Vertical distances were greatly overestimated, especially from the top. Secondary findings suggest that the overestimation of distance and size that occurs when looking down from a high place correlates with reports of trait- and state-level fear of heights, suggesting that height overestimation may be due, in part, to fear. (Contains 1 footnote, 1 table and 11 figures.)