Analysis Essay of an Article Assignment

Introductory Psychology
PSYC1100
Student Number
4212470

Presented to: Professor Thomas Busnarda

By: Felicia Desjardins

Niagara College, Welland Ontario

March 20th, 2015

Weve all seen it now that its been everywhere on social media sites, in the
newspapers and all over television. The dress is making a ruckus globally
causing everyone that it comes across to ask themselves whats wrong with
me? because we all see the dress and wonder why cant we see it the same
way others see it. Why cant we agree on the colour of it? Was it blue-black
or white-gold? I find this phenomenon so intriguing considering we are
learning about vision, colours and perceptual illusions and this famous
dress is definitely making us question our own sanity thanks to the tricks
our eyes and brain plays on us.

In the article The Blue/Black White/Gold Dress Controversy: No One is

Right David Kyle Johnson composed, he uses an analogy to communicate
the real science behind how the human brain and eyes function in reaction
to light and colours. He talks about how it shouldnt come as such a shock
that each and every one of us see this dress as one of the two colour
combinations. Considering weve always seen things differently given the
well-known fact; not one brain works the same as we all have a different
perception of everything and as the old saying goes, looks can be
deceiving. Considering our brain and eyes are able to be fooled with
optical illusions seeing isnt always believing. In other words, just
because something appears to be one thing, does not necessarily mean it is.
He uses this analogy to voice his opinion on why he believes the dress is not
either colour which he based on scientific research. Johnson continues to

explain that objects are made of molecular structure which can both trap
and reject wavelengths of light enabling you to see a certain colour
experience (February 27 2015). This is all dependent on what our neurons
communicate back with us and subjective to our own individual perception.
All we have to do is look deeper.

David Kyle Johnson presents some valid points like how people are in the
wrong for arguing about this dress when the answers are right in front of
us. We all experience the dress differently, so we are searching for
affirmation on what we seen of the dress by arguing and defending the
colours we ourselves have seen considering it is the only thing we can be
certain of is our own experience of the dress. Furthermore taking that into
account, this dress is dividing the world into two groups. Group Blue/Black,
and Group White/Gold. Its a con considering it has started a worldwide
dispute in families, friends, colleagues etc. I say this because for example,
should our spouse see it as the opposite colour combination we may be
upset due to our own expectations of hoping to share the same colour
experience as our loved one thus creating the dispute over something as
meaningless as some dress made famous online. Same goes for our best
friends and favoured co-workers etc., however as weve already established,
this isnt always the case. The pro however is that it has brought people
together for those who have shared the same colour combination
experience and despite it causing a dispute for some people, it has become

something that we can also bond over depending on our perspective of the
whole experience despite Johnsons opinion being that it isnt really a
certain colour at all. I do believe that he has good point in attempting to
settle the worldwide dispute by proving it with science through his
reference to WIRED which provided a fantastic explanation to his opinion of
the science behind it all and why theres really no debate when you look at
through the eye of science. (http://www.wired.com/2015/02/science-oneagrees-color-dress/). Although he was able to do a little bit of research to
provide evidence of his reasoning, all in all it was mostly just opinion based
from his own philosophical point of view.

After reading the article many times over, I have drawn the conclusion to
appreciating David Kyle Johnsons attempt at settling the colour of the
famous dress though sharing the real science behind the colour
combination of blue/black or white/gold and how our eyes and brain
experience it is unique to each of us. I have taken the new information into
account and have been intrigued even further and considering the
explanation he provided with his reference, I do believe that his argument is
valid and well executed through his opinion based article. However despite
his valid conclusion of the dress not being of any true colour at all, I must
admit that I myself have also chosen a side. I belong to the White/Gold
group.

(https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/logical-take/201502/the-blueblackwhitegold-dress-controversy-no-one-is-right)

PSYC 1100 (Section 03)

Assignment Groups
Winter 2015

Group #1:
Alphabetically from: Akershok Chen

Due Date:

week of March 9th

Group #2:
Alphabetically from: Conway - Himann
Group #3:

Due Date:

week of March 16th

Alphabetically from: Hutchinson - Martins

Due Date:

week of March 23rd

Group #4:
Alphabetically from: McNeil - Scholman

Due Date:

week of March 30th

Due Date:

week of April 6th

Due Date:

week of April 13th

Group #5:
Alphabetically from: Schoonings - Wang
Group #6:
Alphabetically from: Warriner - Zou

Assignment Instructions:
INSTRUCTIONS: provide an analysis of an article that you have selected from an
online site or journal. Students are not limited a specific source but it is suggested
that Psychology Today, (https://www.psychologytoday.com/) is a good choice for
this assignment.
Typically the submission will be between 3-6 typed double-spaced pages and will
include:
An introduction explaining the subject matter of the article, how it relates to
the course and a statement of personal interest. (provide a copy of the article
or a link to the article )
A summary of the article, identifying and explaining the thesis (argument)
and important ideas surrounding the thesis.
A brief discussion of the pros and cons of the argument being presented (i.e.
is it research based, anecdotal, opinion-based)
Summary and conclusion, re: the validity and believability of the argument