THE IMPACT OF ANXIETY AND GENDER ON PERCEIVING THE MUELLER-LYER ILLUSION

Abstract

This study aimed at investigating the relationship between anxiety, gender and the Mueller-Lyer illusion perception among a sample of 242 undergraduate students (66 males and 176 females), of Kuwait University, Kuwait, to the Mueller-Lyer and Horizontal-Vertical illusion forms. The subjects were divided into 3 groups (high, middle and low anxiety) in accordance with their anxiety scale scores. Although the overall analysis showed no significant difference between males and females with respect to most variables, a significant difference in anxiety was observed where females scored higher than males. The results also showed that gender had no significant correlation to the Mueller-Lyer perception and Horizontal-Vertical illusion. In addition, no significant difference was found as regards the anxiety and gender relationship to degree of illusion. However, the data did show some significant difference in relationship between anxiety and the perception of illusion, with males exhibiting higher scores for anxiety tending to have higher illusion error scores than males with low anxiety scores. Females with higher anxiety scores also were found to have higher illusion error scores than females with low anxiety scores.