Major
Psychology
Advisor
Collyer, Charles
Advisor Department
Psychology
Date
5-2011
Keywords
Esophoria; exophoria; vision; extrovert; introvert; personality
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License.
Abstract
How Vision Problems Affect Our Lives
Nicole Horn
Faculty Sponsor: Charles Collyer, Psychology
Vision is much more than simply being able to see 20/20. There are a number of different visual problems which can impact how we see and interact with the world around us. One visual skill, which is looked at in this research, is convergence. Convergence is the ability to turn the eyes so that they both focus in on the same object, at the same time, and at the same distance in space. If the eyes either underconverge or overconverge, this can lead to an altered perception of the world. Overconvergence is also known as esophoria, which is defined as a tendency for the eyes to deviate inwards. Underconvergence, or exophoria, is the tendency for the eyes to deviate outwards. Both of these tendencies can affect how people learn, interact with others, and understand their surroundings.
This study includes 50 undergraduate students who were tested to see if they have a tendency towards esophoria or exophoria. A survey was also distributed to them with questions about demographics and a section where participants indicated whether they agreed or disagreed with statements regarding the introvert/extrovert scale and the conscientiousness scale, and a section about vision in general; such as, whether the participant wears glasses and can clearly see the classroom board from across the room.
Of the 50 participants in this study, 27 exhibited a tendency towards esophoria at far and 29 a tendency towards esophoria at near. One participant had a tendency towards exophoria at far and four had a tendency toward exophoria at near. My research data showed that there is a correlation between conversion ability and feelings of confidence and paying attention to details. Correlations were also found between being able to see clearly at distance and the ability to pay attention to detail, stick to plans, and the preference for order. The results of the surveys were also assessed to determine how many of the participants cannot clearly see the board across the room and how many regularly go to the eye doctor.
This study provides insight into the different aspects of personality that visual convergence can affect, as well as aspects of personality that are affected by clear vision. The impact of having undiagnosed vision problems is also explored.