Bruner, J. S., & Goodman, C. C. (1947). Value and need as organizing factors in perception. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 42(1), 33-44.

Autochthonous determinants of perception are accurately measured by psychophysics. There is need for equally precise measurement of motivational determinants. The experiments on estimating size were planned to test hypotheses that such determinants are more influential when objects have greater social or individual value. Ten-year-old children adjusted a lighted circle to the perceived size of 5 coins and 5 cardboard discs. With the objects present, discs were judged correctly and coin size was overestimated in proportion to value (except for 50-cent piece). Poor children overestimate coin size more than do rich children, in conformity to the individual value hypothesis. With coins absent, poor children overestimate memory images less than do rich children. Neither Weber’s law nor Hollingworth’s central tendency fits the results as well as do the motivation hypotheses. 36 references.

Bruner, J. S., & Goodman, C. C. (1947). Value and need as organizing factors in perception. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 42(1), 33-44.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/h0058484