Don't worry - this is not a test.

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The discussion revolves around a pair of images from a psychology book used in language experiments with toddlers, depicting Cookie Monster and Big Bird in playful scenarios. Participants express varying interpretations of the images, with many humorously suggesting that the interactions appear inappropriate or suggestive rather than innocent tickling. The conversation highlights how adult perceptions can differ significantly from a child's understanding, leading to comedic interpretations of the characters' expressions and poses. Some participants note that the images evoke laughter, while others joke about the potential implications of the scenarios, reflecting a blend of humor and psychological inquiry. The thread illustrates how context and perspective shape the interpretation of visual stimuli, especially in a playful, child-centric setting.

What do these images suggest to you?

  • Two characters are tickling each other

    Votes: 2 8.0%

  • You know...

    Votes: 17 68.0%

  • I don't want to talk about it

    Votes: 4 16.0%

  • Other

    Votes: 2 8.0%
  • Total voters
    25
honestrosewater
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This pair of images caught my eye as I was flipping through my psychology book. I just had to share them with you guys to find out whether I am the only one who, well, you'll see.
The images are used in language experiments with toddlers. The toddler sits on their mother's lap in front of the two images, like TV screens, one depicting Cookie Monster tickling Big Bird, the other Big Bird ticklng Cookie Monster. A message is then played saying either, "Oh look! Big Bird is tickling Cookie Monster," or "Oh look! Cookie Monster is tickling Big Bird." Hidden observers record which image the child turns its attention to. The point is to see whether the kids look at the image corresponding to the sentence they just heard (and by inference, whether they understood the sentence). What I want to know: What exactly do they mean by 'tickling'? :confused:
 

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I see them tickling each other. but I can see why other people are reluctant to vote
 
honestrosewater said:
What I want to know: What exactly do they mean by 'tickling'?
I'll go with door #2: to touch (as a body part) lightly so as to excite the surface nerves and cause uneasiness, laughter, or spasmodic movements

http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=tickling&x=11&y=18
 
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:smile: Okay, if I put myself in the frame of mind of a toddler, yes, it's just tickling, but when my adult, gutter-oriented brain looks at the photos, they look like they're groping each other! :smile: And, well, it looks like Big Bird is doing more than just that to Cookie Monster in the left picture. :bugeye:
 
Dirty minds.

In the first picture, if I didn't know it was "tickling", I'd say that Big Bird is about to pick Cookie Monster up. The second picture, obviously Big Bird has his legs crossed because he's trying not to pee. No clue why Cookie Monster is holding him. I might have guessed that they were dancing.

Now do you see just how boring I am?
 
They look like there shaking each other

You perverts...
 
:smile: :smile: Well, I saw the images first - without the explanation - and being in a psychology book, I thought 'uh oh, this is one of those tests to see how perverted I am...' :rolleyes:
But it doesn't even really look like tickling to me. I think Cookie Monster's expressions are hilarious.
 
honestrosewater said:
:smile: :smile: Well, I saw the images first - without the explanation - and being in a psychology book, I thought 'uh oh, this is one of those tests to see how perverted I am...' :rolleyes:
It probably is. :biggrin:
 
Evo said:
It probably is. :biggrin:
Ha, I bet - they never tell you the real purpose of the test. :devil:
 
  • #10
Is it just me or does Big Bird look drunk in the second one? I think that is why his legs are crossed, because he is about to fall over. Big Bird's eyes too, ohh those images are funny!
 
  • #11
honestrosewater said:
:smile: :smile: Well, I saw the images first - without the explanation - and being in a psychology book, I thought 'uh oh, this is one of those tests to see how perverted I am...' :rolleyes:
But it doesn't even really look like tickling to me. I think Cookie Monster's expressions are hilarious.
And of course by the way you asked, that's what jumped first to my mind too. Though, before I read the text and opened the full-sized images, just looking at the thumbnails, the first one looks like Big Bird is using the Heimlich maneuver on Cookie Monster...maybe he choked on a cookie. And I agree with Evo that the crossed legs in the second one looks really funny, like Big Bird has to pee. I wasn't sure what the crossed legs were about at all. I don't cross my legs when I get tickled, I curl up into a ball!
 
  • #12
I put other because I feel like the Big Yellow Bird is like almost fall down and the blue bird help him.
 
  • #13
I would have gone with a picture of them tickling each other's feet. The toddlers still focused primarily on the images matching the sentences they heard, so I guess it worked for them.
 
  • #14
Ok, I have a dirty mind I don't need a test to tell me that thank you.
 
  • #15
ok that yellow chick is definitely violating the blue guy is definitely violating the yellow chick

and if you think the bigger chick with such hand positions and torso positions at strategic positions is actually tickling the blue mofo, you are seriously not normal
 
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  • #16
It isn't what you think it is. It is blindly obvious that they lack any genitals and therefore both Big Bird and The Cookie Monster reproduce asexually.
 
  • #17
Argh! It burns my eyes! Get it away! Get it away!

It does look a bit suspect...
 
  • #18
:smile: it's all about the expressions! LMAO
 
  • #19
It seems they are having fun, at any rate.
 
  • #20
arildno said:
It seems they are having fun, at any rate.
That's putting it mildy - Cookie Monster is cross-eyed and Big Bird's knees are buckling, for goodness' sake! I was looking forward to your reaction most of all. :frown: Surely, you have something exceptionally funny to say that sounds even funnier coming from you... like 'I guess what they say about puppets is true...' Oh, nevermind, I don't want to put you on the spot. :smile:

I'm getting worse - the name Dennis Prager showed up in my search results for something, and for a second, I thought it said Penis Dragger. I am far gone, far gone. :devil:
 
  • #21
honestrosewater said:
That's putting it mildy - Cookie Monster is cross-eyed and Big Bird's knees are buckling, for goodness' sake! I was looking forward to your reaction most of all. :frown: Surely, you have something exceptionally funny to say that sounds even funnier coming from you... like 'I guess what they say about puppets is true...' Oh, nevermind, I don't want to put you on the spot. :smile:
I got tongue-tied by such exiplicitness... :blushing:
I'm getting worse - the name Dennis Prager showed up in my search results for something, and for a second, I thought it said Penis Dragger. I am far gone, far gone. :devil:
Penis dragging??
Oh, I see, that's the female version of the ritual where men carry their wives over the doorstep, right?
 
  • #22
Milk and Cookie Monsters Yummy, i like to see how much they can absorb
before they melt. And i love sucking the jelly middle from jammie dogers
befor i eat them all up. :biggrin:
 
  • #23
arildno said:
Penis dragging??
Oh, I see, that's the female version of the ritual where men carry their wives over the doorstep, right?
That's better. :approve: Yes, or someone I'd really like to meet. I feel sorry for his cousin, Mick Dangler, who surprisingly is a woman.
 
  • #24
wolram said:
Milk and Cookie Monsters Yummy, i like to see how much they can absorb
before they melt. And i love sucking the jelly middle from jammie dogers
befor i eat them all up. :biggrin:
Who is Jammie Dogers?
 
  • #25
I can't answer the poll. There's no option for "****ing"
 
  • #26
Rose,

What do you see in this picture?

http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/aeon_flux/large.html
 
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  • #27
hitssquad said:
Rose,

What do you see in this picture?

http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/aeon_flux/large.html
Hmm.. did she say "you may want to duck", or did I mishear something? :confused:
 
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  • #28
She said, "You may want a duck."

yellow-duck.gif
 
  • #29
hitssquad said:
Rose,

What do you see in this picture?

http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/aeon_flux/large.html
If I ever cut my hair short again, I'll cut it similar to hers there. I didn't notice anything else. What does that mean?!
 
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  • #30
I want a rubber duckie :(
 
  • #33
Hmm..piece of the image on a pack of cigarettes of the Silk cut brand?

Or, is it perhaps a reference to the cut sleeve? :confused:
 
  • #34
arildno said:
Hmm..piece of the image on a pack of cigarettes of the Silk cut brand?

Or, is it perhaps a reference to the cut sleeve? :confused:
Yes, it's an ad for Silk Cut cigarettes. It's from a semiotics book (the study of signs, as in things used to repsent other things). Does the image not make you think of anything else?
 
  • #35
the cut sleeve, perhaps?
 
  • #37
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  • #38
wolram said:
I have a pure mind so that does not remind me of what i think.
:smile: :smile: Well, it reminds me of what you think.
 
  • #39
It reminds ME of the cut sleeve, whether that's pure or not.
 
  • #40
honestrosewater said:
:smile: :smile: Well, it reminds me of what you think.

Oh Heck, my leg has gone stiff, bye bye for now, i must exercise it.
 
  • #41
arildno said:
the cut sleeve, perhaps?
What is the cut sleeve? I found a book Passions of the Cut Sleeve: The Male Homosexual Tradition in China (this was the first result), but no mention of what 'the cut sleeve' refers to.
hitssquad said:
Cultural deconstructionism = PPD.
Don't shoot the messenger. I didn't see it at first, but of course, now that I've heard her interpretation, I see it.
 
  • #42
honestrosewater said:
What is the cut sleeve? I found a book Passions of the Cut Sleeve: The Male Homosexual Tradition in China (this was the first result), but no mention of what 'the cut sleeve' refers to.
It refers to one of the canonical gay love stories from ancient China:
An emperor is dozing with his male lover lying asleep, his head lying on the broad sleeve of the emperor's typical Chinese garment (VERY costly, presumably, since he was the emperor..).

A servant comes in, there is urgent business for the emperor to take care of, but because he doesn't want to disturb his lover's blissful sleep, he cuts of the sleeve of his garment, and leaves the room quietly.

So, the story became in time one those "how sweet! how tender!"-stories about love..
 
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  • #43
arildno said:
It refers to one of the canonical gay love stories from ancient China:
An emperor is dozing with his male lover lying asleep, his head lying on the broad sleeve of the emperor's typical Chinese garment (VERY costly, presumably, since he was the emperor..).

A servant comes in, there is urgent business for the emperor to take care of, but because he doesn't want to disturb his lover's blissful sleep, he cuts of the sleeve of his garment, and leaves the room quietly.

So, the story became in time one those "how sweet! how tender!"-stories about love..
:smile: :smile:
 
  • #44
wolram said:
Oh Heck, my leg has gone stiff, bye bye for now, i must exercise it.
Is that a British expression for buffing the turtle?
 

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