Gestalt Psychology, founded by Max Wertheimer, was to some extent a rebellion against the molecularism of Wundt’s program for psychology, in sympathy with many others at the time, including William William James. In fact, the word Gestalt Gestalt means a unied or meaningful whole, whole, which was to be the focus of psychological study instead. It had its roots in a number of older philosophers and psychologists
Ernst Mach !"#$#%"&"'( introduced the concepts of space forms and time forms. We see a s)uare as a s)uare, whether it is large or small, red red or blue, in outline or technicolor... *his is space form. +iewise, we hear a melody as recogni-able, een if we alter the ey in such a way that none of the notes are the same. Christian von Ehrenfels !"#/&%"&$0(, who studied with 1rentano in 2ienna, is the actual originator of the term Gestalt as the Gestalt psychologists were were to use it. In "#&3, in fact, he wrote a boo called On Gestalt Qualities. 4ne of his students was none other than Max Wertheimer. Wertheimer. Oswald Külpe !"#'0%"&"/( was a student of G. 5. M6ller at G7ttingen and receied his doctorate at +eip-ig. 8e studied as well with Wundt, Wundt, and sered as Wundt’s Wundt’s assistant for many years. years. 8e did most of his wor while at the 9niersity of W6r-burg, between "#&: and "&3&. 8e is best nown for the idea of imageless thoughts. ;ontrary to Wundtians, Wundtians, he showed that some mental actiities, actiities, such as of the psyche that Wundt postulated %% sensations, images, and feelings %% were apparently not enough to explain all of what went on. 8e oersaw the doctoral dissertation of one Max Wertheimer.
Max ertheimer ?o who was this Max Wertheimer@ Wertheimer@ 8e was born in Arague Arague on Bpril "/, "##3. 8is father was a teacher and the director at a commercial school. Max studied law for more than two years, but decided he preferred philosophy. philosophy. 8e left to study in 1erlin, where he too classes from ?tumpf, then got his doctoral degree !summa cum laude( from C6lpe and the 9niersity of W6r-burg in "&3:. In "&"3, he went to the 9niersity of Dranfurt’s Dranfurt’s Asychological Asychological Institute. Institute. While on acation that same year, he became interested in the perceptions he experienced on a train. While stopped at the station, he bought a toy stroboscope %% a spinning drum with slots to loo through and pictures pictures on the inside, sort of a primitie moie machine or sophisticated Eip boo. Bt Dranfurt, Dranfurt, his former teacher Driedrich ?chumann, now there as well, well, gae him the use of a tachistoscope tachistosco pe to study the eFect. 8is rst sub
olfgang K#hler Wolfgang C7hler was born January 0", "##K, in eal, 5stonia. 8e receied his AhL in "&3# from the 9niersity of 1erlin. 8e then became an assistant at the Asychological Institute in Dranfurt, where he met and wored with Max Wertheimer. In "&"$, he too adantage of an assignment to study at the Bnthropoid ?tation at *enerife in the ;anary Islands, and stayed there till "&03. In "&"K, he wrote his most famous boo,Mentality of $pes . In "&00, he became the chair and director of the psychology lab at the 9niersity of 1erlin, where he stayed until "&$/. Luring that time, in "&0&, he wrote Gestalt Psychology . In "&$/, he moed to the 9.?., where he taught at ?warthmore until he retired. 8e died June "", "&'K in Hew 8ampshire.
Kurt Ko%"a Curt CoFa was born March "#, "##', in 1erlin. 8e receied his AhL from the 9niersity of 1erlin in "&3&, and,
!he !heory Gestalt psychology is based on the obseration that we often experience things that are not a part of our simple sensations. *he original obseration was Wertheimer’s, when he noted that we perceie motion where there is nothing more than a rapid se)uence of indiidual sensory eents. *his is what he saw in the toy stroboscope he bought at the Dranfurt train station, and what he saw in his laboratory when he experimented with lights Eashing in rapid succession !lie the ;hristmas lights that appear to course around the tree, or the fancy neon signs in +as 2egas that seem to moe(. *he eFect is called apparent motion, and it is actually the basic principle of motion pictures. If we see what is not there, what is it that we are seeing@ ou could call it an illusion, but its not an hallucination. Wetheimer explained that you are seeing an eFect of the whole eent, not contained in the sum of the parts. We see a coursing string of lights, een though only one light lights at a time, because the whole eent contains relationships among the indiidual lights that we experience as well. Durthermore, say the Gestalt psychologists, we are built to experience the structured whole as well as the indiidual sensations. Bnd not only do we hae the ability to do so, we hae a strong tendency to do so. We een add structure to eents which do not hae gestalt structural )ualities. In perception, there are many organi-ing principles called gestalt laws. *he most general ersion is called the law of pragnan( . Aragnan- is German for pregnant, but in the sense of pregnant with meaning, rather than pregnant with child. *his law says that we are innately drien to experience things in as good a gestalt as possible. =Good> can mean many things here, such a regular, orderly, simplicity, symmetry, and so on, which then refer to specic gestalt laws.
Gestalt *heory
1acground
Gestalt Psychology, founded by Max Wertheimer, was to some extent a rebellion against the molecularity of Wundt’s program for psychology, in sympathy with many others at the time, including William James. In fact, the word Gestalt means a unied or meaningful whole, which was to be the focus of psychological study instead.
Wundt’s Hew Asychology
Wilhelm Wundt!"#$0%"&03( was the rst professional to call himself a psychologist. 8e founded one of the rst psychological laboratories in +eip-ig, Germany, in "#K&. Wundt belieed the only certain reality is immediate experience !1lumenthal, "&K/(
*he Gestalt *heory is based on the fact that
=*here are wholes, the behaior of which is not determined by that of their indiidual elements, but where the part%processes are themseles determined be the intrinsic nature of the whole. It is the hope of Gestalt theory to determine the nature of such wholes.> Max Wertheimer ,"&0:
Gestalten
*he cognitie process that our brain exercises on the sensory stimulation simplies, organi-es and adds meaning to our psychological experience.
?ensory 4rgani-ation
Bccording to C7hler, a general dynamic interdependence exists in our sensory eld, although dynamic factors operate towards a measure of segregation.
+aw of Argnan-
=Asychological organi-ation will always be as good as the controlling circumstances allow>% +aw of Argnan- or of =5ssence> !CoFa, "&'$( is the basis to all cerebral processing of sensorial information in Gestalt psychology.
Gestalt Arinciples of Aerception
Principle of ClosureOur cognitive process completes incomplete sensorial elements, causing us to consciously perceive them as a “whole” or gestalt. Principle of Similarity We perceive sensorial elements which share similar characteristics as a “whole” or Gestalt. Principle of Proimity
We perceive sensorial elements that are close to each other as a “whole” or Gestalt. Principle of Continuity!f one sensorial element "irects us to another we perceive #oth as a “whole” or Gestalt. Principle of SymmetryWe perceive simple an" regular “wholes” more rea"ily than irregular ones. Principle of $igure-Groun" perceptionWe separate whole %gures from their #ac&groun"s #ase" on one or more of a num#er of possi#le varia#les.
Gestalt +earning
B holistic approach
+earning is explained in terms of =wholeness> of the problem.
8uman beings do not respond to isolated stimuli but to an organi-ation or pattern stimuli.
Ceys to +earning
+earning is complex and abstract.
+earners analy-e the problem, discriminate between essential and nonessential data, and perceie relationships.
+earners will perceie something in relation to the whole. What or how they perceie is related to their preious experience.
;ontextualised +earning
Bccording to 8ullNs !"&&$( denition of contextual learning, learning occurs only when learners connect information to their own frame of reference Bccording to contextual learning theory, learning occurs only when students !learners( process new information or nowledge in such a way that it ma"es sense to them in their frame of reference !their own inner world of memory, experience, and response(. *his approach to learning and teaching assumes that the mind naturally sees meaning in context%%that is, in the enironment where the person is located%% and that it does so through searching for relationships that mae sense and appear useful.
;riticisms
Gestalt theories of perception are critici-ed for being "escriptive rather than eplanatory in nature. Dor this reason, they are iewed by some as redundant or uninformatie. Dor example, 1ruce, Green O Georgeson conclude the following regarding Gestalt theoryNs inEuence on the study of isual perception. 1ruce, 2., Green, A. O Georgeson, M. !"&&'(. 'isual perception( Physiology, psychology an" ecology !$rd ed.(. +5B. pp. ""3.
General ;riticism
B general criticism of Gestalt theory has been that it does not proide an explanation of emotion and personality. *he Ahilosophical reiew, 2olume :/ 1y Jacob Gould ?churman, James 5dwin ;reighton, Dran *hilly, ?age ?chool of Ahilosophy, Gustaus Watts ;unningham
