Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email
Answers.com

Gestalt psychology

 
American Heritage Dictionary:

Gestalt psychology

Home > Library > Literature & Language > Dictionary

n.
The school or theory in psychology holding that psychological, physiological, and behavioral phenomena are irreducible experiential configurations not derivable from a simple summation of perceptual elements such as sensation and response.


Search unanswered questions...

Enter a question here...
Search: All sources Community Q&A Reference topics

Britannica Concise Encyclopedia:

Gestalt psychology

Top
Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Britannica Concise Encyclopedia

Twentieth-century school of psychology that provided the foundation for the modern study of perception. The German term Gestalt, referring to how a thing has been "put together" (gestellt), is often translated as "pattern" or "configuration" in psychology. Its precepts, formulated as a reaction against the atomistic orientation of previous theories, emphasized that the whole of anything is different from the sum of its parts: organisms tend to perceive entire patterns or configurations rather than bits and pieces. The school emerged in Austria and Germany at the end of the 19th century and gained impetus through the works of Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Köhler, and Kurt Koffka (1886 – 1941); its principles were later expanded by Kurt Lewin. A form of psychotherapy only loosely related to Gestalt principles and influenced by existentialism and phenomenology was developed by Frederick S. (Fritz) Perls (1893 – 1970) in the 1940s. Gestalt therapy directs the client toward appreciating the form, meaning, and value of his perceptions and actions.

For more information on Gestalt psychology, visit Britannica.com.

Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy:

Gestalt

Top
Home > Library > History, Politics & Society > Philosophy Dictionary

(German, configuration, pattern, organized whole). The key term of Gestalt psychology was contributed by the Austrian philosopher, Christian von Ehrenfels, in his paper ‘On Gestalt Qualities’ (1890), although the movement itself is usually dated from the pioneering paper of Max Wertheimer, ‘Experimental Studies on the Perception of Apparent Movement’ (1912).

The theory of perception developed in opposition to the classical ‘atomistic’ model of the British empiricists and followers such as J. S. Mill and the German scientist H. L. F. von Helmholtz. On the atomistic view visual patterns arise from a mosaic of independently existing sensations. But phenomena such as the ‘figure-ground’ switch or the famous duck-rabbit switch make vivid that to take a scene one way or another goes far beyond having the same blank experience, and then explaining it as the result of one thing or another: the interpretation changes the experience itself. This Gestalt quality is something over and above anything determined in the array of individual sensations. The original Gestalt school of psychology was founded by Max Wertheimer, Kurt Koffka, and Wolfgang Köhler. Although their explanation of Gestalt effects in terms of brain ‘fields’ has given way, and the attempt to frame laws determining how stimuli will end up being perceived has also withered, the basic idea that higher-level cognitive processes (rememberings, interpretations) are responsible for the nature of experience has flourished. Its philosophical importance has been in undermining the ‘myth of the given’, since even the straightforward perception of three-dimensional spatial objects proves not to be ‘given’.

Oxford Dictionary of Sports Science & Medicine:

Gestalt psychology

Top
Home > Library > Health > Sports Science and Medicine

School of psychology that disparages the partist, reductionist approach to experience and behaviour. Gestalt psychologists argue that people behave as whole individuals who are more than the sum of their parts. In learning, this school emphasizes the ability of a person to organize and interpret sensory experience: stimuli are not merely received by the sense organs, but meaning is imposed on the sensory data during the process of perception.

Columbia Encyclopedia:

Gestalt

Top
Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Columbia Encyclopedia
Gestalt (gəshtält') [Ger.,=form], school of psychology that interprets phenomena as organized wholes rather than as aggregates of distinct parts, maintaining that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The term Gestalt was coined by the philosopher Christian von Ehrenfels in 1890, to denote experiences that require more than the basic sensory capacities to comprehend. In 1912, the movement was given impetus in psychology by German theorists Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Köhler, and Kurt Koffka as a protest against the prevailing atomistic, analytical psychological thought. It was also a departure from the general intellectual climate, which emphasized a scientific approach characterized by a detachment from basic human concerns. According to the school, understanding of psychological phenomena such as perceptual illusions could not be derived by merely isolating the elementary parts for analysis, because human perception may organize sensory stimuli in any number of ways, making the whole different from the sum of the parts. Gestalt psychologists suggest that the events in the brain bear a structural correspondence to psychological events; indeed, it has been shown that steady electric currents in the brain correspond to structured perceptual events. The Gestalt school has made substantial contributions to the study of learning, recall, and the nature of associations, as well as important contributions to personality and social psychology. Gestalt therapy, developed after World War II by Frederick Perls, believes that a person's inability to successfully integrate the parts of his personality into a healthy whole may lie at the root of psychological disturbance. In therapy, the analyst encourages clients to release their emotions, and to recognize these emotions for what they are. Gestalt psychology has been thought of as analogous to field physics.

Bibliography

See W. Köhler, The Task of Gestalt Psychology (1969); Max W. Productive Thinking (rev. ed. 1959, repr. 1978); G. Higgins, Gestalt Psychology and the Theory of Emotional Growth (1987); D. Rosenblatt, Opening Doors: What Happens in Gestalt Therapy (1989).

Dictionary of Cultural Literacy: Science:

gestalt psychology

Top
Home > Library > Science > Science Dictionary
(guh-shtahlt, guh-shtawlt, guh-stahlt, guh-stawlt)

A type of psychology based on the study of a subject's responses to integrated wholes, rather than to separate experiences. Gestalt (a German word meaning “form”) also refers to any structure or pattern in which the whole has properties different from those of its parts; for example, the beauty of a musical melody does not depend on individual notes as such, but rather on the whole continuous tune.

Random House Word Menu:

categories related to 'Gestalt'

Top
Home > Library > Literature & Language > Word Menu Categories
Random House Word Menu by Stephen Glazier
For a list of words related to Gestalt, see:
Wikipedia on Answers.com:

Gestalt psychology

Top
Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia
link =
 This article may be expanded with text translated from the corresponding article in the German Wikipedia. (January 2012)
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2007)
This article needs attention from an expert on the subject. See the talk page for details. WikiProject Psychology or the Psychology Portal may be able to help recruit an expert. (October 2009)
Psychology
Basic science
Applied science
Lists
Portal

Gestalt psychology or gestaltism (German: Gestalt - "essence or shape of an entity's complete form") is a theory of mind and brain of the Berlin School; the operational principle of gestalt psychology is that the brain is holistic, parallel, and analog, with self-organizing tendencies. Gestalt psychologists stipulate that perception is the product of complex interactions among various stimuli. Contrary to the behaviouralist approach to understanding the elements of cognitive processes, gestalt psychologists sought to understand their organization (Carlson and Heth, 2010). The gestalt effect is the form-generating capability of our senses, particularly with respect to the visual recognition of figures and whole forms instead of just a collection of simple lines and curves. In psychology, gestaltism is often opposed to structuralism. The phrase "The whole is greater than the sum of the parts" is often used when explaining gestalt theory,[1] though this is a mistranslation of Kurt Koffka's original phrase, "The whole is other than the sum of the parts".[2] Gestalt theory allows for the break up of elements from the whole situation into what it really is. [3]

Contents

Origins

The concept of gestalt was first introduced in contemporary philosophy and psychology by Christian von Ehrenfels (a member of the School of Brentano). The idea of gestalt has its roots in theories by David Hume, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Immanuel Kant, David Hartley, and Ernst Mach. Max Wertheimer's unique contribution was to insist that the "gestalt" is perceptually primary, defining the parts of which it was composed, rather than being a secondary quality that emerges from those parts, as von Ehrenfels's earlier Gestalt-Qualität had been.

Both von Ehrenfels and Edmund Husserl seem to have been inspired by Mach's work Beiträge zur Analyse der Empfindungen (Contributions to the Analysis of the Sensations, 1886), in formulating their very similar concepts of gestalt and figural moment, respectively. On the philosophical foundations of these ideas see (Smith, ed., 1988).

Early 20th century theorists, such as Kurt Koffka, Max Wertheimer, and Wolfgang Köhler (students of Carl Stumpf) saw objects as perceived within an environment according to all of their elements taken together as a global construct. This 'gestalt' or 'whole form' approach sought to define principles of perception -- seemingly innate mental laws which determined the way in which objects were perceived. It is based on the here and now, and in the way you view things. It can be broken up into two: figure or ground, at first glance do you see the figure in front of you or the background?

These laws took several forms, such as the grouping of similar, or proximate, objects together, within this global process. Although gestalt has been criticized for being merely descriptive, it has formed the basis of much further research into the perception of patterns and objects ( Carlson et al. 2000), and of research into behavior, thinking, problem solving and psychopathology.

It should also be emphasized that Gestalt Psychology is distinct from gestalt psychotherapy, despite the efforts of representatives of the latter to claim provenance from the former. As Mary Henle noted in her presidential address to Division 24 at the meeting of the American Psychological Association (1975): "What Perls has done has been to take a few terms from Gestalt psychology, stretch their meaning beyond recognition, mix them with notions - often unclear and often incompatible - from the depth psychologies, existentialism, and common sense, and he has called the whole mixture gestalt therapy. His work has no substantive relation to scientific Gestalt psychology. To use his own language, Fritz Perls has done 'his thing'; whatever it is, it is not Gestalt psychology"[4]

Theoretical framework and methodology

The investigations developed at the beginning of the 20th century, based on traditional scientific methodology, divided the object of study into a set of elements that could be analyzed separately with the objective of reducing the complexity of this object. Contrary to this methodology, the school of gestalt practiced a series of theoretical and methodological principles that attempted to redefine the approach to psychological research.

The theoretical principles are the following:

  • Principle of Totality - The conscious experience must be considered globally (by taking into account all the physical and mental aspects of the individual simultaneously) because the nature of the mind demands that each component be considered as part of a system of dynamic relationships.
  • Principle of psychophysical isomorphism - A correlation exists between conscious experience and cerebral activity.

Based on the principles above the following methodological principles are defined:

  • Phenomenon experimental analysis - In relation to the Totality Principle any psychological research should take as a starting point phenomena and not be solely focused on sensory qualities.
  • Biotic experiment - The school of gestalt established a need to conduct real experiments which sharply contrasted with and opposed classic laboratory experiments. This signified experimenting in natural situations, developed in real conditions, in which it would be possible to reproduce, with higher fidelity, what would be habitual for a subject.[5]

Support from cybernetics and neurology

In the 1940s and 1950s, laboratory research in neurology and what became known as cybernetics on the mechanism of frogs' eyes indicate that perception of 'gestalts' (in particular gestalts in motion) is perhaps more primitive and fundamental than 'seeing' as such:

A Frog hunts on land by vision... He has no fovea, or region of greatest acuity in vision, upon which he must center a part of the image... The frog does not seem to see or, at any rate, is not concerned with the detail of stationary parts of the world around him. He will starve to death surrounded by food if it is not moving. His choice of food is determined only by size and movement. He will leap to capture any object the size of an insect or worm, providing it moves like one. He can be fooled easily not only by a piece of dangled meat but by any moving small object... He does remember a moving thing provided it stays within his field of vision and he is not distracted.[6]

Cyberneticist Valentin Turchin points out that the gestalts observed in what we usually imagine to be 'still images' are in fact exactly the kind of 'moving objects' which cause the frog retina to respond:

The lowest-level concepts related to visual perception for a human being probably differ little from the concepts of a frog. In any case, the structure of the retina in mammals and in human beings is the same as in amphibians. The phenomenon of distortion of perception of an image stabilized on the retina gives some idea of the concepts of the subsequent levels of the hierarchy. This is a very interesting phenomenon. When a person looks at an immobile object, “fixes” it with his eyes, the eyeballs do not remain absolutely immobile; they make small involuntary movements. As a result the image of the object on the retina is constantly in motion, slowly drifting and jumping back to the point of maximum sensitivity. The image “marks time” in the vicinity of this point.[7]

Properties

The key principles of gestalt systems are emergence, reification, multistability and invariance.[8]

Emergence

Emergence is the process of complex pattern formation from simpler rules. It is demonstrated by the perception of the dog picture, which depicts a Dalmatian dog sniffing the ground in the shade of overhanging trees. The dog is not recognized by first identifying its parts (feet, ears, nose, tail, etc.), and then inferring the dog from those component parts. Instead, the dog is perceived as a whole, all at once. However, this is a description of what occurs in vision and not an explanation. Gestalt theory does not explain how the precept of a dog emerges.

Reification

Reification

Reification is the constructive or generative aspect of perception, by which the experienced percept contains more explicit spatial information than the sensory stimulus on which it is based.

For instance, a triangle will be perceived in picture A, although no triangle has actually been drawn. In pictures B and D the eye will recognize disparate shapes as "belonging" to a single shape, in C a complete three-dimensional shape is seen, where in actuality no such thing is drawn.

Reification can be explained by progress in the study of illusory contours, which are treated by the visual system as "real" contours.

See also: Reification (fallacy)

Multistability

the Necker Cube and the Rubin vase, two examples of multistability

Multistability (or multistable perception) is the tendency of ambiguous perceptual experiences to pop back and forth unstably between two or more alternative interpretations. This is seen for example in the Necker cube, and in Rubin's Figure/Vase illusion shown here. Other examples include the Three-legged blivet and artist M. C. Escher's artwork and the appearance of flashing marquee lights moving first one direction and then suddenly the other. Again, gestalt does not explain how images appear multistable, only that they do.

Invariance

Invariance

Invariance is the property of perception whereby simple geometrical objects are recognized independent of rotation, translation, and scale; as well as several other variations such as elastic deformations, different lighting, and different component features. For example, the objects in A in the figure are all immediately recognized as the same basic shape, which are immediately distinguishable from the forms in B. They are even recognized despite perspective and elastic deformations as in C, and when depicted using different graphic elements as in D. Computational theories of vision, such as those by David Marr, have had more success in explaining how objects are classified.

Emergence, reification, multistability, and invariance are not necessarily separable modules to be modeled individually, but they could be different aspects of a single unified dynamic mechanism.[citation needed]

Prägnanz

Main article: Principles of grouping

The fundamental principle of gestalt perception is the law of prägnanz (in the German language, pithiness) which says that we tend to order our experience in a manner that is regular, orderly, symmetric, and simple. Gestalt psychologists attempt to discover refinements of the law of prägnanz, and this involves writing down laws which hypothetically allow us to predict the interpretation of sensation, what are often called "gestalt laws".[9] These include:

Law of closure
Law of similarity
Law of proximity
  • The law of closure – The mind may experience elements it does not perceive through sensation, in order to complete a regular figure (that is, to increase regularity).
  • The law of similarity – The mind groups similar elements into collective entities or totalities. This similarity might depend on relationships of form, color, size, or brightness.
  • The law of proximity – Spatial or temporal proximity of elements may induce the mind to perceive a collective or totality.
  • The law of symmetry (figure–ground relationships) – Symmetrical images are perceived collectively, even in spite of distance.
  • The law of continuity – The mind continues visual, auditory, and kinetic patterns.
  • The law of common fate – Elements with the same moving direction are perceived as a collective or unit.

Gestalt views in psychology

Gestalt psychologists find it is important to think of problems as a whole. Max Wertheimer considered thinking to happen in two ways: productive and reproductive.[9]

Productive thinking is solving a problem with insight.

This is a quick insightful unplanned response to situations and environmental interaction.

Reproductive thinking is solving a problem with previous experiences and what is already known. (1945/1959).

This is a very common thinking. For example, when a person is given several segments of information, he/she deliberately examines the relationships among its parts, analyzes their purpose, concept, and totality, he/she reaches the "aha!" moment, using what is already known. Understanding in this case happens intentionally by reproductive thinking.

Other gestalts psychologist Perkins believes insight deals with three processes:

  1. Unconscious leap in thinking.[9]
  2. The increased amount of speed in mental processing.
  3. The amount of short-circuiting which occurs in normal reasoning.[10]

Other views going against the gestalt psychology are:

  1. Nothing-special view
  2. Neo-gestalts view
  3. The Three-Process View

Gestalt psychology should not be confused with the gestalt therapy of Fritz Perls, which is only peripherally linked to gestalt psychology. A strictly gestalt psychology-based therapeutic method is Gestalt Theoretical Psychotherapy, developed by the German gestalt psychologist and psychotherapist Hans-Jürgen Walter.

Uses in human–computer interaction

The gestalt laws are used in user interface design. The laws of similarity and proximity can, for example, be used as guides for placing radio buttons. They may also be used in designing computers and software for more intuitive human use. Examples include the design and layout of a desktop's shortcuts in rows and columns. Gestalt psychology also has applications in computer vision for trying to make computers "see" the same things as humans do.[11]

James J. Gibson was a Gestalt Psychologist who focused on vision and what he termed ecological perception. He also coined the term affordance which has been productive of various human factors and usability research.

Criticism

In some scholarly communities, such as cognitive psychology and computational neuroscience, gestalt theories of perception are criticized for being descriptive rather than explanatory in nature. For this reason, they are viewed by some as redundant or uninformative. For example, Bruce, Green & Georgeson[12] conclude the following regarding gestalt theory's influence on the study of visual perception:

"The physiological theory of the gestaltists has fallen by the wayside, leaving us with a set of descriptive principles, but without a model of perceptual processing. Indeed, some of their "laws" of perceptual organisation today sound vague and inadequate. What is meant by a "good" or "simple" shape, for example?"

See also

Portal icon Psychology portal

References

  1. ^ David Hothersall: History of Psychology, chapter seven,(2004)
  2. ^ Tuck, Michael. "Gestalt Principles Applied in Design (Aug 17 2010)". http://sixrevisions.com/web_design/gestalt-principles-applied-in-design/. Retrieved 11/12/11. 
  3. ^ Humphrey, G. (1924). The psychology of the gestalt. Journal of Educational Psychology, 15(7), 401-412. doi:10.1037/h0070207
  4. ^ http://gestalttheory.net/archive/henle.html
  5. ^ William Ray Woodward, Robert Sonné Cohen - World views and scientific discipline formation: science studies in the German Democratic Republic : papers from a German-American summer institute, 1988
  6. ^ Lettvin, J.Y., Maturana, H.R., Pitts, W.H., and McCulloch, W.S. (1961). Two Remarks on the Visual System of the Frog. In Sensory Communication edited by Walter Rosenblith, MIT Press and John Wiley and Sons: New York
  7. ^ Valentin Fedorovich Turchin - The phenomenon of science - a cybernetic approach to human evolution - Columbia University Press, 1977
  8. ^ http://sharp.bu.edu/~slehar/webstuff/bubw3/bubw3.html
  9. ^ a b c Sternberg, Robert, Cognitive Psychology Third Edition, Thomson Wadsworth© 2003.
  10. ^ Langley& associates, 1987; Perkins, 1981; Weisberg, 1986,1995”>
  11. ^ http://www.interaction-design.org/encyclopedia/gestalt_principles_of_form_perception.html
  12. ^ Bruce, V., Green, P. & Georgeson, M. (1996). Visual perception: Physiology, psychology and ecology (3rd ed.). LEA. p. 110. 
  • Carlson, Neil R. and Heth, C. Donald (2010) Psychology the Science of Behaviour Ontario, CA: Pearson Education Canada. Pp 20-22.
  • Smith, Barry (ed.) (1988) Foundations of Gestalt Theory, Munich and Vienna: Philosophia Verlag, 1988.

http://www.theoryofknowledge.net/ways-of-knowing/sense-perception/how-do-our-senses-work.php

External links
Basic psychology
Psi
Applied psychology
Methodologies
Orientations
Eminent
psychologists
Lists

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 

 

Copyrights:

American Heritage Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 1994-2012 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy. The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy. Copyright © 1994, 1996, 2005 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.  Read more
Oxford Dictionary of Sports Science & Medicine. The Oxford Dictionary of Sports Science & Medicine. Copyright © Michael Kent 1998, 2006, 2007. All rights reserved.  Read more
Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/.  Read more
Dictionary of Cultural Literacy: Science. The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Edited by E.D. Hirsch, Jr., Joseph F. Kett, and James Trefil. Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.  Read more
Random House Word Menu. © 2010 Write Brothers Inc. Word Menu is a registered trademark of the Estate of Stephen Glazier. Write Brothers Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia on Answers.com. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Gestalt psychology.  Read more

Related answers
» More
Answer these
» More
Follow us
Facebook Twitter
YouTube

Mentioned in

» More» More