Historical Perspectives - Chapter 6 Gestalt

Origin of Gestalt Psychology

• originated in 19th century Germany

• French Prussian war was going on at the time

• after the war there was a renaissance of ideas that led to the Gestalt movement

Gestalt Psychology Timeframe

• prior to 1933, the Gestalt school of thought was increasing

• in 1933 Hitler bace the chancellor and brought the end of Gestalt psych

What are the 3 reasons why Gestalt Psych was limited?

1. Expansion of the Nazi party

2. Scientists had to flee for safety

3. Behaviorism was flourishing in US so it became really popular

What is Gestalt Psychology?

idea that “the parts create the whole”; causal relationship between parts and the whole thing

What links Gestalt and music?

• the idea was actually focused on the phenomenon in music about how one creates a melody

• the music notes are the parts

• the melody is the whole

• Gestalt is a melopdy!

What are the 3 things that make a good Gestalt?

Proximity, similarity, closure

Which individuals were Gestalt scholars?

Wertheimer, Kohler, Koffka, Lewing, Zeigarnik

What are the laws of perceptual organization? (6)

Figure-ground, proximity, continuity, symmetry, similarity, connectedness

Max Wertheimer

Gestalt scholar from Prague, came from money =, studied aphasia and was a musician

What were some of Wertheimer’s discoveries?

• Phi Phenomenon = research on motion and how the perception of images move when 2 things are presented simultaneously

What were some of Wertheimer’s contributions to psychology today?

• Figure-ground principle

• Gestalt principles of perception

• Phi phenomenon

Wolfgang Kohler

Gestalt scholar, participated in Phi phenomenon study and did research on Tenerife Spain on chimps

What were some of Kohler’s discoveries?

• discovered an alternative problem solving method where you understand the situation as a whole

• found out by having chimps try to reach a banana (they cognitively recognized the problem and solved it as a whole) → Sultan was the star monkey!

What are Kohler’s contributions to psychology today?

1. animals have cognitive abilities

2. insight learning = understanding things as a whole

3. Transposition = understanding the relationship between things and transferring it (color and size)

4. Education = new learning theory proposed

Kurt Koffka

Gestalt scholar, Jewish, participated in Phi phenomenon study, fled to US

What were some of Koffka’s contributions to psychology?

• proposed that children learned from a sensory motor

• veridical perception = matching what is actually there to your perception of it

• Gestalt books - “The Growth of the Mind”, “Principles of Gestalt Psychology”, etc.

• promoted Gestalt in America

• “ the whole is something more than its parts”

Kurt Lewin

Gestalt scholar, Jewish, known as modern pioneer of social , organizational, and applied psychology; fled to US

What were Lewin’s contributions to psychology?

• field theory = examining interactions between people/environment

• adapted field theory from physics → psych (focused on interpersonal conflict)

• 1st psychologist to test human behavior; studied group dynamics

Bluma Zeigarnik

Gestalt scholar, Jewish, went to University of Berlin, introduced Lewin to Vygotsky

What were some of Zeigarnik’s discoveries?

• studied people in a cafe and observed waiters remembering peoples orders in the break of time before it goes to the kitchen

• Zeigarnik effect = tendency to remember unfinished tasks over completed tasks

What are Zeigarnik’s contributions to psychology?

1. Proved the effect of perception through the closure principle

2. Connected memory to Gestalt psych

3. Adapted Zeigarnik effect to video games?

Who is known as the modern pioneer of social, organizational, and applied psychology?

Kurt Lewin

Which two scholars participated in the phi phenomenon lab?

Kohler and Koffka

What are the modern applications of Gestalt psych?

• user interface on websites and apps (Wertheimer, Kohler, Koffka, Zeigarnik)

• jigsaw puzzles

• advertising

• camouflage in the military

• therapeutic idea

Which Gestalt scholar conducted research with chimps? What did he discover in the research?

Kohler → insight learning and transposition

Which Gestalt scholar contributed the idea of veridical perception?

Koffka

Which Gestalt scholar extended ideas into America and social and personality psych?

Lewin

What is the Phi phenomenon?

• illusion where stationary objects presented in rapid succession appear to move

How did the zoetrope and the tachistoscope contribute to the phi phenomenon?

• Zoetrope = kids toy where you spin the cylinder and see the image move; where Wertheimer got his idea from

• Tachistoscope = scientific tool that is similar to the zoetrope and used in the phi phenomenon research lab