Gestalt Psychology and Principles

Gestalt Psychology

• "Gestalt" is German for "configuration" or "form."
• A school of thought that probes how people naturally organize their perceptions according to certain patterns.
• Main principle: The whole is different from the sum of its parts (e.g., separate movie frames create perceived motion; tiny pixels form a complete image).

Gestalt Principles

• Closure: When seeing disconnected or incomplete figures, people fill in spaces to perceive them as complete figures.
• Proximity: Objects that are near each other tend to be seen as a unit.
• Similarity: Objects that are similar to each other tend to be seen as a unit.