Cognitive Perspective: Gestalt Psychology

Gestalt Psychology

Initial cognitive response to behaviorism.
Emphasized the importance of sensory wholes and the dynamic nature of visual perception.
The term "gestalt" means "form" or "configuration."
Psychologists: Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Kohler, and Kurt Koffka.
They studied perception and concluded that perceivers (or learners) are not passive but rather active.
Learners do not just collect information as is, but they actively process and restructure data in order to understand it. This is the perceptual process.
Certain factors impact this perceptual process, such as past experiences, needs, attitudes, and one's present situation.

The way we form our perceptions are guided by certain principles or laws.
These principles or laws determine what we see or make of things or situations we meet.

Elements that are closer together will be perceived as a coherent object.
When objects we are perceiving are near each other, we perceive them as belonging together.

Individuals have the tendency to continue contours whenever the elements of the pattern establish an implied direction.
People tend to draw a good continuous line.

The stimulus will be organized into as good a figure as possible.
"Good" refers to symmetry, simplicity, and regularity.
The figure is perceived as a square overlapping a triangle, not a combination of several complicated shapes.
Based on our experiences with perception, we "expect" certain patterns and therefore perceive that expected pattern.

A concept developed by Wolfgang Kohler, is a method of learning that involves discovery or insight.
Kohler used experiments with apes to teach them how to solve problems using boxes and sticks.
- Box Problem: A banana could be reached by climbing and jumping from a box.
- Stacking Problem: Required the ape to stack one box on another to master gravitational problems.
- Stick Problem: Required the ape to insert one stick into the other to reach food.
The key aspect of learning was not reinforcement but the coordination of thinking to create new material organizations.
Kohler proposed the view that insight follows from the characteristics of objects under consideration.
His theory suggested that learning could occur when the individual perceives the relationships of the elements before him and reorganizes these elements and comes to a greater understanding or insight.
This could occur without reinforcement, and once it occurs, no review, training, or investigation is necessary.
Significantly, insight is not necessarily observable by another person.

The six gestalt principles not only influence perception but they also impact on learning.
Other psychologists like Kurt Lewin expounded on gestalt psychology. His theory focusing on "life space" adhered to gestalt psychology.
He said that an individual has inner and outer forces that affect his perceptions and also his learning.
- Inner forces include his own motivation, attitudes, and feelings.
- Outer forces may include the attitude and behavior of the teacher and classmates.
All these forces interact and impact on the person's learning.
Mario Polito, an Italian psychologist, writes about the relevance of gestalt psychology to education.

The here and now.
Life space of teachers and students
Complexity of experience.
Experience is a source of learning.
Affections and meaning.
Origination and rearrangement of information according to needs, purposes, and meaning.
Learning is remolding or insight.
Autonomy and freedom of the student is stimulated by the teacher.
Contact between teacher and students is valuable.
Authentic meeting based on sharing of ideas and affections. Thanks for Listening