The Gestalt Perspective

Perception, Problem Solving, and Field Theory

Max Wertheimer (1880-1943)

  • founder of Gestalt psychology

  • musician, good humor

  • good friends with Albert Einstein

  • originally studied law at uni of Prague

  • 1904 ph.d at Wurzburg with Oswald Kulpe on lie detection

  • vacation trip on train interrupted by inspiration - got off in Frankfurt

  • introduced to Kurt Koffka and Wolfgang Kohler by Professor Schumann

  • experiments on the phi phenomenon

    • research on problem-solving strategies

  • left Nazi Germany in 1933 for New York

  • professor at the new school for social research in NYC

  • new school was refuge for many scholars and artists displaced by WWII

Kurt Koffka (1886-1941)

  • prolific writer

  • wrote a paper describing gestalt theory in psychological bulletin

  • was able to persuade ppl to the gestalt way of thinking through pictures

    • why do we use visual perception to illustrate gestalt principles

      • the whole is greater than the sum; form and structure

      • easier to do with picture than auditory stimulus

  • got a job at Smith College in the 1920s after Nazi’s took over

Gestalt Principles

  • Closure

  • Perceptual Constancy

  • Müller-Lyer Illusion

Wolfgang Köhler (1887-1967)

  • Ph.D in 1909 with Carl Stumpf

  • studies of chimpanzees at Tenerife from 1913-1920

    • Holistic Problem Solving

  • The Mentality of Apes

  • openly critical of Nazi Government

  • left for US in 1935, hired as professor at Swarthmore College

  • APA President in 1959

Tenerife in the Canary Islands

  • why did Köhler stay in tenerife

    • rumor that he was spy for 1913 war; shipping lines

    • radio antenna reef in attic

  • WAS NOT A SPY

Kurt Lewin (1890-1947)

  • what school of thought is Kurt Lewin originally a part of?

    • gestalt school

  • *two part biography* (before and after Nazi’s took over)

    • pre 19

      • successful professor with many students

      • mentor: karl stumpf

      • in US: received respectfully but behavior was quaint (old german psychology - domination of behavioral perspective)

        • adapts to new environment and does not strictly do gestalt psychology but heavily inspired

    • pro 19

      • resigned faculty position at Berlin in 1933

      • academic refugee at Cornell University

      • in 1935, joined Psych Department at Uni of Iowa

      • in 1945, he founded the Research Center for Group Dynamics at M.I.T

      • died of sudden heart attack in 1947

  • born in 1890 Prussia; 2nd of 4 children

  • enrolled in 1909 at Uni of Freiburg

  • Transfer to Uni of Berlin to study medicine, switched to psychology

  • education suspended to fight in Great War

    • 2 years in trenches, awarded Iron Cross

  • Ph.D., 1916, psychology with Carl Stumpf

Lewin’s Field Theory

  • derives from principles in physics

  • behavior is determined by total present situation of individual (Life Space)

  • total situation is more than summation to these elements (Gestalt Principle)

  • elements “move” individual behavior in different directions (vectors)

Stanley Milgram’s Obedience Studies

  • subject - think that they and the confederate are subjects

    • who is the teacher and who is the leaner

      • teacher shocks learner every time they get a study wrong

  • third agent - authority figure

    • experiment must go on

    • shock person on highest level; it doesn’t matter

    • who are you going to obey? authority figure or confederate

Milgram’s “Field of Force” 

  • Milgram manipulates field of force

    • standing in front of you or on the phone

    • closer you are to authority the more likely you are to obey

  • business applications

Kurt Lewin

  • established modern social psychology

    • derived from gestalt school of thought

  • some other ideas

    • Zeigarnik effect

      • unfinished tasks, something we started but didn’t finish, has a power to it; creates psychological tension

      • used gestalt principal of closure; prefer design that is closed rather than one that is open

      • action motivated by tension reduction

    • Conflicts and decision making

      • approach-approach conflict

        • quiet relaxing stay at home or stay at the beach

      • approach-avoidance conflict

        • ex: college has great program but on the other side of the world

      • avoidance-avoidance conflict

        • ex: do i want to write term paper or rake leaves

    • Leadership styles:

      • authoritarian: I make all the rules and idc what u think

      • democratic: I make the rules but I want ur input

      • laissez-faire: do whatever u want

    • Depersonalization and Violence

    • Action Research: ex: segregation versus integration and racial attitudes

      • hypothesis: more likely to fight if u keep them segregated; exposure to each other will create calm

        • ex: when living together, attitudes were more positive and fighting was decreased

    • t groups and concept of interdependence