Unit 5
Gestalt Psychology
History of Psychology
Rocío Rodríguez Loera, PhD.
Degree in Psychology
INDEX
CONTENTS
1. Introduction
2. Antecedents of Gestalt Psychology
3. Foundation of the Gestalt School
4. Principal contributions of Gestalt Psychology
5. Lewin's Field Theory
6. Impact of Gestalt Psychology
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1. Introduction
Gestalt Psychology
● In Germany → rebellion against Wundt’s experimental program.
➢ Attack on Wundt’s elementism = distorts true meaning of the conscious
experience.
➢ Molecular approach: attempt to reduce consciousness or behavior to the
basic elements → used by Wundt, Titchener, Pavlov, and Watson.
● We do not experience things in isolated pieces but in meaningful, intact
configurations. Gestalt means “configuration,” “form,” or “whole”.
● Molar or holistic approach → phenomenological experience
● Gestalt psychology focuses on the idea that the mind perceives and experiences
the world as organized wholes, rather than as a collection of individual elements
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1. Introduction
Gestalt Psychology
It is more beneficial to concentrate on wholes (Gestalten)
than on parts (atoms, elements).
Gestalt psychology emphasizes holism, which means that the whole is greater
than the sum of its parts.
It suggests that our perception and understanding of the world are based on
the organized patterns, structures, and configurations we perceive, rather
than isolated sensations or elements.
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2. Antecedents of Gestalt Psychology
Inmanuel Kant (1724-1804)
● Conscious experience
➢ Is the result of the interaction between sensory stimulation and the
actions of the faculties of the mind (Kant) / brain (Gestalt).
● Difference between perception and sensation: our minds / brains
change sensory experience, making it more structured and organized
and thus more meaningful than it otherwise would be.
THE WORLD WE PERCEIVE IS NEVER THE SAME AS THE
WORLD WE SENSE
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2. Antecedents of Gestalt Psychology
Christian von Ehrenfels (1859-1932)
● Our perceptions contain Gestaltqualitäten (form qualities) that are not
contained in isolated sensations.
➢ One cannot experience a melody by
attending to individual notes; only when
one experiences several notes together
does one experience the melody.
● William James (1842-1910): The Gestaltists agreed with James’s
antielement study of the human mind.
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3. The founding of Gestalt Psychology
Max Wertheimer (1880-1943) Kurt Koffka (1886-1941) Wolfgang Köhler (1887-1967)
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3. The founding of Gestalt Psychology
3.1 Max Wertheimer (1880-1943)
● Born in Prague, started studying law, but then inclined to
Philosophy.
● 1901-1903: studied at the University of Berlin with
Stumpf (emphasis on holistic perception and the study of
conscious experience)
● “Experimental Studies of the Perception of Movement”
(1912).
➢ Described the phi phenomenon.
● 1933: Because of the chaos caused by the Nazi movement
in Germany, Wertheimer moved to New York.
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Phi phenomenon
When two or more distinct visual stimuli
(usually in the form of lights or objects)
are presented in a specific temporal
sequence, the mind perceives the
illusion of continuous motion between
those stimuli, even though they are not
physically moving. This perception of
motion is created by the rapid
succession of the stimuli, and it gives
rise to the impression of a single object
moving smoothly from one location to
another.
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Animation basics: The optical illusion of motion
How do animators make still images
come to life?
Are the images really moving, or are
they merely an optical illusion?
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3. The founding of Gestalt Psychology
3.2 Kurt Koffka (1886-1941)
● Born in Berlin.
● 1908: Doctorate from the University of Berlin, under the
supervision of Stumpf.
● 1922: Article, in English, on Gestalt psychology, published
in the Psychological Bulletin = “Perception: An
Introduction to Gestalt-Theorie”.
● 1924: EEUU
● 1935: “Principles of Gestalt Psychology”
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3. The founding of Gestalt Psychology
3.3 Wolfgang Köhler (1887-1967)
● Born in Reval (now Tallinn), Estonia.
● 1909: doctorate at the University of Berlin (supervision
Stumpf).
● 1909: University of Frankfurt → collaborated with
Wertheimer and Koffka.
● 1913: The Prussian Academy of Sciences invited him to
Tenerife to study chimpanzees.
➢ Nature of learning in chimpanzees → “Mentality of
Apes” (1917/1925).
● 1935: immigrated to the United States.
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3. The founding of Gestalt Psychology
● Wertheimer, Koffka, and Köhler immigrated to the United States.
● Although born literally and philosophically in Germany, Gestalt psychology became highly
influential in the United States.
● Gestalt psychology emerged as a reaction to the prevailing behaviorist views of the time.
Behaviorism focused on the study of observable behaviors and stimulus-response
relationships, while Gestalt psychology emphasized the study of mental processes and the
organization of experience.
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4. Principal contributions of Gestalt Psychology
4.1 Isomorphism and The Law of Prägnanz
4.2 Perception
4.3 Learning
4.4 Productive thinking
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4.1 Isomorphism and The Law of Prägnanz
Psychophysical Isomorphism
● The word isomorphism comes from the Greek iso (“similar”) and morphic
(“shape”).
● The patterns of brain activity and the patterns of conscious experience are
structurally equivalent.
The patterns of activity produced by the brain(rather than sensory
experience as such) cause mental experience.
The way we perceive and understand the world is reflected in the
structure and organization of our mental experiences.
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4.1 Isomorphism and The Law of Prägnanz
Application of Field Theory
The brain contains structured fields of electrochemical
forces that exist prior to sensory stimulation.
Fields of brain activity transform sensory data and give
that data characteristics it otherwise would not
possess.
The whole (electrochemical force fields in the brain) exists prior to the parts
(individual sensations), and it is the whole that gives the parts their identity
or meaning. 16
4.1 Isomorphism and The Law of Prägnanz
Application of Field Theory
Holistic Perception:
The concept of isomorphism aligns with
the holistic approach in Gestalt
psychology, which emphasizes that we
perceive and understand the world in
terms of complete, meaningful
configurations (Gestalts) rather than as a
collection of isolated sensory elements.
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4.1 Isomorphism and The Law of Prägnanz
• Our mental structures and processes are influenced by the physical world and
its inherent organization.
• The structure of our mental experiences organizes the structure of the
environment, allowing us to make sense of the world efficiently.
• It underlines the idea that our perception and cognition are rooted in the
organization and structure of the stimuli we encounter in the world.
The Gestaltists viewed the brain as a dynamic configuration of forces that
transforms sensory information
(how the mind organizes and interprets sensory information)
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4.1 Isomorphism and The Law of Prägnanz
Top–Down Analysis
● Organized brain activity dominates our perceptions, not the stimuli that enter
into that activity.
The whole is more important than the parts
● The analysis proceeded from the top to the bottom instead of from the bottom
to the top (empirical tradition).
● Approach applied to a wide variety of phenomena in thinking, learning, problem
solving, perception, etc.
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4.1 Isomorphism and The Law of Prägnanz
The Law of Prägnanz
● Prägnanz = “full with meaning” or “precise.”
● Psychological organization will always be as good as conditions allow because
fields of brain activity will always distribute themselves in the simplest way
possible under the prevailing conditions, just as other physical force fields do.
● All cognitive experiences will tend to be as organized, symmetrical, simple, and
regular as they can be, given the pattern of brain activity at any given moment.
➢ Sensory information may be fragmented and incomplete, but when that
information interacts with the force fields in the brain, the resultant
cognitive experience becomes complete and precise, organized—it
becomes full of meaning.
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4.2 Perception
Perceptual constancy
The tendency to respond to objects as being the same, even when we experience those
objects under a wide variety of circumstances.
Constancy of shape: The
rectangular door adopts a
variety of different shapes when
it opens, however, we continue
to perceive it as a rectangular-
shape door.
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4.2 Perception
Perceptual constancy
● Empiricists explained it as the result of learning
● Gestaltists’ explanation is:
✓ The ability of our perceptual system to perceive and recognize
objects as stable and unchanging, even when sensory information
about those objects changes.
✓ Perceptual constancy allows us to perceive objects as having
consistent properties, such as size, shape, color, and brightness,
regardless of variations in lighting, viewing angle, or distance.
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4.2 Perception
Perceptual Gestalten
● The Gestaltists isolated over 100 configurations (Gestalten) by which
visual information is arranged:
➢ The Figure–Ground Relationship
➢ Principle of continuity
➢ Principle of proximity
➢ Principle of inclusiveness
➢ Principle of closure
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The Figure–Ground Relationship
Which is the figure and which is the ground?
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The Figure–Ground Relationship
Which is the figure and which is the ground?
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The Figure–Ground Relationship
● The most basic type of perception
● It explains the way we perceive and organize
visual information.
● "figure" refers to the object or element that
stands out and captures our attention in a visual
scene.
● "ground" represents the background against
which the figure is perceived.
● This relationship is crucial for comprehending
how we perceive and make sense of the visual
world.
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Gestalt Principles of Perceptual Organization
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Principle of continuity
● It emphasizes that our perceptual system
prefers to perceive lines, curves, or patterns as
continuous and unbroken (uninterrupted lines
or patterns as a single entity).
● When we encounter a series of connected
elements, we naturally perceive them as
belonging to the same object or form.
● Our perceptual system organizes visual elements
into continuous and smooth patterns.
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Gestalt Principles of Perceptual Organization
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Principle of proximity
● Elements that are close to each
other are perceived as a group.
● When objects or shapes are
near each other in space, we
tend to see them as related or
belonging to the same
category.
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Gestalt Principles of Perceptual Organization
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Gestalt Principles of Perceptual Organization
Principle of similarity
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Principle of similarity
● The tendency to perceive as
units stimuli that are physically
similar to one another.
● Visual elements that share
common characteristics, such
as color, shape, size, or texture,
are grouped together in our
perception.
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Gestalt Principles of Perceptual Organization
Principle of closure
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Gestalt Principles of Perceptual Organization
Principle of closure
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Principle of closure
● The tendency to perceive
incomplete objects as
complete.
● The brain transforms the
stimuli into organized
configurations that are then
experienced cognitively.
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4.3 Learning
● Brain activity tends toward a balance, or equilibrium, unless it is somehow
disrupted → the existence of a problem.
● A state of disequilibrium until the problem is solved.
● An organism solves its problems perceptually by scanning the environment and
cognitively trying one possible solution and then another until solved.
Emphasis on cognitive trial and error as opposed to
behavioral trial and error → organisms come to see
solutions to problems
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Insightful Learning
Köhler’s studies with apes
● Suspended a desired object -e.g., a banana- in the air
just out of the animal’s reach.
● Placed objects such as boxes and sticks in the animal’s
environment.
➢ By stacking one or more boxes under the
banana.
➢ By using a stick, the animal could obtain the
banana.
➢ In one case, the animal needed to join two
sticks together in order to reach a banana.
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Note: An ape named Grande using a Note: Chica beating down her objective Note: Chica joining two sticks together to
stack of boxes to obtain food as with a pole. reach food.
Sultan watches. 39
Insightful Learning
Köhler’s studies with apes
● During a problem’s presolution period, the animals appeared to test various
hypotheses (as cognitive trial and error)
● At some point, the animal achieved insight into the solution and behaved
according to that insight.
● Characteristics (Hergenhahn & Olson, 2005):
1. Transition from presolution to solution is sudden and complete
2. Performance based on a solution gained by insight is usually smooth and
free of errors
3. Solution retained for a considerable length of time
4. The principle is easily applied to other problems. 40
4.3 Learning
Organisms come to see
solutions to problems
Note: A chimpanzee solving the peanut problem at the Max
Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig.
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4.3 Learning
Transposition
● A white sheet and a gray sheet of
paper on the ground and covered
both with grain.
● If a chicken pecked at the grain on
the white sheet, it was shooed away
● If it pecked at the grain on the gray
sheet, it was allowed to eat.
● After many trials, the chickens
learned to peck at the grain on only
the gray sheet.
What did the animals learn?
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4.3 Learning
Transposition
● White paper is replaced with
a sheet of black paper.
● Choice: a gray sheet of paper
(for which they had received
reinforcement) and a black
sheet.
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4.3 Learning
Transposition
● The vast majority of the
chickens, however,
approached the black paper.
What did the animals learn?
Chickens had learned a
relationship → to approach the
darker of the two sheets of paper.
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4.3 Learning
Transposition
● An organism learns principles or relationships, not specific responses to
specific situations.
● Once it learns a principle, the organism applies it to similar situations =
TRANSPOSITION (Gestalt psychology’s explanation of transfer of
training).
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4.4 Productive thinking
Wertheimer
● Type of thinking that ponders principles rather than isolated facts and
that aims at understanding the solutions to problems rather than
memorizing a certain problem-solving strategy.
● Learning and problem solving are governed by intrinsic (internal)
reinforcement rather than extrinsic (external) reinforcement
➢ We are motivated to learn and to solve problems because it is
personally satisfying to do so, not because someone or something
else reinforces us for doing so.
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5. Lewin’s Field Theory
Kurt Lewin (1890-1947)
● Born in Germany
● 1914: doctorate at the University of Berlin,
under the supervision of Stumpf.
● Worked with Wertheimer, Koffka, and Köhler.
● Early disciple of Gestalt psychology
● Application of Gestalt principles to the topics of
motivation, personality, and group dynamics.
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5. Lewin’s Field Theory
● It is a holistic approach that views individuals as part of a dynamic
system where behavior is influenced by both internal and external
factors (Person's goals, needs, emotions, social and physical
environment)
Life Space: represents the range of psychological events that are
currently influencing an individual's behavior.
➢ An awareness of internal events (hunger, pain, fatigue).
➢ An awareness of external events (restaurants, other
people, stop signs, angry dogs).
➢ Recollections of prior experiences (knowing that a
particular person is pleasant or unpleasant or knowing
that one’s mother tends to say yes to certain requests and
no to others).
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5. Lewin’s Field Theory
Motivation
● People seek a cognitive balance.
● Both biological and psychological needs
cause tension in the life space, and the
only way to reduce the tension is through
satisfaction of the need.
● Bluma Zeigarnik (Lewin’s Ph.D. student)
tested tension-system hypothesis:
➢ Needs cause tensions that persist
until the needs are satisfied.
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ZEIGARNIK EFFECT
The tendency to remember
uncompleted tasks better than
completed ones.
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On one such occasion, somebody called
for the bill and the waiter knew just
what everyone had ordered. Although
he hadn’t kept a written reckoning, he
presented an exact tally to everyone
when the bill was called for. About a
half hour later Lewin called the waiter
over and asked him to write the check
again. The waiter was indignant. “I
don’t know any longer what you people
ordered,” he said. “You paid your bill.”
In psychological terms, this indicated
that a tension system had been
building up in the waiter as we were
ordering and upon payment of the bill
the tension system was discharged.
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5. Lewin’s Field Theory
Conflict
● Lewin concentrated his study on three types of
conflicto (tensión)
1. Approach-approach conflict: a person is
attracted to two goals at the same time.
✓ Needing to choose from two attractive
items on a menu
✓ Between two equally attractive colleges
after being accepted by both.
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5. Lewin’s Field Theory
Conflict
2. Avoidance-avoidance conflict: when a person is repelled by two unattractive
goals at the same time.
✓ E.g.: one must get a job or not have enough money or study for an
examination or get a bad grade.
3. Approach-avoidance conflict: it involves only one goal about which one has
mixed feelings.
✓ E.g.: having a steak is an appealing idea but it is one of the most
expensive items on the menu;
✓ marriage is appealing but it means giving up a great deal of
independence.
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6. Impact of Gestalt Psychology
Gestalt psychology has had its share of criticism:
● Many of its central terms and concepts are vague and therefore hard to pin down
experimentally.
● Behaviorists attacked the Gestaltists’ concern with consciousness: regression to
the old metaphysical position of consciousness.
But Gestalt made important contributions to Psychology:
● It enriched American psychology greatly and did much to counter the attractions
of extreme behaviorism.
● Important relationships that between Gestalt psychology and contemporary
cognitive psychology.
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BIBLIOGRAPHIC
REFERENCES
Hergenhahn, B. & Henley, T. (2014). An introduction to the history of psychology (7th
ed.). Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
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Rocío Rodríguez Loera
[email protected]
UCAM Universidad Católica de Murcia
© UCAM
