Gestalt psychology Reflection

Samantha Craig

Psy/310

3/1/2015

Linka Griswold

Gestalt psychology has made many contributions to the studies of perception and learning and social psychology. This form of psychology became very popular in Germany "approximately the same time the behaviorist revolution was gathering strength in the United States." (Schultz & Schultz, 2012) Many believed that it was due to the fact that it opposed Wundt's foundation of work and structuralism itself.

When looking Gestalt psychology the definition is "the study of perception and behavior from the standpoint of an individual's response to configurationally wholes with stress on the uniformity of psychological and physiological events and rejection of analysis into discrete events of stimulus, percept, and response." (Meriam-Webster, 2015) As with many other forms of psychology there are many people with who made up the foundation of Gestalt psychology based upon their theories and views. The four people most would acknowledge would be Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Kohler, Ernest Mach and Kurt Koffka.

Max Wertheimer was originally studying law when he switch to philosophy and psychology. Many people around him noticed he viewed things different through his stimulus than others. He apparently liked have bright colors surround him, for he believed one focused better in brighter rooms than darker ones. He also had a hand in the journal "Psychological Research, which became the official publication for the Gestalt psychology school of thought." (Schultz & Schultz, 2012) Wolfgang Kohler, started his journey working with animals until he lost interest in them and began writing. In the year 1920 he published a book named "Static and Stationary Physical Gestalts" This got him many recognitions and praise due to the fact that he thought the law of nature can be used in all sciences.

Ernest Mach, was one of those who had more of a direct influence in this field with "The analysis of sensations" (Schultz &Schultz, 2012) His theory mainly stated that our individual perception does not change the way we view things. Kurt Koffka, like others before him was a writer and has had a book in this field of psychology titled "The Growth of the Mind" become widely popular not only in Germany but also in the United States, and is all about child development.

According to Schultz and Schultz there are six perceptual organizations to Gestalt principles and these are Closure, Continuity, Similarity, Proximity, simplicity and figure/ground (Schultz & Schultz, 2012) Examples for these would be

Closure Continuity Similarity Proximity Figure/Ground Simplicity

References

Merriam-Webster Dictionary. (2015). Gestalt psychology definition. Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gestalt%20psychology

Saw, J. (2006). 2 D Design Notes. Retrieved from http://jimsaw.com/design/gestalt.html

Schultz, D., & Schultz, S. (2012). A history of modern psychology (10th ed.). Belmont, CA: Cengage