October 24 - Gestalt psychology.pptx

8/20/2019 October 24 - Gestalt psychology.pptx

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Gestalt Psychology in

Historical Perspective

Here is a perfect example of an

approach that did not have muchstaying power as a system orparadigm, but ironically, itscomponents have passed the test oftime and remain staple concepts in theeld.

Hence, the whole may be “greater than

the sum of its parts,” but it’s the


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Gestalt Psychology

• While behaviorism was becoming the dominantsychological theory in the !", along with #reud’stheory of psychoanalysis, the $estalt perspective

gained in%uence in &urope around the sametime.

• $estalt psychology was seen as an alternativeto behaviorism and structuralism. 'he early$estalt thin(ers felt that behaviorism dealt too

much with collecting, tallying, and treating onlyspecic problems, or parts of a whole.

• )s opposed to the structuralist approach, whichfocuses on particular elements in a conguration,the $estalt approach focuses on theconguration itself.


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Gestalt Psychology

• $estalt theory views human beings as open systems,actively and constantly interacting with theenvironment around them. !nli(e the elementisticway of understanding psychological events, such asbehaviorism, associationism, and psychoanalysis,$estalt theory is suited to understanding the orderand structure of psychological events.

• $estalt theorists* basic belief was that anypsychological phenomenon, from perceptualprocesses to human personality, should be studied

holistically+ that is, they should not be bro(en downinto components, but rather studied as a whole.• )s a contrast to structural approaches, the $estalt

psychologists studied perceptions as complete,indivisible phenomena.


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Similar Earlier Ideas

• lato true forms existed as ideas.-circles

• /mmanuel 0ant in 1231, he discussed

the mind as having innate abilities whichturned sensations into abstract ideas.

• William 4ames in his opposition to thestudy of mental structures, he presented

the idea of a “stream of consciousness.”• henomenalists in opposition to Wundt,

some introspectionists studied mentalwholeness.


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Max Wertheimer (18801!"#$

• 'he beginning of $estaltism is attributedto Wertheimer in 1516.

• While riding a train on a vacation, he

comes up with the idea that perceptionshave structures that sensory stimuli do nothave.

• /n other words, he started exploring theidea that perceptions contain uni7ueproperties which do not come from norexist in the environment -stimulus.


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Phi Phenomenon

• Wertheimer studied the perception of two lights,side by side, which blin(ed alternately.

– )t roughly 8 or less blin(s per second,

people perceived two alternately9blin(ing lights.

– )t roughly :6 or more blin(s persecond, people perceived two constantlights.

– ;etween the two -16 blin(s, however,people perceived one light moving side

to side.• “ ”


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Gestalt theory

• 'he phi phenomenon was not a discovery,as motion pictures had been around fordecades.

•

/t was Wertheimer’s explanation of thephenomenon which constituted thescientic contribution. 'he explanation,though, will ta(e a few slides.

• 'o follow up his nding, Wertheimercreated a set of three blin(ing lights. 'hemiddle light blin(ed, then the two outsidelights blin(ed.

= = =


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Gestalt theory

= = =

• With these lights -at ten blin(s persecond, people perceived a single lightthat moved in both directions, thenmerged bac( in the middle.

• He showed perceptions which could not be

learned -perceiving unnatural movement.• "ensory explanations were inade7uate.

• Wertheimer needed a “gestalt” theory,which came together with the help of twoassistants >


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%o&&'a and %hler

• 0urt 0o


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)ield *heory +vervie, (-rie&$

• 'he theory the four natural forces-gravity, electromagnetism, the nuclearforces exist as elds9of9force surroundingall atomic particles.

• )s with science9ction “force elds,” theelds can only be observed as the forcesthey create.

• 'he elds are “whole” in nature. /n otherwords, when two similar particles cometogether, the result is not of two elds, butone stronger eld.

• 'hus, particle elds have a holistic


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)ield *heory and Gestaltism

• #ield theory applies to electromagnetism.

• Beural activity is electromagnetic activity.

• /f electromagnetic forces wor( together to

create a single “whole” force, then thebrain’s electrochemical activity would beable to create the “whole” within gestalticperceptions.

• 'he explanation was called“psychophysical isomorphism.” -it onlysounds weird


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Isomorphism

• 'he “force elds” of brain activitywould naturally create a continuous“whole” of brain activity as if a

stream of consciousness.• /somorphism would happen when the

“parts” of sensory input were merged

with the pre9existing “whole” of brainactivity.

• 'he brain would thus be naturallyable to transform added parts into

holistic activity.


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Perception (the &.n st.&&$

• $estalt theory is adebatable theory of neuralactivity. $estalt principles,

though, are important withinperception research.

• #igure9$round relationships

/s this image of a vase, or

of two people facing eachother. 'his is an issue ofdeciding the gure -frontand ground -bac(.


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Gestalt Principles

• 'he gure9ground relationship wasactually discovered before the$estaltists, but they discovered ve

more principles, (nown as “$estaltrinciples.”

• rinciple of Continuity when stimulihave some continuity, they areperceived as related parts of acomplete unit. 'hat is why a series ofcircles can create a line >

o o o o o o o o o o


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/omplex /ontin.ity

• )s with all theprinciples,continuity can be

complex.

• /s there really awoman thereD


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Gestalt Principles (cont$

• rinciple of proximity when stimuli arecomparatively close, they are groupedtogether.

66 66 66 66 66 -ten, or ve pairsD

rinciple of /nclusiveness With paired

stimuli “)” and “;”, if “)” o


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Proximity Incl. iv n


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• rinciple of "imilarity "imilarobEects will form perceptual units.

F G F G

F G F G

F G F G

F G F GWith similar spacing, do the lettersseem more li(e four rows or fourcolumns.


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• rinciple of Closure an “incomplete” stimuluswill be perceived as a complete stimulus.

'he “s7uare” is actually not there.


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*he a, o& Pragnan2

• )s with physical forces, a gestalt brainwould organie in the simplest waypossible.

• 'he resulting mental essence will be “asgood as conditions will allow.” -will be“ragnan”

•

'he brain wor(s from top to bottom -top9down. /t starts with the whole, thenproceeds to address the parts as desired.


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Gestalt earning

• 'he real world is a “geographicalenvironment” -$.&. it is what it is.

• 'he “behavioral environment” -;.&. is in

our mind -brain a subEective pragnanof the $.&..

• “roblems” occur when the $.&. does notmatch our ;.&., which disrupts the brain’s

e7uilibrium -disrupts the pragnan.• 'he disruption motivates us to solve the

problem by ma(ing a greater e


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Gestalt earning (cont$

• 'rial and error unli(e behaviorists,gestaltists propose that trial and error canoccur in the brain before it occurs in theenvironment.

• /nsightful learning if a problem ispresented with solutions, the learning isretained as an “insight.” -Ion(eys and

banana problems• 'ransposition the organism does not

learn responses, but relationships. 'his isindicated with transposing learned

responses.


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Gestalt /ontri-.tions to

Psychology

• 'he gestaltists were a small group ofresearchers with a small presence atmaEor universities. 'hey were largely

overshadowed by the behaviorists inexperimental psychology.

• "till, they made a dramatic impact holistic experiments, a neuropsychology

theory, merging psychology withphysics, and group dynamics.

• 'heir biggest in%uence, though, wouldbe in creating a demand for cognitivepsychology

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October 24 - Gestalt psychology.pptx

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