Gestalt psychology | Definition, Founder, Principles, & Examples (2024)

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Gestalt psychology | Definition, Founder, Principles, & Examples? ›

Gestalt psychology, school of psychology founded in the 20th century that provided the foundation for the modern study of perception. Gestalt theory emphasizes that the whole of anything is greater than its parts. That is, the attributes of the whole are not deducible from analysis of the parts in isolation.

Gestalt principles are the different ways individuals group stimuli together in order to make a whole that makes sense to them. These principles are divided up into five categories: proximity, similarity, continuity, connectedness, and closure.

Max Wertheimer, Kurt Koffka, and Wolfgang Köhler founded Gestalt psychology in the early 20th century.

An example of gestalt psychology in everyday life is in the way people complete jigsaw puzzles. Rather than looking at each piece as an individual unit, they form meaningful relationships between the pieces to see the big picture more quickly and efficiently.

There are six commonly recognized Gestalt principles of perception: similarity, continuation, closure, proximity, figure/ground, and symmetry and order (also known as prägnanz).

The word Gestalt is used in modern German to mean the way a thing has been “placed,” or “put together.” There is no exact equivalent in English. “Form” and “shape” are the usual translations; in psychology the word is often interpreted as “pattern” or “configuration.”

In the simplest terms, gestalt theory is based on the idea that the human brain will attempt to simplify and organize complex images or designs that consist of many elements, by subconsciously arranging the parts into an organized system that creates a whole, rather than just a series of disparate elements.

The key concepts of gestalt therapy include figure and ground, balance and polarities, awareness, present-centeredness, unfinished business, and personal responsibility. Internal processing occurs through focusing inwards. To engage in internal processing, attention has to be directed inwards.

Gestalt therapy is a kind of psychotherapy that promotes self-awareness, personal responsibility, and good relationships. It focuses on the whole person, rather than an individual aspect of your personality or experience.

Gestalt therapy can help clients with issues such as anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, relationship difficulties, and even some physical concerns such as migraines, ulcerative colitis, and back spasms.

How does Gestalt psychology explain human behavior? ›

Gestalt psychology is a school of thought that looks at the human mind and behavior as a whole. Gestalt psychology suggests that humans don't focus on separate components but instead tend to perceive objects as elements of more complex systems.

Gestalt psychology is often associated with the adage, "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts". In Gestalt theory, information is perceived as wholes rather than disparate parts which are then processed summatively.

What are examples of Gestalt principles? Examples of gestalt principles include: differentiating sports teams by color (similarity), differentiating words with spaces (proximity), and differentiating the focus of an image from the background (figure/ground).

Law of proximity states that objects which are similar to one another or “proximate” can be categorized into same groups. Thus it explains individual's ability of mentally grouping items by color, texture, size or shape.

The law of common fate is a principle of Gestalt psychology. It states that when elements move together, humans see them as a group as human nature associates objects that share a common motion (e.g., a flock of birds).

An example of similarity in psychology would be observing a deck of playing cards spread out on a table. The perception would be grouped. First, half the cards are black and the other half red, making two groups. Next, there are four symbols (suits) that make four groups of cards.

Proximity is a very important part of making a text easy to read. For example, a headline must have more space before it than after. By being closer to the section it belongs to, it feels more connected to it. Line height is another example.

The seven most common Gestalt principles are figure-ground, proximity, similarity, continuity, closure, simplicity, and symmetry. But some newer theories are also regarded as Gestalt principles, such as uniform connectedness, parallelism, common fate, focal points, and past experience.

In Gestalt psychology, the law of closure is the action the brain takes to fill in gaps in things it perceives. For example, if someone sees a circle with gaps in the line, they still understand that the shape is a circle because the brain fills in those gaps.