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

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Prägnanz
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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. 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.”

Gestalt theory originated in Austria and Germany as a reaction against the associationist and structural schools’ atomistic orientation (an approach which fragmented experience into distinct and unrelated elements). Gestalt studies made use instead of phenomenology. This method, with a tradition going back to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, involves nothing more than the description of direct psychological experience, with no restrictions on what is permissible in the description. Gestalt psychology was in part an attempt to add a humanistic dimension to what was considered a sterile approach to the scientific study of mental life. Gestalt psychology further sought to encompass the qualities of form, meaning, and value that prevailing psychologists had either ignored or presumed to fall outside the boundaries of science.

The publication of Czech-born psychologist Max Wertheimer’s “Experimentelle Studien über das Sehen von Bewegung” (“Experimental Studies of the Perception of Movement”) in 1912 marks the founding of the Gestalt school. In it Wertheimer reported the result of a study on apparent movement conducted in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, with psychologists Wolfgang Köhler and Kurt Koffka. Together, these three formed the core of the Gestalt school for the next few decades. (By the mid-1930s all had become professors in the United States.)

The earliest Gestalt work concerned perception, with particular emphasis on visual perceptual organization as explained by the phenomenon of illusion. In 1912 Wertheimer discovered the phi phenomenon, an optical illusion in which stationary objects shown in rapid succession, transcending the threshold at which they can be perceived separately, appear to move. The explanation of this phenomenon—also known as persistence of vision and experienced when viewing motion pictures—provided strong support for Gestalt principles.

Under the old assumption that sensations of perceptual experience stand in one-to-one relation to physical stimuli, the effect of the phi phenomenon was apparently inexplicable. However, Wertheimer understood that the perceived motion is an emergent experience, not present in the stimuli in isolation but dependent upon the relational characteristics of the stimuli. As the motion is perceived, the observer’s nervous system and experience do not passively register the physical input in a piecemeal way. Rather, the neural organization as well as the perceptual experience springs immediately into existence as an entire field with differentiated parts. In later writings this principle was stated as the law of Prägnanz, meaning that the neural and perceptual organization of any set of stimuli will form as good a Gestalt, or whole, as the prevailing conditions will allow.

Major elaborations of the new formulation occurred within the next decades. Wertheimer, Köhler, Koffka, and their students extended the Gestalt approach to problems in other areas of perception, problem solving, learning, and thinking. The Gestalt principles were later applied to motivation, social psychology, and personality (particularly by Kurt Lewin) and to aesthetics and economic behaviour. Wertheimer demonstrated that Gestalt concepts could also be used to shed light on problems in ethics, political behaviour, and the nature of truth. Gestalt psychology’s traditions continued in the perceptual investigations undertaken by Rudolf Arnheim and Hans Wallach in the United States.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica This article was most recently revised and updated by Pat Bauer.

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

FAQs

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.

What are the 5 principles of Gestalt give each an example? ›

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.

Who are the founders of Gestalt psychology? ›

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

What are some real life examples of Gestalt psychology? ›

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.

What are the 6 principles of Gestalt psychology? ›

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

What is Gestalt in simple terms? ›

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.”

What is the basic rule of the Gestalt principles? ›

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.

What are the key concepts of Gestalt theory? ›

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.

What does Gestalt therapy focus on? ›

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.

How is Gestalt psychology used today? ›

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.

Which phrase is an example of Gestalt psychology? ›

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 is an example of a Gestalt principle in the classroom? ›

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).

Which Gestalt law explains individuals? ›

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.

What is common fate in Gestalt psychology? ›

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).

What is an example of similarity in Gestalt principle? ›

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.

What is an example of the Gestalt principle of proximity? ›

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.

How many Gestalt grouping principles are there explain with an 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.

What is an example of the law of closure? ›

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.

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