Gestalt psychology or
gestaltism (
GermanGerman is a West Germanic language, thus related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. It is one of the world's major languages and the most widely spoken first language in the European Union. Around the world, German is spoken by approximately 105 million native speakers and also by...
:
Gestalt - "form" or "whole") of the Berlin School is a theory of mind and brain positing that the operational principle of the brain is
holisticHolism is the idea that all the properties of a given system cannot be determined or explained by its component parts alone...
, parallel, and analog, with self-organizing tendencies, or that the whole is different from the sum of its parts. The
Gestalt effect refers to the form-forming capability of our senses, particularly with respect to the visual recognition of figures and whole forms instead of just a collection of simple lines and curves. In psychology, gestaltism is often opposed to
structuralismStructuralism is an approach to the human sciences that attempts to analyze a specific field as a complex system of interrelated parts. It began in linguistics with the work of Ferdinand de Saussure...
and
WundtWilhelm Maximilian Wundt was a German medical doctor, psychologist, physiologist, philosopher, and professor, known today as one of the founding figures of modern psychology. He is widely regarded as the "father of experimental psychology"...
. Often, the phrase "The whole is greater than the sum of the parts" is used when explaining Gestalt theory.
Origins
Although Victor NCHWL is the founder of the movement, the concept of Gestalt was first introduced in contemporary philosophy and psychology by
Christian von EhrenfelsChristian Freiherr von Ehrenfels was an Austrian philosopher, and is known as one of the founders and precursors of Gestalt psychology....
(a member of the
School of BrentanoThe School of Brentano refers to the philosophers and psychologists who studied with Franz Brentano and were essentially influenced by him. While it was never a school in the traditional sense, Brentano tried to maintain some cohesion in the school...
). The idea of Gestalt has its roots in theories by
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheJohann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer and polymath. Goethe's works span the fields of poetry, drama, literature, theology, philosophy, humanism and science. Goethe's magnum opus, lauded as one of the peaks of world literature, is the two-part drama Faust...
,
Immanuel KantImmanuel Kant was an 18th-century German philosopher from the Prussian city of Königsberg...
, and
Ernst MachErnst Mach was an Austrian physicist and philosopher, remembered for his contributions to physics such as the Mach number and the study of shock waves...
. Wertheimer's unique contribution was to insist that the "Gestalt" is perceptually primary, defining the parts of which it was composed, rather than being a secondary quality that emerges from those parts, as von Ehrenfels's earlier
Gestalt-Qualität had been.
Both von Ehrenfels and
Edmund HusserlEdmund Gustav Albrecht Husserl was a philosopher who is deemed the founder of phenomenology...
seem to have been inspired by Mach's work
Beiträge zur Analyse der Empfindungen (Contributions to the Analysis of the Sensations, 1886), in formulating their very similar concepts of
Gestalt and
Figural Moment, respectively.
Early 20th century theorists, such as
Kurt KoffkaKurt Koffka was a German psychologist. He was born and educated in Berlin and earned his PhD there in 1909 as a student of Carl Stumpf...
, Max Wertheimer, and
Wolfgang KöhlerWolfgang Köhler was a German psychologist and phenomenologist who, like Max Wertheimer, Fritz Perls, and Kurt Koffka, contributed to the creation of Gestalt psychology.-Early life:...
(students of
Carl StumpfCarl Stumpf was a German philosopher and psychologist.Born in Wiesentheid, he studied with Franz Brentano and Rudolf Hermann Lotze...
) saw objects as perceived within an environment according to all of their elements taken together as a global construct. This 'gestalt' or 'whole form' approach sought to define principles of
perceptionIn philosophy, psychology, and the cognitive sciences, perception is the process of attaining awareness or understanding of sensory information. It is a task far more complex than was imagined in the 1950s and 1960s, when it was predicted that building perceiving machines would take about a decade,...
-- seemingly innate mental laws which determined the way in which objects were perceived.
These laws took several forms, such as the grouping of similar, or proximate, objects together, within this global process. Although Gestalt has been criticized for being merely descriptive, it has formed the basis of much further research into the perception of patterns and objects ( Carlson et al. 2000), and of research into behavior, thinking, problem solving and psychopathology.
It should also be emphasized that Gestalt psychology is distinct from
Gestalt psychotherapyGestalt therapy is an existential and experiential psychotherapy that focuses on the individual's experience in the present moment, the therapist-client relationship, the environmental and social contexts in which these things take place, and the self-regulating adjustments people make as a result...
, although there is a commonality in their names. One has little to do with the other.
Theoretical framework and methodology
The investigations developed at the beginning of the 20th century, based on traditional scientific methodology, divided the object of study into a set of elements that could be analyzed separately with the objective of reducing the complexity of this object. Contrary to this methodology, the school of Gestalt practiced a series of theoretical and methodological principles that attempted to redefine the approach to psychological research.
The theoretical principles are the following:
- Principle of Totality - The conscious experience must be considered globally (by taking into account all the physical and mental aspects of the individual simultaneously) because the nature of the mind demands that each component be considered as part of a system
System is a set of interacting or interdependent entities forming an integrated whole....
of dynamic relationships.
- Principle of psychophysical
Psychophysical may refer to:*Psychophysics, the subdiscipline of psychology dealing with the relationship between physical stimuli and their subjective correlates, or percepts...
isomorphismIn Gestalt psychology, isomorphism refers to a correspondence between a stimulus array and the brain state created by that stimulus. For example, in the phi phenomenon in which a pair of alternating and spatially separated patches of light create the illusion of motion, it is argued that the brain...
- A correlationIn statistics, correlation indicates the strength and direction of a relationship between two random variables. The commonest use refers to a linear relationship. In general statistical usage, correlation or co-relation refers to the departure of two random variables from independence...
exists between conscious experience and cerebralThe brain is the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate, and most invertebrate, animals. Some primitive animals such as jellyfish and starfish have a decentralized nervous system without a brain, while sponges lack any nervous system at all...
activity.
Based on the principles above the following methodological principles are defined:
- Phenomenon Experimental Analysis - In relation to the Totality Principle any psychological research should take as a starting point phenomena and not be solely focused on sensory qualities.
- Biotic Experiment - The School of Gestalt established a need to conduct real experiments which sharply contrasted with and opposed classic laboratory experiments. This signified experimenting in natural situations, developed in real conditions, in which it would be possible to reproduce, with higher fidelity
Fidelity is a notion that, at its most abstract level, implies a truthful connection to a source or sources. Its original meaning dealt with loyalty and attentiveness to one's duty to a lord or a king, in a broader sense than the related concept of fealty...
, what would be habitual for a subject.
Properties
The key principles of Gestalt systems are
emergenceIn philosophy, systems theory and science, emergence is the way complex systems and patterns arise out of a multiplicity of relatively simple interactions. Emergence is central to the theories of integrative levels and of complex systems.-Definitions:...
,
reification1846 "act of materializing" from L re, stem of res "thing"Reification may refer to:*Reification , making a data model for a previously abstract concept*Reification , fallacy of treating an abstraction as if it were a real thing...
,
multistabilityMultistability is a system property. It refers to systems that are neither stable nor totally instable, but that alternates between two or more mutually exclusive states over time....
and
invarianceInvariance is a French journal edited by Jacques Camatte, published since 1968.It emerged from the Italian left-communist tradition associated with Amadeo Bordiga and it originally bore the subtitle "Invariance of the theory of the proletariat", indicating Bordiga's notion of the unchanging nature...
.
http://sharp.bu.edu/~slehar/webstuff/bubw3/bubw3.html
Emergence
EmergenceIn philosophy, systems theory and science, emergence is the way complex systems and patterns arise out of a multiplicity of relatively simple interactions. Emergence is central to the theories of integrative levels and of complex systems.-Definitions:...
is demonstrated by the perception of the
Dog Picture, which depicts a
DalmatianThe Dalmatian is a breed of dog widely associated with Dalmatia, a region of Croatia, although the exact origin remain unknown. It is noted for its white coat with either black or liver spots.-Body:...
dog sniffing the ground in the shade of overhanging trees. The dog is not recognized by first identifying its parts (feet, ears, nose, tail, etc.), and then inferring the dog from those component parts. Instead, the dog is perceived as a whole, all at once. However, this is a
description of what occurs in vision and not an explanation. Gestalt theory does not explain how the percept of a dog emerges.
Reification
Reification1846 "act of materializing" from L re, stem of res "thing"Reification may refer to:*Reification , making a data model for a previously abstract concept*Reification , fallacy of treating an abstraction as if it were a real thing...
is the
constructive or
generative aspect of perception, by which the experienced percept contains more explicit spatial information than the sensory stimulus on which it is based.
For instance, a triangle will be perceived in picture A, although no triangle has actually been drawn. In pictures B and D the eye will recognize disparate shapes as "belonging" to a single shape, in C a complete three-dimensional shape is seen, where in actuality no such thing is drawn.
Reification can be explained by progress in the study of
illusory contoursIllusory contours or subjective contours are a form of visual illusion where contours are perceived without a luminance or color change across the contour. Friedrich Schumann discovered illusory contours ....
, which are treated by the visual system as "real" contours.
See also:
Reification (fallacy)Reification is a fallacy of ambiguity, when an abstraction is treated as if it were a concrete, real event, or physical entity...
Multistability
MultistabilityMultistability is a system property. It refers to systems that are neither stable nor totally instable, but that alternates between two or more mutually exclusive states over time....
(or
multistable perceptionMultistable perceptual phenomena are a rare form of visual perception phenomena which is characterized by an unpredictable sequence of spontaneous subjective changes.- Classification :...
) is the tendency of ambiguous perceptual experiences to pop back and forth unstably between two or more alternative interpretations. This is seen for example in the
Necker cubeThe Necker Cube is an optical illusion first published in 1832 by Swiss crystallographer Louis Albert Necker.-Ambiguity:The Necker Cube is an ambiguous line drawing. It is a wire-frame drawing of a cube in oblique perspective, which means that parallel edges of the cube are drawn as parallel lines...
, and in
Rubin's FigureRubin's vase is a famous set of cognitive optical illusions developed around 1915 by the Danish psychologist Edgar Rubin...
/ Vase illusion shown to the left. Other examples include the 'three-pronged widget' and artist
M. C. EscherMaurits Cornelis Escher , usually referred to as M.C. Escher , was a Dutch-Frisian graphic artist. He is known for his often mathematically inspired woodcuts, lithographs, and mezzotints...
's artwork and the appearance of flashing
marqueeA marquee is most commonly a structure placed over the entrance to a hotel or theatre. It has signage stating either the name of the establishment or, in the case of theatres, the play or movie and the artist appearing at that venue...
lights moving first one direction and then suddenly the other. Again, Gestalt does not explain how images appear multistable, only that they do.
Invariance
InvarianceInvariance is a French journal edited by Jacques Camatte, published since 1968.It emerged from the Italian left-communist tradition associated with Amadeo Bordiga and it originally bore the subtitle "Invariance of the theory of the proletariat", indicating Bordiga's notion of the unchanging nature...
is the property of perception whereby simple geometrical objects are recognized independent of rotation, translation, and scale; as well as several other variations such as elastic deformations, different lighting, and different component features. For example, the objects in
A in the figure are all immediately recognized as the same basic shape, which are immediately distinguishable from the forms in
B. They are even recognized despite perspective and elastic deformations as in
C, and when depicted using different graphic elements as in
D. Computational theories of vision, such as those by David Marr, have had more success in explaining how objects are classified.
Emergence, reification, multistability, and invariance are not separable modules to be modeled individually, but they are different aspects of a single unified dynamic mechanism.
Prägnanz
The fundamental principle of gestalt perception is the law of
prägnanz (German for
pithiness) which says that we tend to order our experience in a manner that is regular, orderly, symmetric, and simple. Gestalt psychologists attempt to discover refinements of the law of
prägnanz, and this involves writing down laws which hypothetically allow us to predict the interpretation of sensation, what are often called "gestalt laws". These include:
- Law of Closure — The mind may experience elements it does not perceive through sensation, in order to complete a regular figure (that is, to increase regularity).
- Law of Similarity — The mind groups similar elements into collective entities or totalities. This similarity might depend on relationships of form, color, size, or brightness.
- Law of Proximity — Spatial or temporal proximity of elements may induce the mind to perceive a collective or totality.
- Law of Symmetry (Figure ground relationships)— Symmetrical images are perceived collectively, even in spite of distance.
- Law of Continuity — The mind continues visual, auditory, and kinetic patterns.
- Law of Common Fate — Elements with the same moving direction are perceived as a collective or unit.
Gestalt views in psychology
Gestalt psychologists find it is important to think of problems as a whole. Max Wertheimer considered thinking to happen in two ways: productive and reproductive.
Productive thinking- is solving a problem with insight.
This is a quick insightful unplanned response to situations and environmental interaction.
Reproductive thinking-is solving a problem with previous experiences and what is already known. (1945/1959).
This is a very common thinking. For example, when a person is given several segments of information, he/she
deliberately examines the relationships among its parts, analyzes their purpose, concept, and totality, he/she reaches the "aha!" moment, using what is already known. Understanding in this case happens
intentionally by reproductive thinking.
Other Gestalts psychologist Perkins believes insight deals with three processes:
1) Unconscious leap in thinking. .
2) The increased amount of speed in mental processing.
3) The amount of short-circuiting which occurs in normal reasoning.
Other views going against the Gestalt psychology are:
1) Nothing-Special View
2) Neo-Gestalts View
3)
The Three-Process ViewThe Three-Process View is a psychological term coined by Janet E. Davidson and Robert E. Steinberg.According to this concept, there are three kinds of insight: selective-encoding, selective-comparison, and selective-combination....
Gestalt laws continue to play an important role in current psychological research on vision. For example, the object-based attention hypothesis states that elements in a visual scene are first grouped according to Gestalt principles; consequently, further attentional resources can be allocated to particular objects.
Gestalt psychology should not be confused with the
Gestalt therapyGestalt therapy is an existential and experiential psychotherapy that focuses on the individual's experience in the present moment, the therapist-client relationship, the environmental and social contexts in which these things take place, and the self-regulating adjustments people make as a result...
of
Fritz PerlsFriedrich Salomon Perls , better known as Fritz Perls, was a noted German-born psychiatrist and psychotherapist of Jewish descent....
, which is only peripherally linked to Gestalt psychology. A strictly Gestalt psychology-based therapeutic method is
Gestalt Theoretical PsychotherapyGestalt theoretical psychotherapy is a method of psychotherapy based strictly on Gestalt psychology. It was developed by the German Gestalt psychologist and psychotherapist Hans-Jürgen P...
, developed by the German Gestalt psychologist and psychotherapist Hans-Jürgen Walter.
Applications in computer science
The Gestalt laws are used in
user interface designUser interface design or user interface engineering is the design of computers, appliances, machines, mobile communication devices, software applications, and websites with the focus on the user's experience and interaction...
. The laws of similarity and proximity can, for example, be used as guides for placing
radio buttonA radio button or option button is a type of graphical user interface element that allows the user to choose only one of a predefined set of options. They were named after the physical buttons used on older car radios to select preset stations - when one of the buttons was pressed, other buttons...
s. They may also be used in designing computers and software for more intuitive human use. Examples include the design and layout of a desktop's shortcuts in rows and columns. Gestalt psychology also has applications in
computer visionComputer vision is the science and technology of machines that see. As a scientific discipline, computer vision is concerned with the theory for building artificial systems that obtain information from images...
for trying to make computers "see" the same things as humans do.
Criticism
In some scholarly communities, such as
cognitive psychologyCognitive psychology is a discipline within psychology that investigates the internal mental processes of thought such as visual processing, memory, problem solving, and language....
and
computational neuroscienceComputational neuroscience is the study of brain function in terms of the information processing properties of the structures that make up the nervous system...
, Gestalt theories of perception are criticized for being
descriptive rather than
explanatory in nature. For this reason, they are viewed by some as redundant or uninformative. For example, Bruce, Green & Georgeson conclude the following regarding Gestalt theory's influence on the study of visual perception:
- "The physiological theory of the Gestaltists has fallen by the wayside, leaving us with a set of descriptive principles, but without a model of perceptual processing. Indeed, some of their "laws" of perceptual organisation today sound vague and inadequate. What is meant by a "good" or "simple" shape, for example?"
See also
- Gestalt therapy
Gestalt therapy is an existential and experiential psychotherapy that focuses on the individual's experience in the present moment, the therapist-client relationship, the environmental and social contexts in which these things take place, and the self-regulating adjustments people make as a result...
- often mistaken for Gestalt psychology
- Structural information theory
Structural information theory is a theory about human perception and, in particular, about perceptual organization, that is, about the way the human visual system organizes a raw visual stimulus into objects and object parts. SIT was initiated, in the 1960s, by Emanuel Leeuwenberg and has been...
- Rudolf Arnheim
Rudolf Arnheim was a German-born author, art and film theorist and perceptual psychologist. He himself said that his major books are Art and Visual Perception: A Psychology of the Creative Eye , Visual Thinking , and The Power of the Center: A Study of Composition in the Visual Arts , but it is...
- Wolfgang Metzger
Wolfgang Metzger is considered one of the main representatives of Gestalt psychology in Germany....
- Kurt Goldstein
Kurt Goldstein was a German neurologist and psychiatrist who was a pioneer in modern neuropsychology. He created a holistic theory of the organism based on Gestalt theory which deeply influenced the development of Gestalt therapy...
- Solomon Asch
Solomon Eliot Asch , also known as Shlaym, was a world-renowned American Gestalt psychologist and pioneer in social psychology.-Early life and education:...
- James Tenney
James Tenney was an American composer and influential music theorist.-Biography:Tenney was born in Silver City, New Mexico, and grew up in Arizona and Colorado. He attended the University of Denver, the Juilliard School of Music, Bennington College and the University of Illinois...
- Graz School
The Graz School of experimental psychology and object theory was headed by Alexius Meinong, who was professor and Chair of Philosophy at the University of Graz where he founded the Graz psychological institute ....
- Important publications in gestalt psychology
- Mereology
In philosophy, mereology is a collection of axiomatic first-order theories dealing with parts and their respective wholes. In contrast to set theory, which takes the set–member relationship as fundamental, the core notion of mereology is meronomic, which means based on part–whole relationships...
- Optical illusion
An optical illusion is characterized by visually perceived images that differ from objective reality. The information gathered by the eye is processed in the brain to give a percept that does not tally with a physical measurement of the stimulus source...
- Pattern recognition (psychology)
Pattern recognition involves identification of faces, objects, words, melodies, etc. The visual system does more than just interpret forms, contours and colors. Pattern recognition refers to the process of recognizing a set of stimuli arranged in a certain pattern that is characteristic of that set...
- Pattern recognition (machine learning)
Pattern recognition is "the act of taking in raw data and taking an action based on the category of the pattern". Most research in pattern recognition is about methods for supervised learning and unsupervised learning....
- Notan
is a Japanese design concept involving the play and placement of light and dark next to the other in art and imagery. This use of light and dark translates shape and form into flat shapes on a two-dimensional surface...
- Amodal perception
Amodal perception is the term used to describe the full perception of a physical structure when it is only partially perceived. For example, a table will be perceived as a complete volumetric structure even if only part of it is visible; the internal volumes and hidden rear surfaces are perceived...
- Phenomenology
In psychology, phenomenology is used to refer to subjective experiences or their study. The experiencing subject can be considered to be the person or self, for purposes of convenience. In phenomenological philosophy 'experience' is a considerably more complex concept than it is usually taken to...
External links