THE Psychology OF Gestalt PDF

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Gestaltists tried to demonstrate that, in any aspect of psychology, it was more beneficial to concentrate on all (gestalten) than on the parts (atoms, elements). Those who take a molecular approach to the study of behavior or psychological phenomena were called hoists.
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THE PSYCHOLOGY OF GESTALT A group of young German psychologists rebelled against the experimental wundt program. These young people believed that things were not experienced in isolated pieces but in intact, meaningful configurations. These conscious experiences were what the instropective method should be focused on. As the German word for configuration, form is gestalt, this new type of psychology is named gestalt psychology. Gestalists opposed any kind of elementism in psychology, whether it was the type practiced by wundt and structuralists, or the type practiced by behaviorists. The attempt to reduce both consciousness and behavior to its basic elements is denominated as a molecular approach. Gestalists argued that the molecular approach should be adopted and, in doing so, the study of consciousness would mean focusing on phenomenological experience. Phenomeology is the study of what appears in consciousness naturally. Gestaltists tried to demonstrate that, in any aspect of psychology, it was more beneficial to concentrate on all (gestalten) than on the parts (atoms, elements). Those who take a molecular approach to the study of behavior or psychological phenomena were called hoists. Background of psychology Kant: believed that conscious experience was the result of the interaction between sensory stimulation and the actions of the faculties of the mind. He and gestaltists believed that conscious experience could not be reduced to sensory stimulation and, for both, conscious experience was different from the elements that composed it. For them there was an imp. Difference between perception and sensation. This difference existed because our minds or brains changed the sensory experience, making it more structured and organized, and more meaningful than it might be otherwise. According to this, the world we perceived was never the same as the world we felt. Mach: Postulo 2 perceptions that were independent of the particular elements that composed them: form of space and shape of time. He noted that a wide variety of sensory elements could arise from the same perception, and therefore some perceptions were independent of any group of sensory elements. Ehrenfels: I affirm that our perceptions contained gestalqualititen (form qualities) that were not contained in isolated sensations. Form was something

that emerged from the elements of a sensation, these were necessary to determine the perception of the whole or the form. James: I affirm that the search for elements of wundt's consciousness had depended on an artificial and distorted view of mental life. He proposed a stream of consciousness, believed that that current should be the object of the psychology search and any attempt to break it down into a more detailed analysis should be avoided. Gestares agreed with james's anti-elementist, but they thought he went too far. Psychology of acts: type of instropeccion focused on acts of perceiving, feeling or solving problems. They were against the use of introspection to look for mental elements. They were phenomenal. Founding of the Psychology of Gestalt The idea of gestalt was that our perceptions were structured differently than sensory stimulation. They're different from the sensations. Wertheimer discovered the phi phenomenon, turning on two lights successively and observing the time elapsed between the flashes. He wrote articles on truth, ethics, democracy and freedom. Kofka wrote articles on the psychology of gestalt. I also publish a book on the psychology of the child. Kohler participated with wertheimer and kofka in the research that was to serve as a launch of the gestalt movement. He wrote about the psychology of gestalt, was criticized. I believed that the psychologists of ee uu were making a mistake with their acceptance of operaism I present as an example the operational definition of intelligence based on the execution of the intelligence tests. I claim that the measurements were accurate, but that it is not clear in an exact way that it was being measured. Isomorphism and the law of pragnanz: on the question of how could the perception of movement, mach, ehrenfels and mill cause only 2 stimuli, they recognized that the whole was sometimes different from the sum of their parts, but they assumed that somehow the whole emerged from characteristics of the parties. Wundt's explanation of apparent movement was that the fixation of the eyes changed with each successive presentation of a visual ensure and thus controlled the muscles of the eyes to emit sensations identical to those emitted when you experienced the real movement. Wertheimer demonstrated, in the course of a demonstration, that explanations based on learning were not credible, and stated that an explanation based on the sensations of the eye muscles was unsustainable.

Application of field theory: the response of gestalt psychologists to the subject that because the experience of psychological phenomena could be explained through sensory processes, was that, the brain contained structured fields of forces electrochemical processes that existed before the sensory ensure. When introduced to this field, sensory data modified the structure of the field and were modified by it. What we consciously experience is the result of the interaction of sensory data and the brain's strength fields. In the case of cognitive experience, the fields of brain activity transform sensory data and confer characteristics to the q data, otherwise they would not possess. According to this, the whole (force fields in the brain) exists before the parts (feelings), and it is this all that gives the parties their identity or meaning. Psychophysical isomorphism: this was introduced, to describe the relationship between brain activity and conscious experience, which kohler described as the order of the space experienced is always structurally identical to the functional order of the distribution of the underlying processes of the brain. The brain's strength fields transform incoming sensory data, and it's that transformed data that we consciously experience. Patterns of brain activity and exp patterns. Conscious are structurally equivalent. Gestalists claim that perceptual fields are always caused by the underlying patterns of brain activity. Opposition to the hypothesis of constancy: with their notion of isomorphism, gestaltists were opposing this hypothesis, according to which, there was a correspondence between certain environmental stimuli and certain sensations. Psychophysicists, wundt and structuralists accepted the hypothesis of constancy to the esay that they recognized that there could be great discrepancies between psychological experiences and events physicists who caused them. Gestalists disagreed with the conception of the functioning of the brain involved in the hypothesis. By denying it, they denied the empirical philosophy upon which the schools of structuralism, functionalism and conductism were based. Instead, they used the field theory in their analysis of brain function. Analysis: from the top down: according to gestaltists, the organized activity of the brain dominated our perceptions, and not the stimuli that were introduced into that activity. For this, the whole was + imp. That the parts. They claimed that their analysis came from the top down and not from the bottom up as had been traditional. They came all the way, to the parties. Pragnanz law: Gestalists believed that the same forces that created configurations, such as the soap bubble, also created configurations in the

brain. Pragnanz refers to the ultimate essence or meaning of an experience. Sensory information may be fragmented and incomplete, but when that information interacts with the brain's strength fields, the resulting cognitive experience is completed and organized. This law determines that psychological organization will always be as good as its conditions allow. It states that all cognitive experiences will tend to be as organized, symmetrical, simple and regular as they may be, given the pattern of brain activity at any given time. Perceptual constancy: refers to how we respond to objects as if they were the same object, although the actual stimulation that the senses receive can vary considerably. The empiricists explained perceptual constancy as the result of learning. The sensations provided by objects seen from different angles and lighting levels were different, but through experience we learned to correct those differences and respond to objects like the Himself. The gestalists disagreed, kohler stated that the constancy was a direct reflection of the continued activity of the brain and not a result of feeling more learning. The reason we experienced the object under the same varied conditions was that the relationship between that object and other objects remained the same. I explain other perceptual evidences involving color, shape and size, in a similar way. Figure-background relationship: the most basic type of perception is the division of the perceptual field into 2 parts: the figure, which is clear and unified and is the object of attention, and the background that is diffuse and consists of anything that is not paid attention to. This division is what creates the background figure relationship. Thus, whatis figure and background can be changed by changing the attention. Gestalists describe the principles by which elements of perception are organized into configurations. Principle of contiguity: stimuli that has continuity with others. As all points seem to tend to the same direction, they are responded to as one as a configuration. Principle of proximity: when stimuli are together, they tend to cluster as a perceptual unit. Principle of inclusion: when there is more than one figure, we are more likely to see the figure that contains the most stimuli. Similarity principle: Objects that are similar tend to form perceptive units. Stimuli that have something in common. Closing principle: Incomplete figures are often perceived as being complete, even if the figures have a space between them.

Subjective and objective reality: as the brain acts on sensory information and sorts it in configurations, what we are aware of, and what we do according to it at any given time is more of a product of the of the physical world, koofka use this to distinguish between the geographic environment and the behavioral environment. For him, the geographic environment was the physical environment, and the behavioral environment was our subjective interpretation of the geographic environment. Our subjective reality governs our actions rather than the physical environment. Explanation of gestalt on learning: cognitive tanteo: gestaltists believed that brain activity tended to balance or balance, according to the law of pragnanz. This trend towards balance continued naturally until it somehow broke. According to these, the existence of a problem was one of those disturbing influences. If the problem were addressed, there was a state of imbalance until it was resolved. As this state of imbalance was unnatural, a tension was created with motivating properties that kept the organism active until the problem was resolved. They thought agencies come to see the solutions to the problems. Penetrating learning: when studying kohler learning I use the problems of deflecting, or problems in which the animal can see the object but cannot reach it directly. To solve the problem, the animal had to learn to take the indirect route to the target. Kohler warned during the pre-resolution period of the problem that the animals seemed to calibrate the situation, they tried various hypotheses. Then, at some point, the animal manages to penetrate the solution and acts according to that penetration. For gestaltists, the problem could only have 2 phases: solving or not solving. There were no average terms. 4 characteristics of penetrating learning are considered: 1) the transition from presolution to solution is sudden and complete. 2) execution based on a solution obtained by penetration, is normally uniform and error-free. 3) a solution to the problem obtained by penetration is retained for a considerable period of time. 4) a one a principle obtained by penetration is easily applied to other problems. Transposition: for gestaltists, an organism learned principles or relationships, not specific answers to specific situations. Once a principle was learned, the organism applied it to similar situations. This is also called, as an explanation of the gestalt psychology of a training transfer. Behavioral explanation to transposition: the explanation of spence is based on generalization. The behavior that occurs will be determined by the algebraic sum of the positive and negative trends. Wheneverthere is a choice between 2

stimuli, the one that arouses the greatest net tendency of approximation will be chosen. Productive thinking: because learning and problem solving are personally satisfactory, they are governed by intrinsic reinforcement ratherthan extrinsic reinforcement. Wertheimer thought we were motivated to learn and solve problems because it was personally satisfying to do it, not because someone or something forced us to do it. Wertheimer believed that there was some learning when using mental associations, memorization, repeated practice and external reinforcement. In his analysis, teaching by emphasizing logic is no better than memorizing mechanically. Supposedly, logic guarantees that correct conclusions can be reached. Teaching based on that notion assumes that there is a right way of thinking and that we should all think that way. But learning and applying these rules of logic drowns out productive thinking, because no activity is based on the realization that solving the problem involves the whole person and is unique to that person. Memory: koffka assumed that every physical event experienced causes a specific activity to arise in the brain. I name the memory process to brain activity caused by a specific environment event. When the event was over, so did the brain activity I caused. Similarly, a remnant of the memory process (a trace of memory) remained in the brain. Once you've formed the memory trace, all subsequent related experiences will involve an interaction between the memory process and the memory trace. According to this analysis, we are aware of and remember things in general rather than through specific characteristics. Trace systems govern our memories of particular things as well as general categories. The memory is governed by the law of Prgananz, we tend to remember the essence of our experiences. The brain operates in such a way that it makes memories as simple and symmetrical as possible under the circumstances. Theory of the fields of lewin: he was one of the first disciples of gestalt, and most of his work can be considered an application of the principles of gestalt in topics such as motivation, personality and group dynamics. Aristotelian concept of science versus the Galelian concept: lewin distinguished between the Aristotelian view of nature, which emphasized internal essences and categories; and the view of Galilean, which emphasized external causality and dynamics of forces. Aristotle considers individual differences as distortions caused by external forces interfering with the natural growth trends of an organism or an object. He emphasized the common attributes that members of a certain class possessed, but not their differences.

Galileo revolutionized science by shifting its focus from inner causality to a broader notion of causation. For him, the conduct of an object or an organism was determined by the total forces acting on that at the time. Chance arose from physical forces. For Galilean, the interaction of natural forces caused everything that was happening, the events were totally understandable if the dynamic forces acting on them were known. For Lewin, much of the psychology was Aristotelian. Psychologists were still looking for internal determinants of behavior. In psychology, switching from an Aristotelian to a Galilean perspective can mean downplaying notions such as instincts, types, and measures, and highlighting the importance of complex dynamic forces acting on an individual at any given time. For him, these dynamic forces explained the behavior. Space of life: consists of all the influences that act on someone at any given time. These influences, called psychological events, consisted of an understanding of the interior events, the exteriors and the collections of previous experiences. The only requirement for something to be a psychological fact is that it exists in the knowledge of the person at that time. Lewin summed up his beliefs concerning psychological facts in his principle of contemporaneity, which stated that only the facts that are currently present in the living space could influence a person's thinking and conduct. Not only does a person's living space reflect real personal, physical and social events, but it also reflects imaginary events. For Lewin, subjective reality governed behavior, not physical reality. According to him, if a need arises, the space of life is articulated with facts that are relevant to the satisfaction of that need. Some facts may facilitate need satisfaction, and others will inhibit it. Motivation: according to lewin, biological and psychological needs caused tension in the living space, and the only way to reduce tension was through need satisfaction. The psychological needs that lewin called almost needs included intentions such as wanting to have a car, wanting to go to a concert, and so on. . The tendency to remember incomplete tasks better than complete ones is called zeigarnik effect. Conflict: Lewin was the first to investigate the conflict experimentally. He focuses his study on 3 types of conflict. A conflict of rapprochement - approach occurs when a person is attracted to2 goals at the same time. Avoidance conflict - avoidance occurs when the person repels 2 unattractive targets at the same time. And the conflict of approach - avoidance is the most difficult to solve

because it involves only 1 objective on which a person's thoughts have been mixed. Group dynamics: According to lewin, a group could be considered as a physical system just like the brain. In both cases the behavior of the individual elements is determined by the configuration of the existing energy field. For this reason, the nature of a group's configuration will greatly influence the behavior of its members. Among the members of any group, there is what lewin called a dynamic interdependence. Impact of gestalt psychology: most critics claim that many of the central terms and concepts of gestalt are very vague and difficult to materialize experimentally. They claim that the term gestalt, as well as the pragnanz law, has not been precisely defined. Behaviorals attacked gestaltists' concern for conscience, stating that this concern was a regression to the ancient metaphysical posture that had caused so much problems to psychology. The psychology of gestalt played an important role in the revolution against structuralism, and has done much to oppose extreme behaviorism. He's enriched American psychology enormously. And, despite criticism, gestalt theory influenced almost every aspect of modern psychology....