Gestalt theory proposes that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. It emphasizes that humans naturally perceive complete patterns and forms even when presented with incomplete information. Some key Gestalt principles include figure/ground perception, proximity, similarity, continuity, closure and the law of prägnanz. These principles help explain how humans are able to quickly assess surroundings and solve problems through insight. Gestalt theory challenged earlier structuralist views that knowledge comes only from breaking experiences down into individual elements through sensation and introspection.

1. Gestalt Theory
Hanna Heishman
“the whole is different from the sum of its parts”
( Vi c e k , 2 0 11 )

2. GESTALT
gestalt: a German word
meaning “form” or a
“whole”
“an organized whole.
Gestalt psychologists
emphasized our tendency
to integrate pieces of
informa@on into
meaningful wholes”
Maintains that humans
are capable of
immediate, accurate Each individual puzzle
piece is unique - together,
assessment of they form a completely
surroundings and different perspective than
alone.
situa@ons Munson 2011
Hothersale 2004

3. BEGINNINGS
The Gestalt perspective formed partially as a response to
structuralism which focuses on breaking down mental
events and experiences to the smallest elements;
furthermore, Structuralism states that all knowledge is
derived from sensation and introspection. Basically, this
states that in order to ascertain knowledge, one must
experience every aspect of the information.
An example of this would be an individual driving, and
seeing a stop sign. First, the individual must see the sign,
consciously comprehend it’s meaning, and then choose
Hothersale 2004

4. PROBLEM SOLVING - GESTALT
•
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.
Woodward 1988

5. FUNDAMENTALS OF GESTALT
•
When a person is given several segments of
information, they deliberately examine the
relationships among its parts, analyze their purpose,
concept, and totality, and reaches the "aha!"
moment, using what is already known.
Understanding in this case happens intentionally by
reproductive thinking.
•
Other Gestalts psychologist believe that 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
Woodward, 1988

6. FIRST PRINCIPLE: FIGURE
GROUND
Our visual system
simplifies the visual scene
into a figure that we look
at and a ground which is
everything else and forms
the background. This
tendency is exploited in
reversible figure-ground
figures. Do you see a face or a vase?
Rex 2007
Maturana, 1961

7. Do you see an Old Lady or a Young Girl?
Unknown 2011
The figure-ground relationship continually reverses- but
always we organize the stimulus into a figure seen against a
ground. Such reversible figure-and-ground illustrations
demonstrate again that the 1988
Cohen same stimulus can trigger more

8. SECOND PRINCIPLE: GROUPING
After we discriminate between figure and ground, we now have to
organize the figure into meaningful form.
To bring about order and form to basic sensations our minds follow
certain rules for grouping stimuli together. They include:
Proximity
Similarity
Continuity
Connectedness
Closure
Lettvin 1961

9. PROXIMITY
Notice how you group the dots
Ohio State 2010
Objects that are close together are likely to be seen as a group.
Examples: music - you hear the melody, not the individual notes of music;
and when you arrange words into sentences
Turchin 1977

10. Individually, the parts of the arrow are
simply lines, we associate their proximity
to make the arrow.
Ohio State, 2010

11. SIMILARITY
Do you see the group of circles and squares as a whole
- or separate parts?
Ohio State, 2010
We group familiar figures together. Occurs when objects
look similar to one another. People often perceive them as
a group. Turchin 1977

12. Ohio State, 2010
We see columns of similarity instead of rows of dissimilarity.
We see the squares and circles as vertical columns of
similar shapes, not as horizontal rows of dissimilar shapes
due to similarity.
Sternberg, 1995

13. ANOMALY
Where are your eyes drawn?
Ohio State, 2004
When similarity occurs, and object can be emphasized if it
is dissimilar to others. This is called an anomaly.
The figure on the far right becomes the focal point because
it is dissimilar to the other shapes.
Langely 1987

14. CONTINUITY
Did your eyes follow the swish? This is the Law of Continuity at work.
Ohio State, 2010
We perceive smooth, continuous pattern rather than
discontinuous ones. Langley 1987

15. Immediately, do you perceive the individual parts or do you follow the line?
Ohio State, 2010
Continuation occurs when the eye is compelled to move
through one object and continue to another object.
Green 1966

16. CONNECTEDNESS
Because they are
uniform and linked, we
perceive each set of
two dots and the line
between them as a
single unit.
How many groups do you see?
Ohio State, 2010
Green 1987

17. CLOSURE
We fill in gaps to
create a complete,
whole object.
Are these meaningless blobs - or is it a panda?
Green 1987 Ohio State, 2010

18. CLOSURE
“IF YOU CAN RAED TIHS, YOU MSUT BE RAELLY SMRAT”
"Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde
Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the
ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is
taht the frist and lsat ltteers be at the rghit pclae.
The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed
it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn
mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the
wrod as a wlohe."
Hothersall 2004

19. Can you read the word? Or, are they incomplete and therefore indecipherable?
Ohio State, 2010
The principle of closure applies when we tend to see
complete figures even when part of the information is
missing.
Green 1967

20. CONCLUSION
Gestalt principles help us to
construct reality
We react to patterns that are
familiar even though we often
receive incomplete information. It
is speculated that this is a survival
instinct, allowing us to complete
the form of a predator even with
incomplete form.
Basically, we are far more
complex, capable, and evolved
than structuralism entails Recap.
Hothersall 2004 Ohio State, 2010

21. WORKS CITED
David Hothersall: History of Psychology, chapter seven,(2004)
William Ray Woodward, Robert Sonné Cohen - World views and scientific discipline formation: science studies in the German Democratic
Republic : papers from a German-American summer institute, 1988
Lettvin, J.Y., Maturana, H.R., Pitts, W.H., and McCulloch, W.S. (1961). Two Remarks on the Visual System of the Frog. In Sensory
Communication edited by Walter Rosenblith, MIT Press and John Wiley and Sons: New York
Valentin Fedorovich Turchin - The phenomenon of science - a cybernetic approach to human evolution - Columbia University Press, 1977
Sternberg, Robert, Cognitive Psychology Third Edition, Thomson Wadsworth© 2003.
Langley& associates, 1987; Perkins, 1981; Weisberg, 1986,1995”>
Bruce, V., Green, P. & Georgeson, M. (1996). Visual perception: Physiology, psychology and ecology (3rd ed.). LEA. p. 110.
Vi c e k , R . ( A r t i s t ) . ( 2 0 11 , J u l y 1 0 ) . F o r e s t [ I l l u s t r a t i o n ] . R e t r i e v e d f r o m h t t p : / / w w w. f l i c k r. c o m /
photos/kelehen/6069362800/
M u n s o n , T. ( A r t i s t ) . ( 2 0 1 1 , M a y 2 2 ) . P u z z l e d [ I l l u s t r a t i o n ] . R e t r i e v e d f r o m h t t p : / / w w w . f l i c k r . c o m /
photos/tanyamunson/6236552938/
R e x , D . ( A r t i s t ) . ( 2 0 0 7 , A u g u s t 0 7 ) . Va s e f a c e [ I l l u s t r a t i o n ] . R e t r i e v e d f r o m h t t p : / / w w w . f l i c k r . c o m /
photos/daverexwood/1058048330/
Unknown. (Artist). (2011, May 10). Old lady young girl [Audio podcast]. Retrieved from http://
m3 0 0 a .0p0h7o1t 3 6 0 4 .kj e tg ? o = 3 i m a g e / o l d l a d y y o u n g g i r l / b o u t d a n g t i m e / C o o l P i c s / I l l u s i o n s /
1 edi0 obuc p .com/
Ohio State. (Artist). ( 10). Proximity [Illustration]. Retrieved from http://
musicog.ohio-state.edu/Music829D/Notes/Gestalt.html