2. GESTALT PSYCHOLOGY
is a philosophy of mind
of the Berlin School of
experimental psychology.
Gestalt psychology is an
attempt to understand
the laws behind the
ability to acquire and
maintain meaningful
perceptions in an
apparently chaotic world.
The central principle of
gestalt psychology is
that the mind forms
a global whole with self-
organizing tendencies.
3. GESTALT THEORY
GESTALT THEORY was the initial
cognitive response to behaviorism. It
emphasizes the importance of sensory wholes
and dynamic nature of visual perception. The
term gestalt means “form” or
“configuration”.
4. Psychologist Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang
Kohler and Kurt Koffka studied perception
and concluded that perceivers or the learners
are not passive, but rather active. They
suggested that the learners do not just
collect information as is but they actively
process and restructure data in order to
understand it. This is called perceptual
process.
7. • LAW OF PROXIMITY
• LAW OF SIMILARITY
• LAW OF CLOSURE
• LAW OF GOOD CONTINUATION
• LAW OF GOOD PRAGNANZ
• LAW OF FIGURE / GROUND
8. The Law of Proximity states
that objects that are near
or 'proximate' to each
other tend to be grouped
together. It is part of the
Gestalt Laws of Perceptual
Organization and Gestalt
psychology, which was
founded by Max
Wertheimer. Wertheimer
noted that rapid sequences
of events create the illusion
of motion.
9. The law of similarity
is one of the rules
that comes from
gestalt psychology,
which is about
how human beings
perceive wholes.
Gestalt psychology
describes how a whole
is greater than the
sum of its parts.
10. Gestalt psychologists
believe that the brain
tends to perceive
forms and figures in
their complete
appearance despite
the absence of one or
more of their parts,
either hidden or
totally absent. This
refers to the law of
closure.
11. The Gestalt law of
good continuation describes
the tendency of a person
to perceive forms of
similar shape, form, color,
pattern, and other
attributes in group. This
principle explains why
people are able to
differentiate varying
groups of shapes,
patterns, etc. during
perception, even when they
are clearly overlapped.
12. Law of Pragnanz (Goo
d Figure, Law of
Simplicity) “People
will perceive and
interpret ambiguous
or complex images as
the simplest form(s)
possible.” This is the
fundamental principle
of gestalt. We
prefer things that
are simple, clear and
ordered.
13. Law of Figure /
ground is a type of
perceptual grouping
which is a vital
necessity for
recognizing objects
through vision. In
Gestalt psychology
it is known as
identifying
a figure from the
background.
14. INSIGHT LEARNING
The theory of Insight
Learning was first
proposed by German-
American psychologist,
one of the founders of
Gestalt psychology,
Wolfgang Kohler.
Insight learning is among
various methods of
Behavioral learning
process, which is a
fundamental aspect
of Behavioral
Psychology.
15. • The psychologist gained fame with his
studies on cognitive processing involved
in problem-solving by animals. His
tests in Tenerife in the 1910s with
chimpanzees suggested that these
animals solved problems by
understanding – like human beings,
instead of going through.
• Kohler placed a chimpanzee named
Sultan inside a cage. Sultan grew
hungry and a bunch of banana was
placed just outside the cage. Sultan
was provided with one long and another
short bamboo stick. Neither of the
sticks could reach the banana alone
and the only possible way to reach the
banana was to join the two sticks.
16. Initially, Sultan showed all customary
reactions that a chimpanzee shows
inside a cage, and gradually tried to
draw the banana towards him with
the sticks. After countless fruitless
efforts, Sultan nearly gave up, but as
he was playing with the sticks, he
managed to touch the banana by
pushing a stick with another stick.
Sultan accidentally managed to join
the two sticks and with its help, it
pulled the banana inside the cage.
Sultan immediately grabbed the
banana when faced with the same
problem next day. Seeing the
relationships among various aspects of
the problems is described as learning
by insight.
17. LIFESPACE
According to Kurt Lewin, behavior exists in a
totality of interacting facts which comprise a
dynamic field. The circumstances or
conditions in any part of the field are
influenced by and depend on every other part
of the field. This psychological field is
otherwise known as the life space which
comprises the individual and his psychological
or behavioral environment also known as facts
that affect the behavior or thoughts of the
individual at a certain point in time.
Life space is most frequently determined by
the physical and social environment that the
individual finds himself in. It may include
places where he goes, events that occur,
feelings about places and people encountered,
what he sees on TV or reads in books, his
imagined thoughts and goals. Encompassed by
a child’s life space are forces which the child
may be aware of or not, in addition to forces
which are accepted by the child as true
though they may not be so.
