unning head: GESTALT PSYCHOLOGY

Gestalt Psychology Theory

Abstract

The formation of the gestalt movement. The founding fathers of gestalt theory, Max Wertheimer, Kurt Koffka, Wolfgang Kohler and their focus in the movement. Gestalt therapy explained by the laws and the theory of personality. How the gestalt theory is in effect today.

Gestalt Psychology Theory The three pioneers of the Gestalt Theory, Max Werthmeimer, Wolfgang Kohler and Kurt Koffka. All three focused on different aspects that have continued to develop across multiple disciplines throughout the 2oth Century. Gestalt theory focused on the mind’s perceptive processes (Kearsley, 1998). The word gestalt has no direct translation into English, but “describes a configuration or form that is unified. A gestalt may refer to a figure or object that is different from the sum of its parts. Any attempt to explain the figure by analyzing its parts results in the loss of the figure’s gestalt” (Brennan, 2003). In simpler terms” A way a thing has been ‘placed’, or ‘put together’”; common translation includes “form” and “shape” (Myers, 1998). Zakia, 1997, described gestalt by saying,”…what you experience when you look at a picture is quite different from what you would experience if you were to look at each item that is in the picture separately”. Wertheimer was born in Prague in 1880 (The Columbia Encyclopedia, 2001). He studied at the Universities of Prague, Berlin and Wurzburg, receiving his PH.D in 1904. In 1910, Wertheimer was traveling by train from Vienna to the Rhineland on his vacation. During the journey an idea occurred to him for a research study, which was to found Gestalt psychology. Frankfurt was the next major stop, where he left the train and bought a toy stroboscope. It should be explained that the stroboscope is a device allowing successive still pictures to be exposed at a constant rate of speed so that movement is perceived. This was before motion pictures were made, however they were done in relatively the same way. This was one of the experiments that he had conducted at the University of Frankfurt, where they had given him a tachistoscope. This is a device used for regulating the length of time a visual stimulus, such as a nonsense syllable, or a figure drawing, is exposed. It can also be used to present successive stimuli, separated by short, precisely regulated intervals of time (Watson & Sr, 1978). Wertheimer applied Gestalt theory to problem solving (Kearsley, 1998). According to Wertheimer, the parts of the problem should not be isolated but instead be seen as a whole. In this way, the learner can obtain “a new, deeper structural view of the situation.” (Kearsley, 1998) Wertheimer developed a concept titled “Prafnanz” (the German word for “precision”), which states, “When things are grasped as wholes, the minimal amount of energy is exerted in thinking.” (Encyclopedia Britannica, 1999. In addition,

“Directed by what is required by the structure of a situation… one is led to a reasonable prediction, which like the other parts of the structure, calls for verification, direct or indirect. Two directions are involved: getting a whole consistent picture, and seeing what the structure of the whole requires for the parts.”(Kearsely, 1998) Kurt Koffka was born in 1886, in Berlin, Germany. He was associated with the University of Giessen from 1911-1924 and served as a subject (1912), along with Wolfgang Kohler, in experiments on perception that were conducted by Wertheimer. These findings led to all three of them stressing the holistic approach that psychological phenomenon cannot interpret as combination of elements: parts derive their meaning for the whole, and people perceive complex entities rather than their elements. (School of Education and Psychology, 2001) Koffka conducted a several experiments, but applied Gestalt theory to applied psychology and child psychology. One of his major works, Die Grundlagen der psychischen Entwicklung (1912; The Growth of the Mind), applied the Gestalt viewpoint to child psychology and argued that infants initially experience organized wholes in the barely differentiated world around them (School of Education and Psychology). Wolfgang Kohler was born in 1887 in Estonia, Russia. He completed his doctoral thesis at the University of Berlin in 1909, which was an investigation of hearing. As assistant and lecturer at the University of Frankfurt (1911), he continued his auditory research. (School of Education and Psychology, 2001) Kohler’s experiments with animals led him to conclude that they exhibited ‘insight,” (Driscoll 1993), where relations among stimuli and responses were learned, rather than simple stimulus-response connections critical to behaviorist theory. In these experiments, apes were subjected to different trials of having to obtain food that was just out of their reach. They learned how to construct a way to get the food, whether standing on a box to get it, making a long stick to reach it, through trial and error. Kohler was able to determine that the apes generated an “interconnection based on the properties of the things themselves” (Driscoll 1993) and thus developed insight on how to get the food using the tools they had available at a given time. At the time that gestalt theory had emerged, associativist and structural school views dominated psychology and schools of thought. Essentially, they espoused “similarity and contiguity, whereby and idea of something is followed by an idea of a similar or related thing.”(SGTA, n.d.) In contrast to this ‘psychological “structurism” (Moore, Fitz 1993), the “qualities of form, meaning and value” interested Gestalt theorists. Associative theorists broke down and analyzed individual stimuli or the “elementary constituent parts” of the mind; for Gestalt theorists, the grouping of these stimuli, the viewing of the “organized wholes,”(Moore, Fitz 1993) produced a different view. Groupings were comprised of proximity, similarity, continuity, and closure. These four Gestalt principles or laws are important to conceptualize. For instance, its important to determine how a person visualizes something it makes you aware of how a person organizes and groups certain items. An example would be to organize something from good to bad and one’s perception may differ from other’s. The first of the gestalt laws is the law of proximity or the simplest condition of organization. Things are grouped in order of their nearness to each other. An example of this is FAT HER HAT RED PEN TAX
Now as you read those six words, you may have grouped them into six separate words or three separate words. The proximity of the objects in space, then, influences the way in which we group visual elements. (Zakia, 1997) information that is presented side by side or in the same time frame facilitates learning. In part, learning has been defines as, “…an active process which results from the effort of an individual to satisfy a need” ((Combs & Snygg, 1949, p. 193) Learning is viewed as an interactive process between the learner and that, which is learned. The learner is viewed as an individual that must have a will to learn. “Our attention is attracted to something that is unclear, unfinished or uncertain” ((Bruner et al., 1966, p. 134). The learner is viewed as a person who has his own personal view of the world, and learns best that which is relevant and meaningful to him. He sees situations and must make them meaningful to himself. “All learning of whatever variety has as its basic characteristic a progressive differentiation from a more general perceptual field’ (Combs and Snygg, 1949 p. 190). The second law of gestalt is similarity or the visual elements that we deem similar in shape, size, color, movement etc tend to be seen as related. This is in relation to when we see things that we perceive as related we naturally group them and therefore see them as patterns. The familiar painting “American Gothic’ by Grant Wood provided some interesting observations on similarity. One of the most obvious is the shape of the three-pronged pitchfork and the ‘three-pronged” design in the man’s overalls just to the right of the pitchfork. (Combs and Snygg) Throughout the picture, you can see similarities between the man and woman and the background picture. The third law of gestalt is continuity which is the visual elements that require the fewest number of interruptions will be grouped to form continuous straight or curved lines. In some instructions the pictures are grouped according to the instruction and using arrowheads to identify specifically which part of the instruction, they are talking about (Moore, fitz 1993) The fourth law of gestalt is closure where items are grouped together if they tend to complete some entity. Gestalt theory seeks completeness; with shapes that aren’t closed, they seem incomplete and lead the learner to want to discover what’s missing rather than concentrating on the given instruction. Moore and Fitz draw boxes around the illustrations in their instructions, as to separate it from the other illustrations and group the elements of one illustration together. If this was not done, the user is not sure which parts belong to what illustration (Moore, Fitz 1993). The mind has to work much harder in order to fill in the gap. Gestalt psychologists suggest that the events in the brain bear a structural correspondence to psychological events; indeed, it has been shown that steady structural currents in the brain correspond to structured perceptual events. The gestalt school has made substantial contributions to the study of learning, recall and the nature of associations, as well as important contributions to personality and social psychology. Gestalt therapy was developed after World War II by Frederick Fritz and Laura Perls in 1940. Perls believed that a person’s inability to successfully integrate the parts of his personality into a healthy whole might lie at the root of the psychological disturbance. In therapy, an analyst encourages the clients to release their emotions, and to recognize these emotions for what they are. Gestalt psychology has been thought of as analogous to field physics. Gestalt therapy is organized around the principles of biological structure and functioning that can be seen in natural behavior. “Gestalt is as ancient and old as the world itself,”(Perls 1969b, p. 16) because it is based on the principles of organization that animate life. Gestalt therapy pioneered many ideas subsequently accepted into eclectic psychotherapy practice. The excitement between therapist and patient, the emphasis on the direct experience, the use of active experimentation, the emphasis on the here an now, the responsibility of the patient for him or herself, the awareness principle, the trust in organismic self regulation, the ecological interdependence of person and the environment, the principle of assimilation, and such other concepts were new, exciting and shocking to a conservative establishment. In this period, the practice of psychotherapy was dichotomized between the older, traditional approach of psychoanalytic drive theory and the ideas pioneered largely by gestalt therapy. The expansion was the integration of the principles with each other and the elucidated and enucleation of the principles left for the future. Thus, gestalt therapy pioneered the use of the active presence of the therapist in contactful relationship, but did not consider in detail what constituted a healing dialogic presence (Simkin, 1981). The goal of Gestalt phenomenological exploration is awareness, or insight. “Insight is the patterning of the perceptual field in such a way that significant realities are apparent; it is the formation of a gestalt in which the relevant factors fall into place with respect to the whole” (Zakia 1997). In gestalt therapy, insight is clear understanding of the structure of the situation being studied. Earlier therapeutic practices had been altered because the experiences in doing gestalt therapy had grown. The earlier practices of Gestalt therapy stressed the clinical use of frustration, confusion of self-sufficiency with self-support, and an abrasive attitude if the patient was interpreted by the therapist as manipulative. This had enhanced the shame of the shame-oriented patients. There had been a leaning toward softening the gestalt therapy practice, which included more self-expression by the therapist, more of the dialogic emphasis, decrease use of the stereotypic techniques, increased emphasis on description of character structure (with utilization of psychoanalytic formulations), and the increases use of group processes (Simkin, 1981). Thus a patient would be more likely to encounter, among gestalt therapists who are involved in the newer mode, an emphasis on self-acceptance, a softer demeanor by the therapist, more trust of the patient’s phenomenology, and more explicit work with psychodynamic themes (Simkin, 1981). The practice of most therapy systems encourages talking about the irrationality of patient beliefs, the behavior changes the therapist believed the patient should make and so forth. The gestalt therapy methodology utilizes active techniques that clarify experiences. Gestalt therapist will often experiment by trying something new in the therapy sessions (Simkin, 1981). Unlike most therapies, in gestalt the process of discovery through experimentation is the end point rather than the feeling or idea or content. The psychoanalyst can only use interpretation. The Rogerian can only reflect and clarify. Gestalt therapists, however use any technique or method. Just as long as they are aimed at increasing awareness, emerge out of some dialogue and phenomenological work, and they are within the parameters of the ethical practice. The gestalt movement had some of the same views advocated with the third force movement, based on the source of knowledge (Brennan, p. 329). “…between perceiving individual and the sensory input of environmental stimuli. Accordingly, the gestalt principles may be interpreted as a compromise between empirical basis of sensory knowledge and an active mediation that results in the self-generation of knowledge”(Brennan, p. 329). The gestalt movement determined that a person is capable of receiving information in many different ways. It is then up to the person process the information that they receive and act accordingly. The inner voice tells a person what to do with the information that they have processed is where the field theory of personality and the regulation of the boundary come into play. There is a great power and responsibility for the present is in the hands of the patients. In the past, the patient was psychologically in mutual interaction with the environment and not a passive recipient. Thus the patient may have received shaming messages from his parents, but swallowing the message and coping by self blame were his own, as was the continuation of the shaming internally from then until now. This viewpoint enables the patient. Letting the patient be aware and responsible for his or her own existence, including their therapy. This directly relates the knowledge that the person has acquired about themselves. There are times however that the therapist might believe that the patient is controlled by unconscious motivation not readily available to them, they are encouraged to rely on the therapist’s interpretations rather than their own autonomy (Simkin 1981). Most therapies in which the therapist undertakes the task of directly modifying the patients behavior, the immediate experience of the patient and therapist are therefore not honored. This sets gestalt therapy from all the rest. A patient that may be resentful may increase his awareness by expressing the resentment. If the therapist suggests this as a mean of catharsis, it is not the phenomenological focusing of gestalt therapy. This also led to the fact that the gestalt theory had been planted in dualism and menatlism. The person and the environmental stimuli interactions are not dependent on the mental activity of a person. However, some of the other movements are dependent. The gestalt principles touch on the interaction of the person and environmental which does indicate any underlying mentalistic idea (Brennan, p. 331). According to gestalt therapy there are no “should”. Instead of emphasizing what should be, the therapy stressed awareness of what is. This is in contrast to what the therapist who “knows” what the patient “should” do. For example, cognitive behavior modification, rational-emotive therapy and reality therapy all try to modify patient attitudes the therapist judges to be irrational, irresponsible or unreal (Simkin 1981). Gestalt therapists work with belief systems, even though gestalt therapy discouraged interrupting the organsimic assimilation process by focusing of cognitive explanatory intellectualization. They work with clarifying thinking, explicating beliefs, and mutually deciding what fits for the patients. Gestalt therapy de-emphasized any thinking that avoids experience (obsessing) and encouraged thinking that supports experiences. Human regulation is to varying degrees (a) Organismic, that bases on relatively full and accurate acknowledgement of what is, or (b) “shouldistic,” based on the arbitrary imposition of what some controller things should or should not be. This applies to intrapsychic regulation, to the regulation of interpersonal relations and to the regulation of social groups (Latner, 1973).
“There is only one this that should control: the situation. If you understand the situation you are in and let the situation you are in control our action, then you learn to cope with life” (F.Perls, 1976 p33). Perls makes it clear that “let the situation control” means regulating through awareness of the contemporary context, including one’s want, rather through what was thought” should happen (Simkin). In Organismic self-regulation, choosing and leaning happen holistically, with a natural integration of mind and body, thought and feeling, spontaneity and deliberateness. However, it is obvious that everything relevant to boundary regulation cannot fully be aware of everyone. Boundary regulation must be kept permeable to allow exchanges, yet firm enough for autonomy. The boundary is between self and the environment. The environment included the toxins that needed to be screened out. Most are automatic, habitual modes with no awareness at all. Organismic self-awareness requires that the person become fully aware as needed to what is going on. When the awareness does not emerge, as needed or does not organize the necessary motor activity, psychotherapies is a method of increasing the awareness and gaining meaningful choice and responsibility (Latner, 1973). Awareness and dialogue are the two primary therapeutic tools related to the gestalt therapy. Awareness is the form of experience that may be loosely defines as being in touch with one’s one existence. Laura Perls states:

The aim of gestalt therapy is the awareness continuum, the freely ongoing gestalt Formation where what is of greatest concern and interest to the organism, the relationship, the group or society becomes gestalt, comes into the foreground where it can be fully experienced and coped with (acknowledged, worked through, sorted our, changed, disposed of, etc.) so that then it can melt into the background (be forgotten or assimilated and integrated) and leave the foreground free for the next relevant gestalt(1973,p.2)

The full awareness in the process of being vigilant in contact with the most important events in the individual/environment with full sensorimotor, emotional, cognitive, and energetic support. Insight is a form of awareness. Effective awareness not only involves self-knowledge, but it’s a direct knowing of the current situation and how the self is in that particular situation. Therefore, any self-denial of the situation and its demands is a direct disturbance of the awareness. Awareness is accompanied by “owning” that is the process of knowing one’s control over, choice of and responsibility for his or her own action. In other words free will, everyone has a choice in every situation and needs to accountable for his or her own actions. Without this the person may be vigilant to experience and life space, but not to what power he or she has and does not have. The awareness is cognitive, sensory and affective. The person who verbally acknowledges his situation but does not really see it for what it really is, know it or react to it, is not fully aware and not in full contact. The person who is aware knows what he does, how he does it, that he had alternatives and what it takes to make the right decisions. This could also be associated with the internal mediation versus the external association. The inner mental activity that tells us what we want to do and the environment that tells us something different. This could be an example of peer pressure (Brennan, p 331) According to Brennan’s dimensions that are detailed in the epilogue, The Mind: Dualistic Activity versus Monistic Passivity this dimension contrasts the mind-body dualism with monism. In the dualistic position, the mind is the main agent for the psychological processes, the main function of the active psychological outcomes. Monism concluded that the psychological processes are based on the bodily processes, which is the single entity of the body is the only thing that is accountable for the human experience. In relation to this with gestalt theory is clearly a dualistic position. (Brennan, 2003, p. 327-328) In the past, the research has dealt only with the perceptual processes and relied upon the explanations throughout the acquired experiences. They avoided dualistic implications at all costs. The dualistic position concentrated on the behavior within the mental activity, which gestalt theory based on the self-awareness. If a person is aware of what he or she is doing on the inside, actually taking mental notes before they do something then they are more apt to listen to the inner voice and make the right choice. (Brennan, p. 328) Gestalt theory has pioneered much useful and creative innovation in psychotherapy theory and practice. Most of these have been incorporated within the general practice, most often without any credit. Regardless of label, the principles of existential dialogue, the use of the direct phenomenological experience of patient and therapist, the trust of organismic self-regulation, and the responsibility of the patient and therapist for their own choices all form a model of good psychotherapy that will continue to be used by Gestalt therapist and others. (Simkin, 1981). To summarize, a quote Simkin (1972,pp.251-252)

“If we were to chose one key idea to stand as a symbol for the Gestalt approach, it might well be the concept of authenticity, the quest for authenticity…If we regard therapy and the therapist in the pitiless light of authenticity, it becomes apparent that the therapist cannot teach what he does not know…A Therapist with some experience really knows within himself that he is communicating to his patient his [the therapist’s] own fears as well as his courage, his defensiveness as well as his openness, his confusion as well as his clarity. The therapist’s awareness, acceptance, and sharing of these truths can be highly persuasive demonstration of his own authenticity. Obviously, such position is not acquired overnight. It is to be learned and relearned ever more deeply not only throughout one’s career but throughout one’s entire life.” The status of Gestalt therapy as of today there are at least 62 Gestalt therapy institutes throughout the world, the list continues to grow. However, no nation organization has yet been established, as a result there are not standards yet set for institutes, trainers and the trainees. Yet, there is virtually one Gestalt institute in every major city in the United States. Although each institute has its own criteria for training, membership selection and so on, the attempts in the recent past to organize a nationwide conference for establishing standards for the trainers has not at all been successful. So there are no standards that are agreed upon as being the norm for what is considered good Gestalt therapy or even that of a good Gestalt therapist.

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