Gestalt psychology Reflection Paper
Shenique Harmon-Anthony
Psychology 310
PATRICIA LAFOUNTAINE
December 14th 2015

Erving Polster, in the book Gestalt Therapy Integrated: Contours of Theory & Practice attempted to give his own version of an analogy that in his thinking summarizes a portion of the theory in question. He says, “When a person has swum, traveled, run a lathe, planted flowers, ridden a motorcycle, made wine, painted a picture, parachuted, he has increased the fund from which he may draw for new figural developments. In other words, as the background of his experience becomes more diversified, it also becomes potentially more harmonious with a whole range of happenings.” This description briefly encapsulates why Gestalt psychology is considered as a whole. Gestalt psychology believes that things should not be looked at individual elements but as a whole. It is a school of thought in psychology that looks at the human mind and behavior as a whole. It is noted that they are three founders who are responsible for establishing the school of gestalt psychology. Max Wertheimer, Kurt Koffka as well as Wolfgang Kohler. However, its moorings are anchored in the work of Max Wertheimer and was formed partially as a response to the structuralism of Wilhelm Wundt. Gestalt psychology has some foundations and those are perception, memory and learning. The major principles of Gestalt psychology are isomorphism, productive thinking and reproductive thinking. The main contribution of Gestalt psychology is Gestalt therapy; meaning the focus is on helping people to understand their internal self and the difference of their experiences and interpretation of events. Some of the thinkers that influenced were particularly Immanuel Kant, Ernst Mach and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The term means “unified whole”. This referred to a theory of visual perception that was developed by German psychologists in the 1920’s. The formula of Gestalt theory was expressed as wholes, whose behavior is not intended by that of their individual elements, rather where the part processes are they determined by the intrinsic nature of the whole. Instead of approaching psychology as atoms or elements according to Wundt’s theory, Gestalt psychology, discovered by Wertheimer, who focused on a human experiencing psychological events as a whole. Although all three men were contributors, Wertheimer studied law but his real interest was philosophy and psychology. He later decided to develop an interest in perception after he observed how flashing lights at a train station created some type of illusion of movement. At the University of Frankfurt began to work alongside Kurt Koffka and Wolfgang Kohler, the three established the school of Gestalt Psychology. There are some Gestalt Laws of Perception Organization; these are the law of similarity, the law of Pragnanz, the law of continuity and the law of closure. First of these Gestalt principles is the Law of Similarity which suggests that things that are similar tend to appear grouped together. Grouping can also occur in both visual and auditory stimuli. The second one is the law of Pragnanz which is the German word meaning “good figure”. This law holds that objects in the environment are seen in a way that makes them appear as simple as possible. The third is the law of Continuity meaning points that are connected by straight or curving lines are seen in a way that follows the smoothest path. Rather than seeing a separate line and angles, lines are seen as belonging together. According to Gestalt psychology, this apparent movement and visual illusion, as it were, happened because our mind is capable of filling in missing information. The belief that the whole is greater than the sum of the individual parts; has led to the discovery of several different phenomena that occur during perception.

The fourth law is that of closure according to the law of closure; grouping things together that seem to be complete in somewhat of an entity. Our brains often ignore contradictory information and fill in gaps in information. Lastly is the law of proximity which is when things that is near to each other and may seem to be grouped together. Gestalt Laws have been beneficial to research’s and psychologist it has risen to the development of psychotherapy.

Reference

Learn the Gestalt Laws of Perceptual Organization. (n.d.). Retrieved December 10, 2015, from http://psychology.about.com/od/sensationandperception/ss/gestaltlaws.htm#step4