Gestalt Theorists Flashcards
Gestalt, general
Gestalt is a German school of psychology that emphasized perception and insight learning [vs trial and error learning]
Learning is a matter of changing one gestalt [a perception] to another
Not adding anything new or subtracting anything old
There is a perceptual field, and anything that happens adds to a perceptual field
You are constantly trying to make your perception of the world better
——————
Gestalt psychology had its greatest impact in the area of perception
The interest in learning is secondary
Gestaltists criticized predominant approaches [psychoanalytic and behavioral] as trying to reduce drives, not attaining equilibrium
…If you reduce drives completely, you’ll be dead
Gestalts vs. Associationists
Gestaltists stress insight learning, whereas associationists are all sensory
Gestaltists acknowledge that presence of past experience facilitates insight, but isn’t necessary
Associationists say past experience is necessary and sufficient to produce insight
• It guarantees the change
• If not, where does it come from?
Major Theorists
Wertheimer (1912)
Koffka (1924) “The growth of the mind”
• Attack on Thorndike’s trial and error learning
• Emphasis on insight, introspective learning
Köhler (1925) “The Mentality of Apes”–Tenerife
Fritz Perls→ leading gestalt therapist—“living in the here and now”
Köhler
Köhler (1925) “The Mentality of Apes”
The banana and the rakes experiment
• Apes in cages, 3 rakes diff lengths—ape learned to use the small rake to get the middle rake to get the long rake to get the banana
Box and Banana study
• Different height boxes, banana hung form ceiling
• Ape is required to push box under the banana to reach up
• Only 1 ape named Sultan who got it
• Was this modeling or insight?
• There was no evidence that apes could learn from watching other apes succeed
Birch’s replications of Köhler’s Study
Birch replicated studies later, but only with animals raised in the wild
Gestaltists contend that these animals are learning without trial and error experience→ i.e., only through insight
However, apes raised in captivity without trial-and-error learning experience cannot perform the task
Thus it can be presumed that apes raised in the wild possessed this past learning experience, [which enabled them to complete the task]
Law of Pragnanz
The law of Pragnanz is sometimes referred to as the law of good figure or the law of simplicity
This law holds that objects in the environment are seen in a way that makes them appear as simple as possible
RO: Psychological organization tends to move in one general direction that is always towards a good gestalt
Similarity
The equivalent of generalization
It’s also the counterpart to the associationist similarity
e.g. grouping lines of dots and circles
. o . o . o . o
. o . o . o . o
. o . o . o . o
Proximity
Things that are close together are perceived as belonging together and thus grouped together
Similar to contiguity→ things that happen together go together
Closure
“Filling it in”
Closed areas are more stable than unclosed areas, and therefore more readily formed in perception
This facilitates learning, since achieving closure is satisfying
To the gestaltist, learning closure is an alternative to the law of effect… The direction of behavior is toward in and situations which brings closure with it
As long as the gap isn’t filled, equilibrium is not reached– it is in this manner that reward reinforces learning
Zeigarnik effect
As long as an individual is struggling with a problem, his perception is unclosed and he will continute to wrestle with it until it is resolved
Similar to Guthrie: reinforcement is simply stimulus change that protects the last thing that happened in the presence of previous stimulus complex
Law of good continuation
Continuation makes perceived object look like a more standard image
• E.g. see dashes as a straight line
- - - - - - - - -
Similar to closure, but closure makes it look more familiar
Law of regularity
Regular figures are preferred over irregular figures in perception
Regular figures are more easily held in perception
Law of familiarity
Familiar figures are preferred and more easily remembered than those that are not familiar
E.g. cloud that looks like elephants
Opposite of law of novelty
Fritz Perls
Leading gestalt therapist—“living in the here and now”
Our memories are so colored by need that you can’t trust them
The gestaltists tend to dismiss the explanatory role of experience–you don’t explain things by virtue of past
They look at psychological process as functions of the present field–It must be there in the present perception
Heiferlein
Wired Ss to detect imperceptible muscle twitches in thumb
Bell would ring when twitch detected
If Ss press lever after the bell, they’d get a cigarette
They then unhooked the bell, Ss continued to press the lever after the muscle twitched
Several Ss reported they still heard the bell
One S believed this so strongly, thought experimenter was lying, so angry that she pulled herchild out out of Columbia
