Gestalt Theorists Flashcards

1
Q

Gestalt, general

A

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

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2
Q

Gestalts vs. Associationists

A

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?

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3
Q

Major Theorists

A

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”

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4
Q

Köhler

A

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

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5
Q

Birch’s replications of Köhler’s Study

A

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]

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6
Q

Law of Pragnanz

A

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

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7
Q

Similarity

A

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

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8
Q

Proximity

A

Things that are close together are perceived as belonging together and thus grouped together

Similar to contiguity→ things that happen together go together

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9
Q

Closure

A

“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

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10
Q

Zeigarnik effect

A

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

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11
Q

Law of good continuation

A

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

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12
Q

Law of regularity

A

Regular figures are preferred over irregular figures in perception

Regular figures are more easily held in perception

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13
Q

Law of familiarity

A

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

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14
Q

Fritz Perls

A

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

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15
Q

Heiferlein

A

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

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16
Q

Koffka and the Memory Trace

[not discussed in class, from previous notes]

A

The memory trace is the Gestaltists way to reconcile the influence of past experience

A trace persists from a prior experience

It represents the past and the present

Present processes select, reactivate or in some manner communicate with the trace, resulting in a new process of recall and recognition

The trace system undergoes changes according to the laws of pragnanz so perceived figures are reproduced differently than the original model and the differences are systematic rather than random

17
Q

Memory Trace Leveling and Sharpening

[not discussed in class, from previous notes]

A

Koffka talked about “leveling” = normalizing the trace and

Leveling brings the perception of the figure closer to the intrinsic character of the perception

Trace becomes part of the image with each repetition, and changes with each repetition

E.g. each time you look at cloud, it will look more like an elephant

He also talked about “sharpening” which accentuates details that serve to discriminate this figure than other figures