Unit 5 - Chapter 14 - Gestalt Psychology Flashcards
Define the word gestalt
German word meaning “configuration”.
Specify what gestalt psychologists sought to study, what they favored in psychology, and what they opposed
gestalt psychology = studies whole, intact segments of behavior and cognitive experience.
- favored molar approach & phenomenology.
- opposed to elementism & molecular approach.
Describe the roles of the following as antecedents of gestalt psychology: (a) the work of Immanuel Kant, Ernst Mach, and Christian von Ehrenfels, and (b) developments in physics.
a) Kant
- conscious experience = sensory stimulation + faculties of the mind.
Mach
- said space time & time form are independent of the elements that compose them.
Ehrenfels
- said perceptions contain form qualities that are not contained in isolated sensations.
b) Developments in physics
- wanted to model psychology after field theory (studies how energy distributes itself within physical systems).
Describe the circumstances that led to the founding of gestalt psychology.
wartheimer
- thought that perceptions are different from the sensations that comprise them.
- experiment led to phi phenomenon (illusion that a light is moving from one location to another).
Briefly describe the life and work of Max Wertheimer, Kurt Koffka, and Wolfgang Köhler
Wartheimer
- founder of gestalt psychology.
Koffka
- believed to be responsible for most US psychologists assuming that Gestaltists were only interested in perception.
Kohler
- gave gestalt psychology international recognition.
Describe the following aspects of gestalt psychology: the concept of psychophysical isomorphism, b) constancy hypothesis, c) top-down and bottom-up analysis, d) law of Prägnanz.
a) psychophysical isomorphism
- contention that the patterns of activity produced by the brain cause mental experience.
b) constancy hypothesis
- states there is a one-to-one correspondence between environmental stimuli & sensation (opposed by gestaltists).
c) gestalt analysis proceeds from top to the bottom –> from the wholes to the parts.
d) states that because of the tendencies of the force fields in the brain, mental events will tend to be organized, simple, and regular.
Perceptual constancy
refers to the way we respond to objects as if they are the same, even though the actual stimulation our senses receive may vary.
Figure-ground relationship
the most basic type of perception is the division of the perceptual field into two parts:
1) figure –> clear, unified and object of attention
2) ground –> diffuse and consists of everything that is not being attended to.
Define Gestalt principles of continuity, proximity, inclusiveness, similarity, and closure
principle of continuity
- stimuli that have continuity with one another will be experienced as a perceptual unit.
principle of proximity
- when stimuli are close together, they tend to be grouped together.
principle of inclusiveness
- when there is more than one figure, we see the figure that contains the greatest number of stimuli.
principle of similarity
- objects that are similar in some way tend to a form perceptual unit.
- ex: twins, teams wearing two dif colors.
principle of closure
- incomplete figures are perceived as complete ones.
Define Gestalt view of subjective and objective reality.
- geographical environment: objective/physical environment.
- behavioural environment: subjective interpretation of the geographical environment.
Describe the Gestalt position on learning, including (a) the basis of trial and error learning, (b) insightful learning
a) - cognitive trial and error –> organism scans environment, trying a possible solution and then another until problem is solved.
b) insightful learning –> involves perceiving the solution to a problem after a period of cognitive trial and error.
Describe the Gestalt position on transposition (contrasting this with Spence’s explanation).
Gestalt’s transposition
- application of a principle learned in one problem-solving situation to other similar situations.
Spence’s explanation of transposition
- what behaviour occurs will be determined by the algebraic sum of positive and negative tendencies.
Describe the Gestalt position with respect to problem solving as reflected in Wertheimer’s 1945 book Productive Thinking.
- productive thinking –> the type of thinking that ponders principles rather than isolated facts.
- learning & problem solving is governed by internal reinforcement.
- learning based on gestalt psych allows for creativity & flexibility.
Outline the Gestalt approach to memory.
memory process –> brain activity caused by a specific environmental event.
memory trace –> remnant of experience that remains in the brain.
trace system –> consolidation of a number of interrelated experiences.
governed by law of pragnanz.
Describe Lewin’s position with respect to (a) Aristotelian and Galilean science
- said Galileo revolutionized science when he said causation springs from physical forces & his conception of universal causation.
- said too much of psychology was Aristotelian, ex; stage theories
