The main emphasis of Gestalt theories is that the whole is always greater than the sum of its parts. The whole refers to the wholeness of once perception. Perception may mean a totally different thing if it is considered in parts. Gestalt Psychology is a school of psychology that was founded in the 20th century. The school provided psychological theories that are the basis for modern day perception psychology. Gestalt is a German word and refers to how things are put together or placed. It is often translated into English as “form” or “shape” or “pattern” or “configuration”, which is close, but not the exact meaning of the German word. ("Gestalt Psychology", 2017)
Gestalt psychology was developed to explain behaviorism using cognitive reasoning. According to this school of thoughts, perception is a dynamic process. For this reason, it is necessary to understand the meaning of the perception as a whole. According to the Gestalt psychology, the way we form our perception is guided by certain laws. (Fall, Holden, & Marquis, 2004)
The Law of proximity: states that the elements that are placed closer to each other will be perceived as a coherent object. In the example below, the circles on the left that are closer to each other will be grouped into horizontal lines and those on the right will be grouped by human vision into vertical lines. ("The Gestalt Principles", 2017)
The second Gestalt Law is the law of similarity. For example, in the figure below, human eyes will perceive a square within a rectangle. Human vision connects the triangles to form a triangle pattern and the circles to form a square pattern. The elements that look similar will be treated as a part of the same form. ("The Gestalt Principles", 2017)
Law of closure, is another Gestalt law that suggest that people tend to draw conclusion or connect what they perceive. For example, in the image below there are no circles and triangles, but the human eyes will complete the gaps to identify a pattern. ("The Gestalt Principles", 2017)
Perceptions are very important in gaining insight. Wolfgang Kohler, a psychologist of Gestalt school of psychology, conducted experiments in apes and discovered that apes could use boxes and sticks to solve problems. The other two founder Gestalt psychologists are Mar Wertheimer and Wolfgang Kohler. These three psychologists studied perception and concluded there finding. One of the findings is that learning is an active process and not a passive process. So the learner or the perceiver, will not only collect information but also process it in a fashion in which they can understand or make sense. The needs of the learner, past experiences, attitude and the present situation, can affect this perception. ("Gestalt Psychology: Definition & Principles - Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.com", 2017)
The idea of learning based on insight was given by Wolfgang Kohler. Based on Koehler’s studies, he concluded that learning could occur in the absence of any reinforcement. Learning is a process of coordinating and organizing the thought process. Insight depends on the characteristic of the object under the review and the learner perceives these objects in relation to oneself.
According to Kurt Lewin, forces acting outside and within a person can influence the perception or learning process. Inner forces include motivation, feelings, and attitudes. Outer forces include the attitude of others. For example, in a classroom environment, the external forces are teacher and classmates. Kurtz Lewin, a notable Gestalt psychologist, is often credited as the founder of social psychology. He has extensively researched on groups and organizational dynamics. He is also the pioneer of organizational and social psychology. Marino Palito found Gestalt theory relevant to education and learning. These theories focus on experiences and learning is an experience. Experience is complex in itself and can be subdivided into different parts. The perception of once mind, is an important factor in the learning process.
During the teaching process, the teacher tries to channel the pupil’s energy into thinking about each subject as part of a whole learning experience. Sum of different situations, provides them with a wholesome learning experience. This is communicated during the teaching process. Psychological organization of stimuli will be influenced by the controlling circumstances. While stimuli have boundaries, perception is something that crosses all the boundaries. For this reason, the cross-cultural curriculum can benefit children and give them the opportunity to apply their knowledge to different life situations. It also gives the perception that the stimuli are connected. The mind has a natural tendency to seek meaning in the context of the environment in which the person is present. It tries to seek relationship and tries to make sense of what is useful.
In 1993, Hull defined learning as a process by which the learner tries to connect information and tries to make sense in his/her frame of reference. During learning the student processes the new information in a manner that it makes sense to them. So the mind has a natural tendency to seek meaning in the events, in such a way that it makes sense and it appears useful.
Learning is a holistic process. For example, while reading words, individual letters are connected to spell a word that makes sense. While reading a text, a reader is able to correctly guess the next word or meaning of the whole text by connecting letters, words and different sentences. Three main clues: letter clues, syntactic clues, and meaning clues are used to make sense of the text. The major criticism of Gestalt theories of perception is that it is descriptive and is not explanatory. Many psychologists consider Gestalt theory as uninformative, as it is not sufficient to explain emotions and personality.
References
Fall, K., Holden, J., & Marquis, A. (2004). Theoretical models of counseling and psychotherapy (1st ed.). New York: Brunner-Routledge.
Gestalt Psychology. (2017). Webspace.ship.edu. Retrieved 20 January 2017, from http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/gestalt.html
Gestalt Psychology: Definition & Principles - Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.com. (2017). Study.com. Retrieved 20 January 2017, from http://study.com/academy/lesson/gestalt-psychology-definition-principles-quiz.html
The Gestalt Principles. (2017). Graphicdesign.spokanefalls.edu. Retrieved 20 January 2017, from http://graphicdesign.spokanefalls.edu/tutorials/process/gestaltprinciples/gestaltprinc.htm
