Gestalt Psychology Reflection
Gestalt Psychology Reflection
Stephanie Becker
PSY/310
January 26, 2015
Dr. Andrews
Gestalt psychology is known as the school of thought that evaluates the human mind and behaviors as a whole, and was founded by Wolfgang Kohler (1887-1967). Gestalt psychology embraced the usefulness of consciousness, in the mean time, criticizing the attempt to reduce it to atoms or elements. The Gestalt psychologists held firm that when sensory elements are combined, the elements will form a new design or configuration. Gestalt psychologists feel that there is more to perception than meets the eye. With this said, they felt that an individual’s perception goes well over our sensory elements, the basic physical data provided to the sense organs. The main influence of the Gestalt position, its focus on the wholeness of perception, is linked to the workings of Immanuel Kant (1724-1804). Kant felt that when we see what we call objects, we come across mental states that look to compose bits and pieces. These elements are linked meaningfully, and not through mechanical processes of association. Instead, the mind in the stage of perceiving, will create a whole experience. Franz Brentano opposed Wundt’s focal point of elements of conscious experience, and thus thought that psychology should study the act of experiencing. Ernst Mach, professor at the University of Prague, employed a direct influence on the Gestalt thinking, with The Analysis of Sensations. Within this book, he explained special patterns like geometric figures and temporal patterns like melodies. Mach thought, that an individual’s perception of an object, does not change even if we change our orientation to it. For example, a table is a table no matter what angle we look at it from. Christian Von Ehrenfels went into more detail on Mach’s ideas and suggested qualities of experience that cannot be explained as combinations of sensory elements, and called this Gestalt Qualitaten. A melody is a form quality,
Stephanie Becker
PSY/310
January 26, 2015
Dr. Andrews
Gestalt psychology is known as the school of thought that evaluates the human mind and behaviors as a whole, and was founded by Wolfgang Kohler (1887-1967). Gestalt psychology embraced the usefulness of consciousness, in the mean time, criticizing the attempt to reduce it to atoms or elements. The Gestalt psychologists held firm that when sensory elements are combined, the elements will form a new design or configuration. Gestalt psychologists feel that there is more to perception than meets the eye. With this said, they felt that an individual’s perception goes well over our sensory elements, the basic physical data provided to the sense organs. The main influence of the Gestalt position, its focus on the wholeness of perception, is linked to the workings of Immanuel Kant (1724-1804). Kant felt that when we see what we call objects, we come across mental states that look to compose bits and pieces. These elements are linked meaningfully, and not through mechanical processes of association. Instead, the mind in the stage of perceiving, will create a whole experience. Franz Brentano opposed Wundt’s focal point of elements of conscious experience, and thus thought that psychology should study the act of experiencing. Ernst Mach, professor at the University of Prague, employed a direct influence on the Gestalt thinking, with The Analysis of Sensations. Within this book, he explained special patterns like geometric figures and temporal patterns like melodies. Mach thought, that an individual’s perception of an object, does not change even if we change our orientation to it. For example, a table is a table no matter what angle we look at it from. Christian Von Ehrenfels went into more detail on Mach’s ideas and suggested qualities of experience that cannot be explained as combinations of sensory elements, and called this Gestalt Qualitaten. A melody is a form quality,