Chapter 14: Gestalt Psychology

What did Gestaltist believe about the brain?(442)

believed that the brain activity tends toward a balance, or equilibrium in accordance with the law of Pragnanz

Kurt Koffka

book he wrote made people assumes that Gestaltists were interested only in perception. (but they are also interested in learning, thinking, development, physiology). Focused on Wundt. Published book on child psychology.

Psychophysical Isomorphism

contention that the patterns of activity produced by the brain-rather than sensory experience-causes mental experience. Patterns of the brain activity and the patterns of conscious experience are structurally equivalent.

In the case of cognitive experience? (436)

fields of brain activity transform sensory data and give that data characteristics. The whole (electrochemical force fields) exists prior the parts (individual sensations) and it Is the whole that gives the parts their identity or meaning

Gestalt Principles of Perceptual Organization

for example, stimuli that have continuity with one another will be experienced as a perceptual unit.

When does Insightful Learning occur?

if a problem is presented to an organism along with those things necessary for the problem's solution. Gestaltist believe that insightful learning is better than learning achieved through memorization or trail and error

Wolfgang Kohler

informed General military officials whether or not British vessels were in the vicinity. Worked on perception experience. Considered the cofounder of the school of Gestalt psychology. main research focused on learning. Worked on apes and their problem-solving. Did not like that the U.S psychologist believed in operationism. Test scores show a satisfactory correlation with achievements both in school and in subsequent life. Believed that the principle of inclusiveness provided against the emperialistic explanation of perception.

For Gestaltist, a problem can exist in only what two stages? (443)

it is either unsolved or solved

Development in Physics

mechanistic-elementistic view of Galitean-Newtonian physics.

Phenomenological experience

mental experience as it occurred to the naïve observer

Immanuel Kant

rationalist. believed that conscious experience is the result of the interaction between sensory stimulation and the actions of the faculties of the mind. Conscious experience can not be reduced to sensory stimulation

Perceptual Constancy

refers to the way we respond to objects as if they are the same. The result of learning. Gestaltists disagreed, for example, Kohler asserted that the constancies are a direct reflection of ongoing brain activity.(438) Almost similar to psychological isomorphism

Christian Von Ehrenfels

stated that our perceptions contain Gestaltqualitaten (form qualities) that are not contained in isolated sensations

Phi Phenomenon

the illusion that a light is moving from one location to another

Phenomenology

the study of that which naturally appears in consciousness

Gestaltists belived in what?

they believed in Psychophysical osmorphism, according to which our conscious experience is directly related to patters of brain activity, and the brain activity organizes itself into patterns according to the law of Pragnanz

Productive Thinking (Wertheimer)

were based on personal experience,experimentation, , and interviews with individuals considered excellent problem solvers

Gestalt Psychology "configuration" or "form" (429)

were opposed to any type of elementism in psychology. wanted to reduce either consciousness or behavior to the basic elements. (molecular approach)(but Gestalts wanted to take this away). Concentrated on phenomenological experience(Molar approach).Concentrated on wholes than parts. Modeled field theory instead if Newtonian physics. Rejected the schools of structuralism, functionalism and behaviorism

Principle of proximity

when stimuli are close together, they tend to be grouped together as a perceptual unit. Perception is determined by past experiences?

Max Wertheimer

Founder of Gestalt psychology. Was not the first to observe apparent motion (Peter Roget). Wrote a paper about Phi phenomenon

How can the experience of psychological phenomena?(436)

Gestalt's answer was that the brain contains structures fields of electrochemical forces that exist prior to sensory stimulation

The Law of Pragnanz

Gestaltist believed that the same physical forces that create configurations also create figurations in the brain. This law states that psychological organization will always be as good as conditions allow under the prevailing circumstances. Asserts that all cognitive experiences will tend to be as organized, symmetrical, simple, and regular.

Constancy Hypotheis

Gestaltists opposed this hypothesis. This hypothesis is a one-to-one correspondence between environmental stimuli and sensation.

Top-Down Analysis

Gestaltists proceed from the wholes to the parts.

Who accepted the Constancy Hypothesis?

Helmholtz, Wundt, and the structuralistis

Gestalt Explanation of learning

If a problem is confronted, a state of disequilibrium (unnatural) exists until the problem is solved. Gestaltist emphasized cognitive trail and error. They believed that organisms come to see solutions to problems.

Learning and problem solving are personally satisfying because they are governed by what? (Wertheimer)

Intrinsic (internal) reinforcement

Principle of Similarity

Objects that are similar in some way tend to form perceptional units.

Ernst Mach

Physicist. postulated two perceptions that appeared to be independent of the particular elements that compose them: space form and time form. a wide variety of sensory elements can give rise to the same perception

Figure-ground Relationship

The most basic type of perception, consisting of the division of the perception filed into a figure and a ground, which provides the background for the figure

Principle of Continuity

The tendency to experience stimuli that follow some predictable pattern as a perceptual unit

Principle of Closure

The tendency to perceive incomplete objects as complete

Koffka used this fact to distinguish between the geographical environment and behavioral? (442)

What we are conscious of is a product of the brain. The geographical=physical environment. The behavioral=is our subjective interrelation of the geographical environment. (our own subjective reality governs our actions more than the physical environment)

Isomorphism and the Law of Pragnanz

Wundt's explanation of the apparent movement was that the fixation of the eyes changed with each successive presentation of the visual stimulus. With apparent movement, the sensation of movement is not contained in the sensations that cause it.

WHat theory did the Gestaltics accept

accepted the field theory in their analogy of brain functioning. Viewed the brain as a dynamic configuration of forces that transforms sensory information. Organized brain activity dominates our perceptions

With Transposition from the Gestalitist , what does an organism learn?

an organsism learns principles or relationship. Once it learns a principle, the organism applies it to similar situations (TRansposition)