Chapter 9: The Paths ofGestalt Psychology

PSK306-History of PsychologyAssoc. Prof. Okan Cem Çırakoğlu okanc@baskent.edu.tr

The Social Landscape After the Great

War (1914-1918)

After the war, psychology as a profession and an academic discipline counted significant losses.

Public and private subsidies to universities declined. Psychology was given a lower priority than chemistry, physics, engineering, and other fields. The situation began to improve only by the mid-1920s.

Social and political instability in the 1920s and 1930s affected the lives of millions of people. Political authorities in many countries began to establish and expand their control over science and education.

Politics and Psychology

Nazi officials

demanded

Psychology must serve the interests of the Nazi state

Psychologists must embrace

the Nazi ideology

Psychologists from minority group must be

eliminated

Communist officials

demanded

Psychology must serve the interests of the working class

Psychologist must embrace

Marxism

Psychologists must reject Western theories

Principles of Gestalt Psychology:

Theoretical Roots

• Philosophy (holistic principles)▫ Hegel’s ideas of holism▫ Mach’s ideas of time and space

• Psychological research (perception)▫ Rubin vase▫ Figure-ground relationships

• Physics

Gestalt Principles of Perception

Phi-phenomenon. Wertheimer (1912) explained this phenomenon as the observable fact of pure motion when two images are projected in succession. There is no physical motion, only experience of it.

Gestalt Principles of Perception

For Gestalt psychologists, the process of perception was about the mind—a “builder” producing something new, something fundamentally different from the assemblage of these elements.

Gestalt psychologists showed in their experimental research that it is not the elements but the integrated and constant patterns or “wholes” that are likely to be the fundamental features of our psychological experience.

Gestalt Principles of Perception

Almost all of us instantly recognize these faces as a “child” and “woman” without analyzing every facial detail. Gestalt psychologists believed that this is the way our perception works.

From Perception to Behavior

Wolfgang Köhler. Decision making, as a processinvolving a selection from alternatives, is about “grasping”the relations between two elements. An animal doesnot simply respond to the absolute properties of astimulus, as John Watson and behaviorists would havesuggested. An animal responds to a signal relevant to itssurroundings.

Insight is he ability of seeing into a situation,understanding its “inner” nature; a sudden, intuitiveperception or grasping of useful relations in a givensituation.

The study of insight was a significant development in psychology because it introduced an innovative model of learning. It was different from the most traditional psychological models involving repetition of a habit or popular behaviorist models emphasizing conditioning (Pavlov’s theory) and trial and error (Thorndike’s work).

From Perception to Behavior

Three features of insight

Reflection of the whole layout of elements in the field

Perceptual reconstruction of the task.

Transposition: learning transfers from one problem or situation to other situations and tasks.

Advancements of Gestalt Theory:

Field Theory of Kurt Lewin

Kurt Lewin (1890-1947), as many psychologists of his generation, had a productive career after immigrating to the United States. Lewin’s research influenced the early developments of social psychology.

Geometry

Topology

Psychology

The Field Theory

Advancements of Gestalt Theory:

Field Theory of Kurt Lewin

To understand or predict someone’s behavior (Lewin label it “B”), the researcher must understand the psychological state of a person (labeled “P”) and of the psychological environment (E). In this system, P and E are interdependent variables. Behavior becomes a function (labeled “f”) of an individual’s personality characteristic and of specific environmental or situational conditions.

B = ƒ(P, E)

Advancements of Gestalt Theory:

Field Theory of Kurt Lewin

According to field theory, an individual behavior dependson the characteristics of the present field at a particularmoment. An individual’s goals (no matter how apsychologist understands them) and past experiences(behaviorists describe them as reflexes or habits) are all fitinto the field characteristics of the moment. To describethe field, Lewin introduced terms such as life space, field,existence, locomotion, force, valence, goal, conflict,interdependence, and many others.

Advancements of Gestalt Theory:

Field Theory of Kurt Lewin

Field Theory of Kurt Lewin

Illustrative examples of the Force Field Analysis

Lewin: Leadership Styles

Authoritarian

Laissez-faire

Democratic

The authoritarian style is established when the leader makes all the decisions. This person is controlling, directive, and demanding and shares with group members few explanations regarding group activities.

Displaying the democratic style, the leader makes decisions after consulting with the group. The leader often allows group members to choose their own strategies.

The third style was called laissez-faire. The leader does not try to exercise control over the group and gives group members only general instructions and advice.