Top Banner
Gestalt Psychology 1
22

psy450lecture8 [modalità compatibilità]

May 02, 2022

Download

Documents

dariahiddleston
Welcome message from author
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
Page 1: psy450lecture8 [modalità compatibilità]

Gestalt Psychology

1

Page 2: psy450lecture8 [modalità compatibilità]

Psychology 1910 - 1920

• 3 “schools” of psychology opposing Wundt’s psychology and Titchner’sWundt s psychology and Titchner s structuralism

F ti li bj t d t th– Functionalism – objected to the narrowness or structuralism and reductionism

– Behaviorism – rejected study of consciousness for the study of observable behavior

– Gestalt – rejected reductionist approach to j pppsychology maintained an interest in studying the mind

2

y g

Page 3: psy450lecture8 [modalità compatibilità]

Beginning of Gestalt psychology

• 1910 – Max Wertheimer on vacation noticed that distal objects seemed to jmove with the train; nearby objects went past. Why?p y

• Study of apparent motion why• Study of apparent motion – why stationary objects appear to move

• Began to study this phenomena with ega to study t s p e o e a ttwo former students of Karl Stumpf –Kurt Koffka and Wolfgang Kohler

3

Kurt Koffka and Wolfgang Kohler

Page 4: psy450lecture8 [modalità compatibilità]

Apparent motion• Phi phenomenon – flashing a vertical light

that is followed 50-60 msec later by a h i t l li ht d th fhorizontal light produces the appearance of movement. The light appears to move from vertical to horizontalvertical to horizontal

M t l i d if d l 50 60• Movement only perceived if delay was 50 – 60 msec

• The perceptual experience had properties the i di id l t did tindividual components did not

4

• 1st Gestalt paper presented in 1912

Page 5: psy450lecture8 [modalità compatibilità]

Basic premise of Gestalt psychology

• Humans are not passive receivers of sensory information. Our perceptionssensory information. Our perceptions are active, lively, and organized

• We actively organize perceptions intoWe actively organize perceptions into coherent wholes – today the process is referred to as top-down or conceptuallyreferred to as top-down or conceptually driven processing

5

Page 6: psy450lecture8 [modalità compatibilità]

Criticisms of Wundt and Titchner

• Wundt was studying sensory experiences “from below” instead of “from above”. How we organize information more important than the individual sensory elementsy

• Titchner had his methodology backwards• Titchner had his methodology backwards.– Titchner: the subjects task is to explain their

sensory experience not the objects beingsensory experience, not the objects being experienced (Introspection)

– Wertheimer: the observers task is to describe theWertheimer: the observers task is to describe the object being experienced, not describe the experience

6

Page 7: psy450lecture8 [modalità compatibilità]

The Gestalt team

• Wertheimer: the teacher and lecturer who influenced students and colleagues through g gseminars and discussions

• Koffka: the writer and theorist – he produced the basic principles of Gestalt psychology inthe basic principles of Gestalt psychology in 1935 Principles of Gestalt Psychology

• Kohler – the debater – he enjoyed debating and criticizing the behaviorists and structuralists. Only one of the 3 elected

f

7

president of the APA

Page 8: psy450lecture8 [modalità compatibilità]

Lack of a Gestalt psychology today• They spent the majority of their time

criticizing others instead of consolidating id i t ti l d t t bl th iideas into practical and testable theories

• Described how perceptual processes work, rather that theorizing how they worked

• Others took Gestalt ideas and incorporated pthem into their own theories

• Gestalt psychology most important from 1915 to the 1940’s – mostly in Germany

8

y y

Page 9: psy450lecture8 [modalità compatibilità]

Gestalt principles of perceptual organization

• Similarity

• Proximity

• Good form and common fate• Good form and common fate

• Closure

• Law of Pragnanz

9

g

Page 10: psy450lecture8 [modalità compatibilità]

Geographical versus behavioral environment

• Geographical environment – the physical worldphysical world

• Behavioral environment – our interpretation of the physical worldinterpretation of the physical world

• Our interpretation of organization can produce a behavioral world that is very p ydifferent from the physical world

10

Page 11: psy450lecture8 [modalità compatibilità]

Importance of perceptual constancy

• Our perception of an object will remain the same even if the sensory experience y pchanges – includes shape, size, brightness, and color constancyg , y

• Kohler’s explanation: when we attend to• Kohler’s explanation: when we attend to an object we also attend to its relationship with other objects in therelationship with other objects in the visual display. If the relationship b t th bj t d th bj tbetween the object and other objects remains the same, the object is

i d i i th11

perceived as remaining the same

Page 12: psy450lecture8 [modalità compatibilità]

Insightful learning - Kohler

• Kohler went of Canary Islands to study intelligence and problem solving abilityintelligence and problem solving ability of great apes in 1913.

• WWI began and he was unable to leaveWWI began and he was unable to leave until 1917

• Conducted most of his studies on insightful learning during this period

12

Page 13: psy450lecture8 [modalità compatibilità]

Studies of Insightful Learning

• Prevailing theory at the time –Thorndike’s Law of Effect – trial andThorndike s Law of Effect trial and error and reward

• Kohler – animals have reasoning abilityKohler animals have reasoning ability and are not dependent on trial and error

• Kohler’s detour problem – tested dogs, p g ,children, and chickens

13

Page 14: psy450lecture8 [modalità compatibilità]

Studies of problem solving of apes

• More complex and required higher problem solving, but basic paradigm the same: the g, p gdirect approach would not solve the problem – the apes had to find an indirect way to the p ygoal.

• 1st study: Bananas hung from ceiling out of the reach of the apesthe reach of the apes.– Bananas swung back and forth. If the animal

climbed a nearby scaffolding the bananas wouldclimbed a nearby scaffolding, the bananas would swing in to their reach

– Apes first jumped and failed, then looked around,

14

Apes first jumped and failed, then looked around, went to the scaffolding and climbed up

Page 15: psy450lecture8 [modalità compatibilità]

Mentality of Apes (1921; 1928)

• 3 characteristics of insightful learning:– Insightful learning solutions result fromInsightful learning solutions result from

restructuring the problem – the ah ha!The fruit that was provided served as an– The fruit that was provided served as an incentive, but was not responsible for learning The animal solved the problemlearning. The animal solved the problem before they ate the fruitI i h f l l i h i d b– Insightful solutions are characterized by generalizations or large amounts of positive

f f bl htransfer from one problem to another

15

Page 16: psy450lecture8 [modalità compatibilità]

Americanization of Gestalt psychology

• 1925 – Kohler came to U.S. as a visiting professor at Clark Universityprofessor at Clark University

• Traveled and spoke all over the U.S. except for the southexcept for the south

• Why? 1925 was the year of the Scopes Monkey Trial, and it was felt his study of y , yreasoning apes would cause problems

16

Page 17: psy450lecture8 [modalità compatibilità]

Americanization of gestalt psychology• Rise of Nazis in Germany forced many Jews to

leave academic positions

• Koffka left in 1927 before he was dismissed and expelled from Germanyand expelled from Germany

• Wertheimer – expelled in 1933• Wertheimer – expelled in 1933

• Kohler who was not Jewish tried to leave in• Kohler, who was not Jewish, tried to leave in 1934, but wasn't allowed to leave until 1940

• By the 1940’s, Gestalt psychology had become a recognized part of American psychology

17

g p p y gy

Page 18: psy450lecture8 [modalità compatibilità]

The 4th Gestalt psychologist – Kurt Lewin

• Only one of the 4 who participated in WWI – younger than the othersy g

• 1st studies our perceptions of• 1st studies – our perceptions of landscapes are different depending upon the situationupon the situation

• Industrial psychology – evaluation of the work environment needed to include t e o e o e t eeded to c udejob satisfaction, not just level of production

18

production

Page 19: psy450lecture8 [modalità compatibilità]

Kurt Lewin

• Forced out of Germany 1933 – injustice of his persecution greatly affected his p g ypsychological work– 1930’s – pioneered work on democratic and1930 s pioneered work on democratic and

authoritarian leadership and their effect on members of a groupg p

– Field theory of psychology– Assisted in the U.S. war effort with hisAssisted in the U.S. war effort with his

research in group decision making techniques – particularly food buying gbehavior

– Generally credited with applying Gestalt

19

psychology to real world situations

Page 20: psy450lecture8 [modalità compatibilità]

Lewin’s study of group productivity

• 4 major areas of research– Find ways to make groups more productive and y g p p

prevent the tendency for them to become inefficient

– Study communication and the spread of rumors– Study of social perception and interpersonal

relationships– Study of leadership training

• Purpose of these groups of study were to develop effective leadership, improve communication, and fight prejudice and destructive attitudes

20

Page 21: psy450lecture8 [modalità compatibilità]

Lewin’s legacy

• Seen today as one of the most important psychologists for hisimportant psychologists for his contributions of making psychology applicable to real humans in the realapplicable to real humans in the real world

• Much of his work on group dynamics• Much of his work on group dynamics still used in counseling, educational, i d t i l d li i l ttiindustrial, and clinical settings

21

Page 22: psy450lecture8 [modalità compatibilità]

Gestalt therapy

• Fritz created the term Gestalt therapy, but it has nothing to do with Gestalt gpsychology

• He borrowed some of the terms, but he never read any of the Gestaltnever read any of the Gestalt psychology books and had no background in Gestalt psychologybackground in Gestalt psychology

• Others described Gestalt therapy as a misleading entitlement

22

misleading entitlement