by Darian Peters

Created on: May 19, 2009

Gestalt theory is a holistic theory of psychology that focuses on the tendency of the brain to use its massive powers of analogue parallel processing to self-organise whole perceptions out of various parts. Our senses create forms, or gestalts, out of what is there. The Gestalt Laws of organisation, which explore the Gestalt theory by using figure-ground methodology, for example, are still of great use in psychological research for exploring the workings of the mind in an experimental setting.

Gestalt theory has a long history in psychological research, going back to the early decades of the twentieth century. It was then that it was proposed as a competitor to the classical, atomistic, theory that our perceptual world was formed from independent sensations that could not individually be perceived. Gestalt theorists such as Wertheimer and Ehrenfels introduced the concepts that we would see the theory develop of the following decades. In the present day the two competing theories are typically described as Structuralism and Gestaltism.

Gestalt thinking provides an important paradigm that can be used in the design of easily repeatable and modifiable experiments. The use of figure-ground illusions in the experimental design is one example. A classic example of a figure-ground illusion is the famous Rubin's vase, which can appear to the observer as a vase or as two faces in profile looking at each other. But Gestalt thinking has led to numerous gestalt laws being proposed, with varying degrees of experimental support for them.

The Gestaltists introduced four principles in their methodology. One of these was the holistic principle of totality. A second was the principle of psychophysical isomorphism, correlating brain processes and images. A third principle treats the phenomenon in experimental analysis as key rather than the qualities of sensations. The fourth principle is that of biotic experiment. This means the use of natural experimental settings for psychological experiments.

There are also four main theoretical principles that are explored in these experimental designs. Emergence, for example, is where an image sometimes emerges from an image rather than being immediately perceived, such as in the case of a Dalmatian against a black and white background. A second theoretical principle is that of reification. This sees an element of generativity in perception, as in the case of the three pacmen with their mouths forming what is perceived as the three corners of an equilateral triangle.

A third principle is that of multistable perception, where the same figure can be viewed in different ways, such as the famous wireframe Necker cube, for example where the observer can flip between states regarding which is the front face and which is the back face. Finally, there is the principle of invariance. This is where basic geometrical figures can be recognised across a wide range of settings through rotations and translations and so on. Together these theoretical and methodological principles continue to provide fertile ground for experimental design in psychology.

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