way as to present a configuration.

Like seeing a series of dots or pixels as one whole unifying picture, Gestalt theorists said that life is not individual experiences but a whole experience.

The entire basis of Gestalt theory rests on wholes. All things perceived are perceived in a whole way. They are not perceived as elements or parts of the whole.

Wertheimer explained this idea by talking of the melody in a musical composition where the melody is played in a different key. It is changed but perceived as the same melody. The Gestalt question would be that even though it is changed it still sounds the same because the melody is the same, so what constitutes the change or what is that thing that makes the composition sound the same even though it has been changed?

Gestalt Psychology was concerned with wholes, not elements. Structuralism and behaviorism were concerned with elements.

Phenomenology

Phenomenology refers to a method of natural observation that is applied to human perception. Phenomenology and structuralism used introspection but the difference was that structuralists used trained introspection, whereas .phenomenology was about "naive introspection" or what something looked like to the observer. Gestaltists stated that "new phenomena of experience as reported without elaboration or analysis were legitimate observations."

Learning and Gestalt

Gestaltists claimed that learning takes place in perceptual processes at a higher level. They were opposed to the trial and error learning process and the stimulus-response learning process and focused attention on problem solving. Kohler studied the mentality of apes and studied their problem-solving abilities. His experiments led to what he termed insight. When a person has insight he finds an immediate or spontaneous answer to a problem. Learning is possible when one restructures or reorganizes his environment in order to discover insight and solve problems.

Wertheimer used the Gestalt principles of learning to identify the creative thinking in humans. Creative thinking is done in wholes. Learning is done in wholes and the teaching must also be done in wholes. Wertheimer said, "the whole problem must dominate the parts." Learning by rote or repetition was not effective, but learning by wholes produced insight.

Conclusions

Gestalt psychology differs from other forms of psychology by perceiving all things by the whole rather than by individual elements. It is concerned with the whole human being rather than isolated behaviors or sensations of the human being as in structural and behavioral psychology. It is concerned with whole learning as opposed to rote learning. Whole learning brings about insight. Rote learning is not dynamic and does not impact the learner.

References:

Schultz, Duane P., Schultz, Sydney Ellen, A History of Modern Psychology, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Inc., NY, 1992.

Morgan, Clifford T., King, Richard A., Introduction to Psychology, McGraw-Hill Inc., NY, 1971.

Learn more about this author, Colette Georgii.
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