Gestalt Theory Paper

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Gestalt Psychology Reflection April Cage Professor Katrina Ramos 3/16/15 INTRODUCTION Gestalt psychology means unified whole. The three main founders who established the school of gestalt psychology were Max Wertheimer, Kurt Koffka as well as Wolfgang Kohler. The foundations of the Gestalt psychology are perception, memory and learning. Some of the principles of Gestalt psychology are isomorphism, productive thinking as well as reproductive thinking. It refers to theories of visual perception developed by German psychologists in the 1920s. Instead of approaching psychology as atoms or elements according to Wundt’s theory, Gestalt psychology on the other hand, focuses on human experiencing psychological events as a whole. Reflection Max Wertheimer used to study law but his interest soon shifted to philosophy and psychology. He developed a keen interest on perception after observing how the flashing of lights at train station created an illusion of movement. He was at the University of Frankfurt where he worked with Kurt Koffka and Wolfgang Kohler and the three of them established a school of thought known as Gestalt Psychology. He pursued perceptual ideas through his studies with chimpanzees as director of the Canary Island Anthropoid Station in 1913. He became an American citizen and finally became the president of the American Psychological Association in 1959. Kohler contributed substantial literature work to the field of psychology. He wrote and lectured extensively on his animal research and on the understanding of human perception. Isomorphism means similar shapes. Isomorphism suggests that there is a clear pattern in the gestalt patterning of stimuli and of the activity in the brain while a person actually perceives the stimuli. The isomorphism discussed in gestalt theory is mainly functional
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