Max
Wertheimer
Phi Phenomenon
Illusion of movement.
A reaction against the analytical “breaking down of the whole” by Structuralists; an attempt to focus attention back on conscious experience
(i.e., the
mind).
The word Gestalt means a unified or meaningful whole.
Experience is more
than simply sensations;
seeing is an effect of the whole event and the sum of the parts. We are built to experience
the
structured whole as well as the individual sensations.
The Law of Pragnanz says that we are innately driven to experience things in as good a gestalt as possible. “Good” can mean regular, symmetry, orderly, simplicity.
Other gestalt Laws include Closure and Similarity. Gestalt psychologists were interested in Learning and known for the concept of insight learning. Gestalt counseling stresses that for every characteristic we also have its opposite.
Wolfgang Kohler
Kurt Koffka
Kurt Lewin
The whole is different than the sum of its parts.
For every
undesirable characteristic
there is the
opposite that can be
strengthened and made
dominant.
Arranged by Gordon Vessels, Ed.D. 2004