Gestalt+Psychology

Theoretical Point of View Just like structuralists, gestalt psychologists are interested in consciousness (particularly during perception). Gestalt in German means “whole” but for psychological purposes, in essence, it means “pattern”. The gestalt system emphasizes the overall patterns of thought and/or experiences. The theoretical point of view for this system is that our brains see what they do in a particular way, very often in groups, for us to make better sense of the information we are receiving. We do not always what is truly there or we may be able to interpret the same thing two different ways. Many people have heard the common Gestalt phrase, “the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.” An example is when a person perceives a flock of geese instead of processing each individual goose. Each goose is there individually, but it is easier for our brain to gather that information together in one large chuck. History of Gestalt Psychology Gestalt psychology has a couple different key men to note for its creation and development. Ernst Mach introduced the idea of space forms in the late 1800’s, which basically said when we see a shape, such as a square, we know it is a square no matter its size or color. A succession of teacher and student psychologists followed, all having a positive contribution to this system. Christian Von Ehrenfels is credited with originating the term Gestalt and his student Max Wertheimer really elaborated on the idea of many sensory experiences being just illusions. Max Wertheimer began to form his ideas around 1910 at the University of Berlin in Germany, after his observations of a toy stroboscope at a train station in Prague sparked his interest. He had two very helpful students who continued his work after his death, but Wertheimer is credited with the start of Gestalt psychology. Potential Research Questions in the Gestalt Field Someone from this field would probably want to study into a lot about perception. A lot of emphasis is placed on perceptual units and studying natural occurrences of this phenomenon would be beneficial for a gestalt psychologist. They would probably also study what part of the brain triggers these groupings and they would probably also want to observe the brain while someone is actually performing grouping techniques. They may also want to observe the actions of people in everyday life. A gestalt psychologist may want to know how a golfer can take in the overall layout of a golf course and plan a strategy around each of those holes as a group. Other than the founder of the system, who are other psychologists that are associated with this system? Associated Psychologist for Gestalt Though Ernst Mach, Christian Von Ehrenfels, Wolgang Kohler, and Kurt Koffka were not credited as founders of Gestalt psychology, they certainly did a lot to help its development, both before and after Werthheimer’s life. Ernst Mach was able to spark the key ideas in gestalts as well as Christian Von Ehrenfels. Wolfgang Kohler and Kurt Koffka just continued the ideas of their mentor and explained their interpretations in each of their own books. Gestalt Publications A great place to start when looking for publications about gestalt systems would be at its roots with Christina Von Ehrenfels’ book //On Gestalts Qualities.// Other good publications to look into would be Wolfgang Kohler’s 1929 book, //Gestalt Psychology// or Kurt Koffka’s 1935 book //The Principles of Gestalt Psychology//. Of course, the book published by the founder of this system, Max Wertheimer’s //Productive T////hinking,// would be an excellent choice of where to find out more about gestalt principles. Most introduction to psychology books do have the basics of the gestalt principle outlined briefly in the Systems of Psychology chapter and would be helpful as well. 
 * Specialties in Psychology – Gestalt System **

References: Kosslyn, S. & Rosenberg, R. (2006). Psychology: Yesterday and Today. In //Psychology in Context, 3rd Edition. // (pp. 13-14). Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.  Boeree, G. (2000). __Gestalt Psychology __. http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer /gestalt.html

Few, S.. (2006). __Information Dashboard Design, First Edition __<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">. (pp. 83-90). O’Reilly Media, Inc.