1. There is More to Perception than Meets the Eye
Gestalt Psychology

2. The Main Players Max Wertheimer (1880-1943) Kurt Koffka (1886-1941)
Wolfgang Köhler ( )
Kurt Lewin ( ) Field Theory
Kurt Goldstein ( )

3. Max Wertheimer (1880-1943) Official Gestalt founder
Discovers the PHI phenomenon
Started the journal Psychological Research (w/ Koffka, Köhler, Goldstein and Gruhle)
His best known book Productive Thinking was published in 1945
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4. Kurt Koffka ( )
Wrote the first article about Gestalt psychology in the Psychological Bulletin (1922)
Published The Growth of the Mind (1921)
Published Principles of Gestalt Psychology
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5. Wolfgang Köhler ( )
Known for his chimpanzee research, and especially the notion of insight learning in problem solving. He wrote The Mentality of the Apes (1917)
In 1929, published Gestalt Psychology
1959 became APA President

6. Köhler (2)
He was in Germany when Hitler came to power and was the ONLY non Jewish academic psychologist who opposed the Nazi regime publicly and protested the dismissal of Jewish professors from academia. He left Germany in 1935.
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7. Gestalt Theory
Sees the brain as a dynamic system in which elements interact
The brain organizes our perceptions
It does so by creating a kind of “map” (isomorphism), which is a good --though not perfect-- guide to the outside world
Gestalt Theory

8. Some principles of perceptual organization
Perceptual constancies (size, form, brightness)
Proximity, continuity, similarity, closure, simplicity (good form), figure/ground
(Look at Wertheimer's original 1923 article for examples)

9. Proximity grouping (1)

10. Proximity Grouping (2)

11. Proximity grouping (3)

13. Bias in lines organization

14. Common fate

15. Read the content (1)

16. Read the content (2)

17. Read the content (3)
Images from

18. Impossible figures. Why?

19. Gestalt psychology and learning
Recommendation: connect things, encourage organization
Encourages active learning, to help organization emerge (discovery learning)
“Learning how to learn”
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20. Field Theory: Kurt Lewin (1890-1947)
A person’s psychological activities occur within a life space field.
Within the life space are all present, past, or future events that may affect us.
Various elements have + or - valences, on the basis of which movements and/or conflicts occur
Unfinished tasks create tension (Zeigarnik effect)

21. Group Dynamics Kurt Lewin originated the concept of Group Dynamics.
Famous study of leadership styles among groups of boys.
The “Research Center for Group Dynamics” which he started at MIT is still active today at the University of Michigan.

22. Kurt Goldstein (1878-1965) A neuropsychologist (and psychiatrist)
Wrote a classic book: The Organism
In this book, he studied brain injured patients and the manner in which the nervous system responded both in trauma and in reconstruction: globally rather than specifically

23. THE END