WOLFGANG KOHLER Introduction Wolfgang Kohler

Gestalt psychology was a reaction against structuralism and behaviorism. Kohler and Koffka were the leading Gestaltists; they stated that experience and behavior can't be analyzed into elements of consciousness (structuralism) and they cannot be broken down to stimulus-response units (behavioralism)

meaning. Gestaltists believed that behavior and experience are wholes that are unanalyzable. Certain relationships between the whole and its parts can be understood. Gestalt experiments regard perception, learning, and thinking (Sargent & Stafford, 1965, p. 4).

Gestalt psychologists view sensory elements as appearing after introspection. Real data of experience are organized and extended wholes and specific elements are not encountered in consciousness or behavior. An orderly arrangement in sensory data is found and even a young child can respo

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nd unanalyzable. Movements fall into meaningful patterns not easily separated into elementary sensations and images. Perceptions are whole experiences and not the sum of their parts. Gestalt theory explains perceptions with principles of inherent organization; experimental psychologists would explain it by the variety of associations built up around it. Gestaltists deny that perception is based only in terms of past experience. Stimuli are viewed as having form, pattern, and meaning with their elements organized. Kohler offers the example of a person born blind who acquires sight; they do not recognize geometrical forms but they do understand questions regarding what a form is. This demonstrated that organizations and arrangements of the visual field exist without stimulus situations tagged with verbal symbols (Garrett, 1951, pp. 64-65). Organizational principles found in Gestalt psychology include figure-ground relations or the distinction between the figure and the ground. The figure exists against a general, vaguer, background. A melody is heard against a background of silence or miscellaneous noises. A sunset is viewed against a larger and less defined background. The principle of closure (Law of Pregnance) is ano
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Approximate Word count = 1923
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)

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