Gestalt psychology is theory that looks at the human mind and behaviour as a whole. This was originally thought up by Max Wertheimer and Wilhelm Wundt. The development of this area of psychology was also influenced by a number of other theorists such as: Immanuel Kant, Ernst Mach and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
“There are wholes, the behaviour of which is not determined by that of their individual elements, but where the part-processes are themselves determined by the intrinsic nature of the whole. It is the hope of Gestalt theory to determine the nature of such wholes.” (Wertheimer 1924)
Ruth simplified this for us in our lecture by defining Gestalt Psychology (Psychology of the form) as the following:
ü Is there a rulebook for the way we think?
ü Figure and ground – Figure is the central element which captures our attention. Whereas, background is largely undifferentiated.
ü This argues that many stimuli acquire a pattern quality which is more than the sum of its parts.
Gestalt Psychology can be split into 3 main categories.
1. Grouping (Proximity and Similarity)
We tend to group together objects that share similar physical characters – Hence health and beauty brands sticking to certain colours and bottle shapes.
2. Closure
We tend to see an incomplete picture as complete – We need to fill in the gaps – We do it automatically. E.g. We can hear a couple of notes and we remember the whole jingle. For example, 118 118.
3. Stimulus Ambiguity
This is a stimulus that is said to be ambiguous when it does not correspond to an immediately recognisable shape or form. We need to find a context in order to interpret it. This is widely used in advertising.
I was lucky enough to find some websites which explains this in much more depth. The links are below.
Hope to hear back from you.
Erica.
These last two postings on perception/sensation need images and examples to show the theory in action. Still explained beautifully in terms of the academic input
ReplyDelete