Cognitive

Perspective:Gest

alt Psychology

Introduction
Gestalt Psychology was at the
forefront of the cognitive psychology.
It served as the foundation of the
cognitive perspective to learning, It
opposed the external and
mechanistic focus of behaviorism. It
considered the mental processes and
products of perception.

GESTALT
PSYCHOLOGY

Gestalt
Principles
Law of
Proximity

Insight
Learning

Lifespan
(Lewin)
Inner Forces

Law of Closure
Law of Good
Continuation
Law of Good
Pragnanz
Law of
Figure/Ground

Outer Forces

Is there a
possibility
of "you"
and "me"
together?

Do you get the optical and the illusion?

Do you sense good or evil?

Gestalt Theory
was the initial cognitive response to behaviorism. It emphasizes the importance of sensory
wholes and the dynamic nature of visual perception. The term gestalt, means " form " or
"configuration. "

Psychologist, Max Wertheimer, Kurt

Koffka, and Wolfgang Kohler studied
perception and concluded that learners
were not passive, but rather active. They
suggested that learners do not just collect
information as is but they actively process
and restructure data in order to understand
it. This is the perceptual process.

Certain factors impact on this

perceptual process. Factors like past
experiences, needs, attitudes and one's
present situation can affect his
perception.
According to gestalt psychologists, the
way we form our perceptions are guided
by certain principles or laws. These
principles or laws determine what we see
or make of things or situation we meet.

Gestalt Principles
1. Law of proximity
Elements that are
closer together will be
perceived as a
coherent object. When
objects we are
perceiving are near to
each other , we
perceive them as
belonging together.

3. Law of
Closure
We tend to fill
the gaps or "close
" the figures we
perceived. We
enclosed a space
by completing a
contour and
ignoring gaps.

2. Law of
Similarity
Elements that
look similar will be
perceived as part of
the same form. We
link similar elements
together.

4. Law of Good
Continuation
Individuals have
the tendency to
continue contours
whenever the
elements of the
pattern establish an
implied direction.
People tend to draw
a good continuous
line.

5. Law of Good Pragnanz

The stimulus will be organized into as a good
figure as possible . Based on our experiences
with perception, we "expect" certain patterns
and therefore perceived that expected pattern.

6.Law of Figure/Ground
We tend to pay attention and perceive
things in the foreground first. A stimulus
will be perceived as separate from its
ground.

Insight Learning
Gestalt psychology adheres the to the idea of
learning taking place by discovery or insight. The
idea of insight learning was first developed by
Wolfgang Kohler in which he described
experiments with apes.

In each of the problems, the important

aspects of learning was not reinforcement,
but the coordination of thinking to create new
organizations (of materials ). Kohler referred
to this behavior as insight or discovery
learning. His theory suggested that learning
could occur when individual perceived the
relationships of the elements before him an
reorganizes these elements and comes to a
greater understanding or insight. This could
occur without reinforcement , and once it
occurs, no review, training or investigation
necessary. Significantly , insight is not
necessarily observable by another person.

Gestalt Principles and the

Teaching -Learning Process
f

Psychologist Kurt Lewin,

on his theory on " life space"
adhered to gestalt psychology . He
said that an individual has inner and
outer forces that affect his
perceptions and also his learning.
Inner forces include his own
motivation , attitudes and feelings.
Outer forces may include the
attitude and behavior of the teacher
and the classmates . All of these
forces interact and impact on the
person's learning.

Mario Polito an Italian psychologist writes about

the relevance of gestalt psychology to education.
Gestalt focuses on the experiences of here and now.
it considers with interest the life space of teachers as well as

students.
It stimulates learning as experience and experience as a source of
learning.
It appreciates affections and meaning that we attribute to what we
learn.
Knowledge is conceive as a continuous organization and
arrangement of information according to needs, purposes, and
meanings.
It asserts that learning is not accumulation but remodeling or insight.
Autonony and freedom of the student is assimulated by the teacher.
The contact experience between the teachers and the students is
given value: an authentic meeting based on sharing ideas and
affections.

Presented by:
Jacklyn Chlo D. Senatin BEED II-B