Man in Gestalt psychology. Gestalt Psychology: History and Research

Gestalt psychology- a science that has become the most productive option in solving the problem of maintaining the integrity of Austrian and German psychology. The main representatives of Gestalt psychology, such as M. Wertheimer, W. Koehler and K. Koffka, K. Levin, created science to resist structuralism.

They put forward the following ideas of Gestalt psychology:

• The subject of Gestalt psychology is consciousness, the understanding of which should be based on the principle of integrity;
• Consciousness is a dynamic whole where everything interacts with each other;
• The unit of analysis of consciousness is the gestalt, i.e. integral figurative structure;
• The main method of studying gestalts was direct and objective observation and description of the contents of one's own perception;
• Perception does not come from sensations, since they do not exist in reality;
• Visual perception is the most important mental process, which is able to determine the level of development of the psyche, which has its own laws;
• Thinking cannot be viewed as a set of certain knowledge and skills formed by trial and error. Thus, thinking is the process of determining and solving the conditions of the problem, through the structuring of the field in real time. Experience gained in the past has no bearing on the solution of the problem.

Gestalt psychology is a science that has explored holistic structures consisting of a mental field, developing the latest experimental methods. Representatives of Gestalt psychology believed that the subject of this science is undoubtedly the study of the psyche, the analysis of all cognitive processes, the dynamics and structure of personality development. The methodological approach to the study of this science is based on the concept of mental field, phenomenology and isomorphism. Mental gestalts have similar physical and psychophysical characteristics, i.e. the processes occurring in the cerebral cortex are similar to the processes occurring in the external world and realized by us in experiences and thoughts. Each person is able to realize their own experiences and find a way out of this situation. At present, almost all properties of perception are revealed thanks to the research. The importance of this process in the formation and development of imagination, thinking and other cognitive functions has also been proven. This type of thinking is a complete process of forming figurative ideas about the world around us, allowing us to reveal the most important mechanisms of creative thinking.

The history of the emergence and development of Gestalt psychology.

For the first time, the concept of Gestalt psychology was introduced in 1890 by H. Ehrenfels in the study of perception processes. The property of transposition was singled out as the main property of this process, i.e. transfer. At the beginning of the 19th century, the Leipzig school was created, where, in fact, a complex quality, permeated with feeling, was defined as a single experience. Gestaltists soon begin to go beyond the scope of psychology, thus, by the 1950s, with the advent of fascism, the manifestation of a sharp desire for Gestalt psychology subsides. This science had a huge impact on the process of formation and development of psychological science. And by 1978, the International Psychological Society was created under the name "Gestalt theory and its applications", which included the following representatives from around the world: Germany (Z. Ertel, G. Portele, M. Stadler, K. Huss), USA ( A. Lachins, R. Arnheim, son of M. Wertheimer Michael Wertheimer) and others, Finland, Italy, Austria, Switzerland.

Basic ideas, facts and principles of Gestalt psychology.

One of the most important representatives of Gestalt psychology is the philosopher Max Wertheimer. His work was devoted to the study of visual perception experimentally. The data obtained in the course of his research laid the foundations for an approach to perception (and later to other psychological processes) and stimulated criticism of associationism. Thus, the principle of integrity, according to which concepts and images are formed, became the main principle of the formation of the psyche. Conducting research and perception made it possible to discover the laws of perception, and later the laws of gestalt. They made it possible to reveal the content of mental processes during the interaction of stimuli throughout the body, correlating, structuring and preserving individual images. At the same time, the correlation of objective images should not be static, immovable, but should be determined by changing relationships established in the process of cognition. Further experimental studies by Wertheimer made it possible to establish that there are many factors on which the stability of the figure and its perfection depend. This includes the commonality of color, the rhythm in the construction of rows, the commonality of light, and much more. The action of these factors obeys the main law, according to which the actions are interpreted as a desire for stable states at the level of electrochemical processes.

Since perceptual processes are considered innate, while explaining the features of the functioning of the cerebral cortex, the necessary objectivity arises, turning psychology into an explanatory science. An analysis of problem situations, as well as ways to solve them, allowed Wertheimer to distinguish several stages of thinking processes:

• The emergence of a directed feeling of tension, mobilizing the creative forces of each person;
• Conducting an analysis of the situation and awareness of the problem to create a unified image of the current situation;
• Solving the existing problem;
• Decision-making;
• Execution stage.

Wertheimer's experiments revealed the negative impact of habitual methods of perceiving structural relationships. The published publications consider the analysis of creative thinking (its mechanisms) and the problems of creativity in science.

I am glad to welcome you, dear readers of the blog! I decided to acquaint you with various areas in psychology, and today I will start with the characteristics and tasks that Gestalt psychology sets itself briefly, so as not to tire with details.

The history of occurrence and characteristics of the direction

The founders are such personalities as Kurt Koffka, Wolfang Keller and Max Wertheimer, but it was Fritz Perls, his wife Laura and Paul Goodman who finalized the ideas and began to apply in their practice. They believed that it is natural for a person to perceive objects as a whole, without highlighting individual parts. To make it clearer, I’ll give an example: if you show a photo of a cat and ask what you see, most likely you will answer “cat”, well, maybe “animal”, few people would think of listing all its components separately. But if you start to single out these components as part of the whole, this will be called gestalt.

Principles of Perception

The relationship between figure and ground

What is very valuable and important at the moment, where attention is directed, is a figure, and everything else that fades into the background, respectively, is the background. That is, I come to the opening of the store, where they arranged a buffet table, and I am very hungry, so at the moment I am only interested in food, and it does not matter at all how many people are nearby, what color of napkins and in general, nothing but food. I can't even really distinguish what exactly the dishes consist of. Because a plate with sandwiches and other things will be a figure, everything else will be a background. But they can change places. When I feel full, I will become interested in something else, I will begin to highlight completely different needs.

Law of balance

It says that our psyche strives for stability, that is, as soon as a person selects a figure from the background, he gives it a form convenient for him, the characteristic of which is determined by closeness, simplicity, regularity, completeness, etc. And if it meets these criteria, then it is customary to call it a “good gestalt”. Now I will try more about these criteria:

• Proximity - if the stimuli are nearby, they are perceived as one whole. The most banal example is when a guy and a girl who go together can be defined by others as a couple.
• similarity . Stimuli are perceived together if they have some similarities in shape, color, size, etc.
• Integrity . Our perception simply needs simplification and integrity.
• Closure - if something has an incomplete form, we will definitely complete it ourselves.
• Adjacency when the stimuli are close in space and time.

The main concepts that Gestaltists use in their work

• Organism and environment . A person is not considered separately from the environment, because interaction is constantly taking place between them, because the environment influences a person, and he, in turn, transforms it. There is even the concept of mental metabolism, which says that the body must give to the environment and receive from it. These can be thoughts, ideas, feelings, otherwise there will be no growth of this very organism, development and balance in general, as a result of which it may even cease to exist. I will try to give an example about the influence to make it more clear. When changes occur within us, they also occur in the outside world. So you accumulated anger at a colleague, and then something happened to your worldview, and you let go of this feeling, ceasing to expect something from him. And suddenly they noticed how his attitude towards you has changed, and he began to treat you differently.
• phi phenomenon – Wertheimer conducted one experiment, showing subjects two straight lines, changing the time intervals, and found out that at an interval of 60 milliseconds it seems to a person that these lines are moving, and he called this phenomenon a phi-phenomenon.
• insight - insight, an unexpected understanding of the essence of the problem.
• Contact boundary - that is, it is the border that separates "I" from "not me", and regulates the exchange in the process of contacting.

On the basis of all this theory, Gestalt therapy arose, which from its inception to the present day has occupied a leading position in psychotherapy. But it has made some additions and also includes other areas, such as psychoanalysis, the teachings of Reich or Otto Rank, using the principles of phenomenology, holism and existentialism.

Challenges set by Gestalt

1.Teach a person to be in touch with himself

That is, to realize what is happening to him, what feelings he experiences, to understand what he wants, what needs he satisfies, and so on. A person with a high level of aikyu will not be successful and happy if his emotional intelligence is at a minimum. Unfortunately, schools and families rarely teach to recognize their feelings, to live them, to realize why they arose. A person who is not in touch with himself will shut himself off from emotions that he considers negative and ignore them, which will entail internal discomfort and various kinds of illness.

2. Learn to be in contact with others

3. Learn to be "here and now"

That is, to be in reality, and not live in memories or dreams. Even if the therapy is for an event that happened a long time ago, the emphasis is on the experiences of the moment. The past cannot be changed, it is only possible to change our attitude towards it.

4. Show that there is no need to “poking around” in your unconscious

Since the most important and necessary will certainly lie on the surface. And it will be a figure. It’s really simple, and it makes life much easier, since there is no need to “think up” possible difficulties for yourself, cling to them and hold on. As soon as the actual problem is recognized and solved, a new figure will appear, and so on.

5. Learn to live any feeling

A very interesting task, as it differs significantly from the methods of other areas in psychology and psychotherapy. Usually, after all, it is customary to deal with negative experiences, transform them into positive ones, cover them with some other emotions, or rationalize them. The idea is that if you consciously stay in the experience of a feeling for as long as it takes, it will change. That is, if you are sad, you do not need to purposefully amuse yourself, as the effect will be short-lived, if at all. It is better to immerse yourself in it, think about what it is connected with and allow yourself to be in it, then this sadness will pass, leaving space inside for another emotion to replace it.

The final stage of the gestalt

Perls, the founder of this trend, believed that a person must be mature, then he will be healthy and successful. That is, she must be able to take responsibility for her actions, be able to appropriate experience, even if it was negative, take risks and satisfy her needs on her own, interacting with others, and not manipulating them. Paul Goodman described just the cycle of experience, that is, the process of satisfying the need itself, so that, as they say, “the gestalt was completed”:

1. Precontact is a phase when a person has not yet identified a need. Well, for example, my stomach began to “boil”, but I still can’t understand why, maybe because I want to eat, or maybe indigestion due to breakfast.
2. Direct contact itself, when a person has already recognized what exactly he wants and begins to interact with the environment in order to satisfy the desire. Only here it is the impulse, and not already the process. That is, I understood what I want to eat and what kind of dish. Therefore, I decide to go to the kitchen to cook it.
3. Full contact. The phase of connection with the object of desire. Borders are erased, and actions take place here and now. Continuing my example - I cooked and eat.
4. Assimilation is comprehension, digestion, both literally and figuratively. A very important phase, which does not always happen if you make a mistake in at least one of the steps described above. If we move away from the theory, and use the example of food, then I could incorrectly recognize the desire and cook soup, although I wanted, as it turned out later, sweets with tea. Then there will be no saturation from the soup, I mean emotional. Has it ever happened that the stomach is full, but still you want something? Because satisfaction has not come. Thanks to assimilation, a person develops and moves forward, because one does not have to return to the previous stages, either listen to oneself, or experiment with ways to finally get what one wants.

Gestalt psychology is a unique direction in psychology. It arose during a period of psychological crisis in the 20s of the last century in Germany. Gestalt psychology is a productive option for maintaining the integrity of German and Austrian psychology. It was created to resist structuralism.

Within the framework of Gestalt psychology, the human psyche is studied taking into account integral structures(gestalts), which are primary in relation to their constituents.

For example, the subject sees a cat and is asked who is in front of him? What will he answer? Most likely, he will say "cat" or "animal." A person perceives it as a whole, and not a tail, paws or muzzle separately.

This direction of psychology was investigated and described by Fritz (Frederick) Perls, Max Wertheimer, Kurt Koffka, Wolfgang Koehler. For the first time, Gestalts and the psyche were discussed in this vein in 1921.

Christian von Ehrenfels emphasized in his writings that the whole is a separate reality that is different from the world of parts. Gestalt means "Gestalt" in German. structure form, image. That is, gestalt can be called a visual-spatial form of perception of objects, which cannot be understood with the help of summation, accumulation of properties. For example, music. A person recognizes a well-known melody, even if its key has been changed. We also recognize music when we hear it a second time.

Research is based on human perception. The focus is on the tendency of the psyche to summarize the accumulated experience. For example, when demonstrating symbols "with holes" (gaps), consciousness tries to fill in the missing part and the person remembers the whole image.

The history of the birth of Gestalt psychology

Gestalt psychology begins with an important experiment by the psychologist Max Wertheimer. He investigated the "phi-phenomenon". The experiment was assisted by social devices - a tachiostoscope and a stroboscope. The scientist used two straight lines that protruded irritants, transmitting a different speed of movement.

The future representative of the Gestalt psychology school M. Wertheimer found out that:

• with a large interval, the subject perceives the lines sequentially;
• with a short interval, the lines are perceived holistically;
• the optimal time interval is 60 milliseconds. In this range, the perception of movement is created. Observing the eyes of the subject, movement of the pupils to the left and right was observed, the eyes reacted to straight lines with a consistent look;
• the subject perceives pure movement at the correct time interval. It was believed that there was movement, but no visible movement of the line was observed. It is this reaction of a person that has received the name "phi-phenomenon".

The scientist described the data of the experiment in 1921 in the article "Experimental studies of the perception of movement." It is from this moment that the school of Gestalt psychology begins.

Max Wertheimer himself is one of the founders of this trend in psychology. He continued to explore human perception and thinking. At that time, his work attracted the attention of many famous scientists. Among them was Kurt Koffka, who even participated in some experiments as a test subject. Together, based on the results, they substantiated a completely new, unique world perception theory.

In the 1930s, Gestalt psychology became very popular in Berlin. The scientist himself works in Germany, and on the eve of World War II he emigrates to the United States, where he dies in 1943. In 1945, Max Wertheimer's posthumous book Productive Thinking was published. This work describes problem solving process by Gestalt psychology, the process of clarifying the meaning of individual parts in the structure of a holistic inside the problem situation is described in detail.

Kurt Koffka is considered the founder of Gestalt psychology as a psychology. Collaborated with Max Wertheimer from 1910. During this period, Koffka published the article "Perception: an introduction to Gestalt psychology", in which he described the main principles and provisions of this direction.

In 1921, the scientist wrote a book on child psychology- "Fundamentals of mental development", and in 1933 he published the work "Principles of Gestalt Psychology". The second book turned out to be difficult to read; therefore, it did not become the main textbook for studying the theory of Gestalt psychology, as the author expected.

His research on children's perception has shown that children have faint, vague images. It was this observation that prompted him to reason about the important role of figure and ground. He formulated one of the laws of perception, which was called transduction. He proved that children do not perceive colors, but their relationships.

The scientist argued that color vision develops due to the contrast in the perception of the background and the figure. This law was later proved by Koehler and was called transposition law.

Over time, Keller's research revealed the instantaneous rather than the long-term nature of thinking. It is based on " insight". A little later, a scientist named K. Buhler called this phenomenon "aha-experience." He emphasized its suddenness.

Today, the concept of "insight" is considered key in Gestalt psychology. It explains almost all forms of thinking, including productive, creative.

Basic principles of Gestalt psychology

The orderliness and integrity of human perception is achieved through the following principles:

Scientists perceive the human psyche as integral phenomenal field, which has a certain structure and properties. According to Gestalt psychology, the main properties of human perception are the relationship between the background and the figure and the constancy of perception.

Qualitative characteristics of Gestalt psychology

Gestalts that have formed are always whole. They are completed structures and have a clear outline. This contour is characterized by closedness, sharpness or blurring of the boundaries. The main quality of Gestalt psychology is the desire for completeness, which is manifested by the Zeigarnik effect.

When describing a gestalt, the concept of "importance" is often used. The whole is important, the parts are secondary. And vice versa. The figure is always in the first place, the background is in the second. In rare cases, for example, in ornaments, all parts are equally important.

Gestalt members have different ranks. For example, if you look at the circle: 1st rank is the center. And the 2nd rank is the borders of the circle. And any point inside the circle is already the 3rd rank.

Each gestalt has center of gravity, which is also called the "center of mass". This is the middle, the place of connection and fastening, or the starting point as the beginning of the whole. Or a guide, like an arrowhead.

The quality of transpositivity in this direction of psychology - the image of the whole always remains, even if all the elements have changed. Or vice versa, the whole is lost even if all elements are saved. For example, Picasso's painting "Cat".

law of pregnancy- completeness of the gestalt, the acquisition of balance, "good shape". The properties of pregnancy include clearly defined and closed boundaries, internal structure, symmetry.

The concept of a “good” gestalt was proclaimed by the representative of the school of gestalt psychology Metzger in 1941. He argued that consciousness is predisposed to perceive the most simple, closed, aesthetic, unified elements from all data, which are included in the spatial axis.

Gestalt grouping carried out using the following factors:

• proximity factor;
• factor of common destiny;
• continuation factor;
• similarity factor.

Background and figure in Gestalt psychology briefly

Main objects phenomenal field is the background and the figure. Some of the information that we perceive is clear, meaningful. While the other part of it is "in the fog", only vaguely present in the mind of the individual.

The brain, when looking at a figure, always reacts more sharply and clearly. And the background is perceived as secondary, it is visually pushed back. The figure has a richer content, almost always brighter than the background.

But the role of the background and figure in perception is determined by the personality itself, by social factors. Therefore, the phenomenon of a reversible figure is quite real, when the figure and the background change places.

Constancy, persistence of perception

The law of perception states that the integrity of the image does not change when the sensory elements change. A person perceives the world as stable, despite the fact that he constantly changes the position of his body in space.

Form constancy- the form of the object that we perceive is constant. Even when changing shape on the human retina. For example, if you look at the page of a book first directly, and then at an angle, the perception of its shape will remain the same.

Size constancy- the object remains constant, regardless of changes in the retina. Human perception of elementary objects seems to us innate, natural. In reality, it is formed in childhood, thanks to the accumulation of life experience.

Luminance constancy- a person perceives the brightness of an object constantly, regardless of changed external conditions.

Theory and basic concepts of Gestalt psychology

The basis of Gestalt psychology and Gestalt therapy is the following concepts:

To fully understand what Gestalt psychology is, you need to get acquainted with 9 commandments of an authentic personality:

1. Live in the present. Be now.
2. Experience is reality. Don't fantasize about your life.
3. Interact only with those things that are available.
4. The feelings you are experiencing need to be expressed. Do not manipulate, look for excuses.
5. It doesn't take much to argue. Do and watch.
6. Don't create idols. Do what you think is right and effective.
7. Accept problems and pain equally with joy and pleasure.
8. Be yourself always, in any circumstances.
9. Take responsibility for all your reactions.

Why did Gestalt psychology fail the test of time?

Most likely, the main problem is that physical and mental phenomena were considered in parallel, without delving into the causal relationship. Gestalt psychology claimed to be an independent theory in psychology, but was based on the study of images of perception. If it was necessary to explain phenomena that cannot be represented in this category, difficulties arose.

In Gestalt psychology, it is impossible to separate the action and the image, they act as a unique image, a kind of universal essence. As a result, a research method based on phenomenological concept, became an obstacle to the real scientific study of the "image" and "action".

Another mistake is the gap between the concepts of "analysis" and "synthesis". The most desperate Gestaltists denied the existence of sensations, and they were also ardent opponents of associative psychology. At the same time, Gestalt psychology left a bright mark on the development of modern psychology.

She drew the attention of scientists to the study of memory, perception, perception, creative thinking, the study of personality, its behavior and motivation.

Modern adherents of Gestalt psychology are convinced that today it is also necessary to study the experience of consciousness. However, they agree that consciousness is more difficult to study, unlike human behavior.

Gestalt psychology proves that personality analysis does not deal with individual elements, but with whole images of the psyche. Unlike its main competitor - behaviorism, the current Gestalt psychology has retained much from the original theory. Because of this, its original principles and interest in the conscious experience of the individual did not dissolve in time and space.

Gestalt psychology basic provisions. The concept of Gestalt psychology.

The concept and main ideas of Gestalt psychology.

Gestalt psychology- a science that has become the most productive option in solving the problem of maintaining the integrity of Austrian and German psychology. The main representatives of Gestalt psychology, such as M. Wertheimer, W. Koehler and K. Koffka, K. Levin, created science to resist structuralism.

They put forward the following ideas of Gestalt psychology:

The subject of Gestalt psychology is consciousness, the understanding of which should be based on the principle of integrity;

Consciousness is a dynamic whole where everything interacts with each other;

The unit of analysis of consciousness is the gestalt, i.e. integral figurative structure;

The main method of studying gestalts was direct and objective observation and description of the contents of one's own perception;

Perception does not come from sensations, since they do not exist in reality;

Visual perception is the most important mental process, which is able to determine the level of development of the psyche, which has its own laws;

Thinking cannot be viewed as a set of certain knowledge and skills formed by trial and error. Thus, thinking is the process of determining and solving the conditions of the problem, through the structuring of the field in real time. Experience gained in the past has no bearing on the solution of the problem.

Gestalt psychology is a science that has explored holistic structures consisting of a mental field, developing the latest experimental methods. Representatives of Gestalt psychology believed that the subject of this science is undoubtedly the study of the psyche, the analysis of all cognitive processes, the dynamics and structure of personality development. The methodological approach to the study of this science is based on the concept of mental field, phenomenology and isomorphism. Mental gestalts have similar physical and psychophysical characteristics, i.e. the processes occurring in the cerebral cortex are similar to the processes occurring in the external world and realized by us in experiences and thoughts. Each person is able to realize their own experiences and find a way out of this situation. At present, almost all properties of perception are revealed thanks to the research. The importance of this process in the formation and development of imagination, thinking and other cognitive functions has also been proven. This type of thinking is a complete process of forming figurative ideas about the world around us, allowing us to reveal the most important mechanisms of creative thinking.

The history of the emergence and development of Gestalt psychology.

For the first time, the concept of Gestalt psychology was introduced in 1890 by H. Ehrenfels in the study of perception processes. The property of transposition was singled out as the main property of this process, i.e. transfer. At the beginning of the 19th century, the Leipzig school was created, where, in fact, a complex quality, permeated with feeling, was defined as a single experience. Gestaltists soon begin to go beyond the scope of psychology, thus, by the 1950s, with the advent of fascism, the manifestation of a sharp desire for Gestalt psychology subsides. This science had a huge impact on the process of formation and development of psychological science. And by 1978, the International Psychological Society was created under the name "Gestalt theory and its applications", which included the following representatives from around the world: Germany (Z. Ertel, G. Portele, M. Stadler, K. Huss), USA ( A. Lachins, R. Arnheim, son of M. Wertheimer Michael Wertheimer) and others, Finland, Italy, Austria, Switzerland.

Basic ideas, facts and principles of Gestalt psychology.

One of the most important representatives of Gestalt psychology is the philosopher Max Wertheimer. His work was devoted to the study of visual perception experimentally. The data obtained in the course of his research laid the foundations for an approach to perception (and later to other psychological processes) and stimulated criticism of associationism. Thus, the principle of integrity, according to which concepts and images are formed, became the main principle of the formation of the psyche. Conducting research and perception made it possible to discover the laws of perception, and later the laws of gestalt. They made it possible to reveal the content of mental processes during the interaction of stimuli throughout the body, correlating, structuring and preserving individual images. At the same time, the correlation of objective images should not be static, immovable, but should be determined by changing relationships established in the process of cognition. Further experimental studies by Wertheimer made it possible to establish that there are many factors on which the stability of the figure and its perfection depend. This includes the commonality of color, the rhythm in the construction of rows, the commonality of light, and much more. The action of these factors obeys the main law, according to which the actions are interpreted as a desire for stable states at the level of electrochemical processes.

Since perceptual processes are considered innate, while explaining the features of the functioning of the cerebral cortex, the necessary objectivity arises, turning psychology into an explanatory science. An analysis of problem situations, as well as ways to solve them, allowed Wertheimer to distinguish several stages of thinking processes:

The emergence of a directed feeling of tension, mobilizing the creative forces of each person;

Conducting an analysis of the situation and awareness of the problem to create a unified image of the current situation;

Solving the existing problem;

Decision-making;

Execution stage.

Wertheimer's experiments revealed the negative impact of habitual methods of perceiving structural relationships. The published publications consider the analysis of creative thinking (its mechanisms) and the problems of creativity in science.

Gestalt psychology: subject, method, areas of research, basic concepts.

The problem of integrity is the main problem of Gestalt psychology. The subject is mental integrity. The term "gestalt" was first introduced by Enfeis.

The method is phenomenological.

Areas of study:

Perception (factors and laws of structure formation; principle of isomorphism)

Integrity principles:

1. oversummativity of the whole - it is not reduced to the sum of the component parts. It was based on the fact that the elements that make up the whole can change in their characteristics. If the changes do not concern the structure of the whole, they do not change the quality of the whole.

2. the transposition of the whole (the gestalt remains recognizable also in the transposed form)

Gestalt psychology arose in the early 1920s in Germany as a reaction against the atomism and mechanism of all varieties of associative psychology. Founding Fathers: M. Wertheimer, W. Köhler, K. Koffka - representatives of the Berlin School; and, of course, a huge contribution was made by K. Levin, who founded his own school.

The concept of "gestalt" was introduced by Ehrenfels in the article "On the quality of form" (1890) in the study of perceptions.

1912 - article on the perception of movement. This year is the birth date of Gestalt psychology. The task is not a description of experiments, but an interpretation in the light of the principle of isomorphism, the action of multidirectional forces, the basis of which are gestalts.

1918 - Koehler conducted experiments with monkeys. This is also the beginning of Gestalt psychology. It was discovered that thinking, intelligence in monkeys and humans are different. If the animal combines the conditions and means of solution into a single whole, then after a while insight arises (sudden discernment of connections for a solution).

1920 - Koehler conducts an experiment with chickens. He showed that the chicken reacts not to individual influences, but to integral relationships between the elements of the situation. Gestalt is a fundamental property of the psyche.

Koffka - an explanation of development from the standpoint of gestalt: initially the world is gestalt, but gestalts do not communicate with one another and are not perfect enough in themselves.

20th - journal "Psychological Research". Spread of psychology. The basic principles of Gestalt psychology are formulated.

1926 - Levin publishes the book "Intentions ..."

The pioneers of holistic psychology were scientists of the Leipzig school - F. Kruger, I. Volkelt, F. Sander (late 10s - late 30s of the twentieth century). The main concept of their psychology is the concept of a complex quality as a holistic experience, permeated with feeling. They did not develop it - they were afraid of some methodological difficulties.

The history of Gestalt psychology begins with the publication of the work of M. Wertheimer "Experimental studies of the perception of movement" (1912), which questioned the usual idea of ​​the presence of individual elements in the act of perception. In this work, he described the effect of apparent movement (stroboscopic movement). Very entertaining.

Immediately after this, the Berlin School of Gestalt Psychology was formed around Wertheimer in Berlin: M. Wertheimer, K. Koffka (1886-1941), W. Köhler (1887-1967), K. Levin (1890-1947). Research covered perception, thinking, needs, affects, will. In general, the Gestaltists have seriously gone beyond the limits of psychology → and let's define all the processes of reality by the laws of Gestalt!

Central to Gestalt psychology is the problem of integrity and a holistic approach, as opposed to the elementalism and mechanism of the old, associative, and new, behavioral, psychology.

Important points:

1. A new understanding of the subject and method of psychology: it is important to start with a naive picture of the world, to study reactions as they are, to study experience that has not been analyzed, retaining its integrity. In this structure, individual elements stand out, they really exist. But they are secondary and stand out in terms of their functional significance in this whole. The whole cannot be decomposed into elements, because then it ceases to exist.

2. Criticism of the method of analytical introspection. Gestaltists believed that analysis is a continuation, initially perception gives a complete picture. Analytical introspection was opposed by another phenomenological method aimed at direct and natural description by the observer of the content of his perception, his experience. In contrast to introspective psychology, the subjects were required to describe the object of perception not as they know it, but as they see it at the moment. There are no items in this description.

3. With the help of experiments using the phenomenological method, it was found that the elements of the visual field are combined into a perceptual structure depending on a number of factors. These factors are the proximity of elements to each other, the similarity of elements, isolation, symmetry, etc. It was formulated that a holistic image is a dynamic structure and is formed according to special laws of organization. → The formulation of some laws of perception (I don’t describe it, because I think that everyone remembers this very well):

The law of differentiation of figure and background; (separation of visual sensations into an object - a figure located on the background)

The law of pregnancy (the existence of a tendency to perceive the simplest and most stable figure of all possible perceptual alternatives.)

The law of addition to the whole (amplification) (clear, but not complete structures have always been supplemented to a clear geometric whole.)

4. This phenomenology was explained using the principle of isomorphism. → Structures are not the result of mental activity. The mental world is an exact structural reproduction of the dynamic organization of the corresponding brain processes.

5. Experimental study of thinking (Köhler, Wertheimer, Dunker & Mayer). According to Köhler, the intelligent solution is that the elements of the field, previously unconnected, begin to be combined into some structure corresponding to the problem situation. The structuring of the field in accordance with the problem occurs suddenly as a result of discretion (insight), provided that all the elements necessary for the solution are in the field of perception of the animal. Wertheimer extends this principle to human problem solving → highlighting the main stages of thinking:

Emergence of a theme → the emergence of a sense of “directed tension”, which mobilizes the creative forces of a person;

Analysis of the situation, awareness of the problem → creation of a holistic image of the situation;

Problem solving → largely unconscious, although preliminary conscious work is necessary;

Insight → the emergence of an idea for a solution;

Performing stage.

6. Works by K. Levin (1890-1947)

Levin proceeded from the fact that the basis of human activity in any of its forms, whether it be an act, thinking, memory, is intention - a quasi-need. The prefix quasi- is needed by Levin in order to distinguish his understanding of need from that already established in psychology and associated mainly with biological, innate needs. A quasi-need is some desire, a tendency to fulfill, to realize some goal, which is set either by the subject himself, or comes from someone else, for example, from the experimenter. It is formed in the current situation in connection with the accepted intentions, goals and directs the activity of a person. Quasi-need creates a system of tension in the personality. This voltage system tends to discharge. Detente, according to Levin, is the satisfaction of needs. Hence the name of the theory of K. Levin - "dynamic theory of personality." Discharging needs is carried out in a certain situation. This situation was called by Lewin the psychological field. Each thing in the psychological field is characterized not by its physical properties, but appears in some relation to the needs of the subject. It is the need that determines that one object has an incentive character, attracts to itself, has a positive valence, the other does not have such an incentive character, has a negative valence.

In connection with quasi-needs, Levin investigated the problem of goal setting and goal-directed behavior. These studies introduced into psychology a complex of the most important concepts that characterize behavior related to the achievement of goals: the target structure and target levels of the individual, including real and ideal goals, the level of aspirations, the search for success and the desire to avoid failure, and some others.

Levin enriched psychology with a number of new methods and techniques:

a. experiments on interrupted action (M. Ovsyankina);

b. experiments on memorizing incomplete and completed actions (B. V. Zeigarnik);

c. substitution experiments (K. Lissner and A. Mahler);

d. experiments to identify the level of claims (F. Hoppe);

e. saturation experiments (A. Karsten), etc.

6. Gestalt psychology has been applied in the field of psychotherapeutic practice. On its principles, in combination with psychoanalysis, F. Perls founded Gestalt therapy.

At the beginning of the 20th century in Germany, Max Wertheimer, experimentally studying the features of visual perception, proved the following fact: the whole is not reduced to the sum of its parts. And this central position has become fundamental in Gestalt psychology. It can be noted that the views of this psychological trend contradict the theory of Wilhelm Wundt, in which he singled out the elements of consciousness. So, in one of his scientific studies, W. Wundt gives the subject a book and asks him to evaluate what he sees. At first, the subject says that he sees a book, but then, when the experimenter asks him to take a closer look, he begins to notice its shape, color, and the material from which the book is made.

The ideas of Gestaltists are different, they believe that it is impossible to describe the world in terms of dividing it into elements. In 1912, the work of M. Wertheimer "Experimental studies of the perception of movement" was published, in which he, using an experiment with a stroboscope, shows that movement cannot be reduced to the sum of two points. It should be noted that the same year is the year of birth of Gestalt psychology. In the future, the work of M. Wertheimer gained great popularity in the world and soon a school of Gestalt psychology appeared in Berlin, which included such popular scientists as Max Wertheimer himself, Wolfgang Köhler, Kurt Koffka, Kurt Lewin and other researchers. The main task that faced the new scientific direction was to transfer the laws of physics to mental phenomena.

The main ideas of Gestalt psychology

The main concept of Gestalt psychology is the concept of Gestalt. Gestalt is a pattern, a configuration, a certain form of organization of individual parts that creates a whole. Thus, a gestalt is a structure that is holistic and has special qualities, as opposed to the sum of its parts. For example, a portrait of a person usually has a certain set of constituent elements, but the human image itself in each individual case is perceived in completely different ways. In order to prove the fact regarding integrity, M. Wertheimer conducted an experiment with a stroboscope, which made it possible to observe the illusion of the movement of two alternately lit light sources. This phenomenon is called the phi-phenomenon. The movement was illusory and existed only in this form, it could not be broken down into separate components.

In his subsequent studies, M. Wertheimer also spreads his views on other mental phenomena. He considers thinking as an alternate change of gestalts, that is, the ability to see the same problem from different angles, in accordance with the task.

Based on the foregoing, we can single out the main position of Gestalt psychology, which is as follows:

1) mental processes initially they are integral and have a certain structure. In this structure, elements can be distinguished, but all of them are secondary in relation to it.

Thus, the subject of study of Gestalt psychology is consciousness, which is a dynamic integral structure, where all elements are closely interconnected.

The next feature of perception that was studied in the school of Gestalt psychology, in addition to its integrity, was the constancy of perception:

2) constancy of perception represents the relative invariance of the perception of certain properties of objects when the conditions for their perception change. These properties include color or lighting constancy.

Based on such features of perception as integrity and constancy, Gestaltists distinguish the principles of organization of perception. They note that the organization of perception is carried out precisely at the moment when a person turns his attention to the object of interest to him. At this time, parts of the perceived field are connected to each other and become one.

M. Wertheimer identified a number of principles according to which the organization of perception takes place:

• proximity principle. Elements located in time and space next to each other are combined with each other and make up a single form.
• similarity principle. Similar elements are perceived as one, forming a kind of vicious circle.
• The principle of closure. There is a tendency for a person to complete unfinished figures.
• The principle of integrity. A person completes incomplete figures to a simple whole (there is a tendency to simplify the whole).
• Principle of figure and ground. Everything that a person gives a certain meaning is perceived by him as a figure on a less structured background.

The development of perception according to Koffka

Kurt Koffka's research made it possible to understand how a person's perception is formed. After conducting a series of experiments, he managed to establish that a child is born with unformed gestalts, fuzzy images of the outside world. So, for example, any change in the appearance of a loved one can lead to the fact that the child does not recognize him. K. Koffka suggested that gestalts, as images of the outside world, are formed in a person with age and over time acquire more accurate meanings, become clearer and more differentiated.

Studying color perception in more detail, K. Koffka substantiated the fact that people do not distinguish colors as such, but their relationships with each other. Considering the process of development of color perception in time, K. Koffka notes that initially a child is able to distinguish among themselves only those objects that have a certain color and those that do not have colors. Moreover, the colored ones stand out to them as figures, and the uncolored ones are seen by them as a background. Then, warm and cold shades are added to complete the gestalt, and already at an older age, these shades begin to be subdivided into more specific colors. However, colored objects are perceived by the child only as figures located against a certain background. Thus, the scientist concluded that the main role in the formation of perception is played by the figure and the background on which it is presented. And the law according to which not the colors themselves are perceived by a person, but their ratio is called - "transduction".

Unlike the background, the figure has a brighter color. However, there is also the phenomenon of a reversible figure. This happens when the perception of the object changes during a long examination, and then the background can become the main figure, and the figure - the background.

The concept of insight according to Köhler

Experiments with chimpanzees allowed Wolfgang Köhler to understand that the task assigned to the animal is solved either by trial and error, or through sudden realization. Based on his experiments, W. Köhler made the following conclusion: objects that are in the field of perception of the animal and which are in no way connected with each other, in the process of solving a particular task, begin to combine into a certain single structure, the vision of which helps to solve the problem situation. Such structuring occurs instantly, in other words, insight comes, which means awareness.

To prove that a person solves certain problems in a similar way, that is, thanks to the phenomenon of insight, W. Köhler conducted a series of interesting experiments to study the thought process of children. He set before the children a task similar to that which was set before the monkeys. For example, they were asked to get a toy that was high up on a closet. At first, only a cupboard and a toy were in the field of their perception. Next, they paid attention to the ladder, chair, box, and other objects, and realized that they could be used to get the toy. Thus, a gestalt was formed and it became possible to solve the problem.

W. Köhler believed that the initial understanding of the overall picture, after some time, is replaced by a more detailed differentiation, and on the basis of this, a new gestalt, more adequate for a particular situation, is already being formed.

Thus, W. Köhler defined insight as a solution to a problem based on capturing logical connections between stimuli or events.

Lewin's dynamic personality theory

From the point of view of Kurt Lewin, the main gestalt is a field that functions as a single space, and individual elements are drawn to it. The personality exists in the charged psychological field of elements. The valency of each item that is in this field can be either positive or negative. The variety of objects surrounding a person contributes to the emergence of his needs. The existence of such needs can be manifested by the presence of a feeling of tension. Thus, in order to achieve a harmonious state, a person needs to satisfy his needs.

Based on the main ideas and provisions of Gestalt psychology in the middle of the 20th century, Frederick Perls created Gestalt therapy.

Perls Gestalt Therapy

The main idea of ​​this therapy is as follows: a person and everything that surrounds him is a single whole.

Gestalt therapy assumes that the whole life of a person consists of an infinite number of gestalts. Every event that happens to a person is a kind of gestalt, each of which has a beginning and an end. The important point is that any gestalt must end. However, completion is possible only when that human need is satisfied, as a result of which this or that gestalt has arisen.

Thus, all Gestalt therapy is based on the need to complete unfinished business. However, there are various factors that can prevent the perfect completion of the gestalt. The incompleteness of the gestalt can manifest itself throughout a person's life and prevent his harmonious existence. In order to help a person get rid of excess tension, Gestalt therapy offers various techniques and exercises.

Through these techniques, Gestalt therapists help patients see and understand how unfinished gestalts affect their lives in the present, and help complete unfinished gestalts.

An example of these techniques are exercises that are aimed at understanding yourself and others. Gestalt therapists call these techniques games in which the patient has an internal dialogue with himself, or builds a dialogue with parts of his own personality.

The most popular technique is the "empty chair" technique. For this technique, two chairs are used, which must be placed opposite each other. One of which hosts a fictitious interlocutor, and the other - the patient, the main participant in the game. The main idea of ​​the technique is that the patient gets the opportunity to play the internal dialogue, identifying himself with his subpersonalities.

Thus, for Gestalt psychology, the fact that a person is a holistic personality is integral. The constant development of this scientific direction to this day allows us to develop new methods of working with different patients. Gestalt therapy currently helps the individual to make his life more meaningful, conscious and fulfilling, which means it allows him to achieve a higher level of psychological and physical health.

Bibliography:

1. Wertheimer M. Productive thinking: Per. from English/gen. ed. S. F. Gorbov and V. P. Zinchenko. Intro. Art. V. P. Zinchenko. — M.: Progress, 1987.
2. Perls F. «Gestalt Approach. Witness to Therapy. - M.: Publishing House of the Institute of Psychotherapy, 2003.
3. Shults D.P., Shults S.E. History of modern psychology / Per. from English. A.V. Govorunov, V.I. Kuzin, L.L. Tsaruk / Ed. HELL. Nasledova. - St. Petersburg: Publishing house "Eurasia", 2002.
4. Koehler V. A study of the intelligence of anthropoid apes. - M., 1930.
5. http://psyera.ru/volfgang-keler-bio.htm

Editor: Anna Bibikova