Gestalt Psychology. Chapter 12

Transcription

1 Chapter 12 Gestalt Psychology Cogitive Psychology, Third Editio by Kathlee M. Galotti Copyright 2004 by Wadsworth Publishig, a divisio of Thomso Learig

2 The Gestalt revolt Aroud Structuralism i waig, fuctioalism gaiig groud Watso begis attack o Wudt ad Titcheer (1912) People becomig aware of Thordike s ad Pavlov s aimal research Psychoaalysis 10 years old I Germay Gestalt revolt Revolt agaist Wudt

3 The Gestalt revolt A hypothetical debate: Describe what you see (o the table) Wudt Cosciousess made up of sesory elemets Gestaltists Cosciousess ca ot be reduced to elemets The whole is differet from the sum of its parts.

4 The Gestalt revolt More to perceptio tha meets the eye Perceptio goes beyod the sesory elemets Elemets ca be put together i ways other tha just mechaical associatio; perceptio is ot passive These elemets are oly physical data comig to the sese orgas, where the mid codes ad iterprets them

5 Sesatio vs. Perceptio Kassi, S. (2001). Psychology, third editio. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pretice Hall.

6 The Gestalt revolt James Pheomeology A ew itrospective method: Ucorrected observatio (o traied observers) Experiece ot aalyzed ito elemets

7 Aother importat ifluece The chagig zeitgeist i physics Physics movig away from atomism to fields of force

8 The phi pheomeo: A challege to Wudtia psychology Wertheimer's 1910 research Research idea Idea came to him while ridig a trai Apparet movemet: Why do we see movemet whe o actual physical motio occurs? Stroboscope

9 The phi pheomeo: A challege to Wudtia psychology Stimulus: two poits of light beig flashed sequetially Wudt s predictio: perceptio of two successive poits of light Reality: the perceptio was of a movig light whe i fact the lights were ot movig ew0/chapt er8/ phi_pheom eo_activity.html Preseted a challege that the associatioistic, elemetistic psychology of Wudt could ot meet

10 Illusory cotours

11 Bistable figures ages/ Vaity72.jpg

12 The phi pheomeo 1912: Wertheimer published results Article idicates formal start of Gestalt school 1933: fled Germay

13 Gestalt Psychology Fouders Wertheimer, Koffka, ad Kohler 1920s The whole differs from the sum of its parts Perceptio is ot built up from sesatios but is a result of perceptual orgaizatio We use heuristics to make best guesses about the idetity of stimuli

14 Kurt Koffka ( ) 1922: article published i America joural Perceptio i title led to misuderstadig that this was the sole iterest of Gestaltists Gestalt movemet actually had a broader cocer Problems of thikig ad learig ad all aspects of coscious experiece

15 Wolfgag Köhler ( ) Spokesperso for school of thought Traied with Max Plack Studied chimpazees 1935: left Germay due to ati-nazi activities Books became stadard works of Gestalt theory Suggested Gestalt theory as geeral law of ature

16 Priciples of Perceptual Orgaizatio We perceive wholes, ot clusters of sesatios Elemets iteract to create a ew whole The whole is differet from the sum of its parts Uderlyig premise: Perceptual orgaizatio occurs istatly ad is ievitable Orgaizig priciples ot depedet o: higher metal processes past experiece

17 Perceptual Costacies Size Costacy Tedecy to view a object as costat i size despite chages i the size of the retial image.

18 Perceptual Costacies Shape Costacy Tedecy to see a object as keepig its form despite chages i orietatio. Kassi, S. (2001). Psychology, third editio. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pretice Hall.

19 Priciples of Perceptual Orgaizatio Similarity

20 Priciples of Perceptual Orgaizatio Proximity

21 Priciples of Perceptual Orgaizatio Closure

22 Priciples of Perceptual Orgaizatio Good cotiuatio ages/ Wolfe-Fig jpg als/process/gestaltpriciples/ cotiuatio/ cotiuatio_a.gif

23 Priciples of Perceptual Orgaizatio Commo fate

24 Priciples of Perceptual Orgaizatio Figure/Groud

25 Figure/Groud Failig to divide figure from groud

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27 The ature of the Gestalt revolt Demaded complete revisio of psychology Support for ew view Phi pheomea Perceptual costacy Attempts at aalysis destroy the perceptio or whole (Gestalt)

28 Gestalt studies of learig Köhler: itelligece i apes

29 Gestalt studies of learig: isight ad the metality of apes Solvig the problem: Could the chimp see the whole problem? Would proximity of objects ifluece solutio of problem? Isight Spotaeous uderstadig of relatioships

30 The spread of Gestalt psychology Mid-1920 s (Germay) A coheret ad domiat school i Germay Attractig studets from aroud the world 1933 Nazi regime: shift of Gestalt psychology to the Uited States

31 The spread of Gestalt psychology Slow acceptace i the uited states Behaviorism was at its peak A laguage barrier Belief that Gestalt psychology dealt solely with perceptio Wertheimer, Köhler, ad Koffka at small colleges without graduate programs, thus o graduate research assistats

32 The spread of Gestalt psychology Slow acceptace i the uited states Gestalt focus of protest (Wudt) o loger of cocer i U.S. The word Gestalt Had o direct traslatio i Eglish Therefore, purpose of movemet ot obvious

33 The Gestalt vs. the Behaviorism Revolutios Both occurred idepedetly of oe aother, but both started by opposig Wudt s focus o sesory elemets. Eded up opposig each other Value of cosciousess Gestalt psychologists Accepted it Criticized attempt to reduce it to elemets Behavioral psychologists Refused it etirely

34 The battle with behaviorism Gestalt criticisms of its ew target Reductioistic ad atomistic Deals with artificial abstractios (S-R uits) Deies the validity of itrospectio Elimiates cosciousess Would make psychology o more tha a collectio of aimal research Coflicts betwee propoets of the two schools grew icreasigly emotioal ad persoal

35 Criticisms of Gestalt psychology Orgaizatio of perceptual processes accepted as fact rather tha studied scietifically Basic cocepts ad terms are ot defied with sufficiet rigor Too preoccupied with theory at the expese of research ad empirical support Quality of Gestalt experimetal work is iferior to that of the behaviorists Research lacks adequate cotrols Its uquatified data elude statistical aalysis Isight learig: ot replicable Poorly defied physiological assumptios

36 Gestalt rebuttals A youg sciece s explaatio ad defiitios are ecessarily icomplete; Gestalt research is exploratory Icomplete is ot the same vague Has from the begiig emphasized experimetatio Has egedered a cosiderable amout of research Qualitative results take precedece over quatitative oes

37 Cotributios of Gestalt psychology Permaet imprit o psychology Iflueced work i perceptio, learig, thikig, persoality, social psychology, ad motivatio Retaied its idetity, ot absorbed by the maistream as was behaviorism Broke groud for cogitive movemet Fostered iterest i cosciousess as a legitimate problem for psychology