GESTALT PSYCHOLOGY

What is Gestalt Psychology?

• It was the initial cognitive response to behaviorism.
• It emphasized the importance of sensory wholes and the dynamic nature
of visual perception.
• The term gestalt means “form” or “configuration”.
• Psychologist Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Kohler and Kurt Koffka
studied perception and concluded that perceivers(or learners) are not
passive, but rather active.
• They suggest that learners do not just collect information as is but they
actively process and restructure data in order to understand it.
 GESTALT PRINCIPLES
LAW OF PROXIMITY

• Elements that are closer together will be

perceived as a coherent object.
• When objects we are perceiving are
near each other, we perceive them as
belonging together.
 LAW OF SIMILARITY

• Elements that look

similar will be
perceived as part of the
same form.
• We link similar objects
together.
 LAW OF CLOSURE

• We tend to fill the gaps or

“close” the figures we
perceive.
• We enclose a space by
completing a contour and
ignoring gaps in the figure.
 LAW OF GOOD CONTINUATION

• Individuals have the

tendency to continue
contours whenever the
elements of the pattern
establish an implied
direction.
 LAW OF PRAGNANZ
• Reality is organized or reduced to the simplest from
possible.
• For example, we see the image above as a series of
circles rather than as many much more complicated
shapes.
 LAW OF FIGURE/GROUND

• We tend to pay attention and

perceive things in the foreground
first. A stimulus will be
perceived as separate from it’s
ground.
 INSIGHT LEARNING
• Gestalt psychology adheres 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 where the apes could use boxes and sticks as
tool to solve problems.
KOHLER’S EXPERIMENT
• Learning occurs when the individual perceives the
relationships of the elements before him and reorganizes
these elements and comes to a greater understanding or
insight.

GESTALT PRINCIPLES AND THE TEACHING-LEARNING PROCESS

• An individual has inner and outer forces that affect perceptions and also
learning.
• Inner forces include his own motivation, attitude and feelings.
• Outer forces include the attitude and behavior of the teacher and
classmates.
THANK YOU FOR
LISTENING!!