G E S TALT

PSYCHOLOGY
REPORTED
BY:
REA DELA
CRUZ
 Gestalt psychology  school of thought that
looks at the human mind and behavior as a
whole. When trying to make sense of the
world around us, Gestalt
psychology suggests that we do not simply
focus on every small component.
 The Gestalt perspective formed partially as
a response to the structuralism of 
Wilhelm Wundt, who focused on breaking
down mental events and experiences to the
smallest elements.
GESTALT- A German word that means “FORM” interpreted as “pattern”
or “configuration”. Gestalt psychologists emphasized that organisms
perceive entire patterns or configurations, not merely individual
components. The view is summarized as "the whole is more than the sum
of its parts.”
GESTALT Principles are about perception and what is
visually communicated by objects.
GESTALT
PSYCHOLOGY
FOUNDERS

MAX WOLFGANG KURT

WERTHEIMER KOHLER KOFFKA
In 1910,  Max Wertheimer had an insight when he observed a series of lights flashing
on and off at a railroad crossing. It was similar to how the lights encircling a movie
theater marquee flash on and off.
KOHLER’S INSIGHT LEARNING THEORY
Koffka’s Gestalt principles to child development

He maintained that infants first perceive and respond

holistically. Only later are they able to perceive the
individual sensations that comprise the whole.
 The gestalt principle of emergence is the principle that
your brain can create full form complex pictures from
simple/individual parts/patterns.

 Reification is a concept used in Gestalt Psychology

 that refers to the human mind's tendency to consider
an object in its entirety before it perceives the object as
the sum of individual parts.
 The Gestalt Principle of multistability is the
idea that an image can actually seem to be
two images at once, and can be flipped
back and forth between the two.

 The gestalt Principle
of invariance basically means that even if
an image is warped, turned, stretched, or
distorted, we can still recognize that it is
the same image.
 GESTALT
LAWS OF PERCEPTUAL
ORGANIZATION
 LAW OF SIMILARITY  LAW OF COMMON REGION
 LAW OF PROXIMITY  LAW OF UNIFIED
 LAW OF PRAGNANZ CONNECTEDNESS
 LAW OF CONTINUITY  LAW OF FOCAL POINT
 LAW OF CLOSURE  LAW OF PARALELLISM
 LAW OF COMMON FATE  LAW OF PAST EXPERIENCES
 LAW OF FIGURE AND GROUND
 LAW OF SYMMETRY AND
ORDER
 LAW OF
SIMILARIT
Y

- Elements that are similar to each other are perceived as a unified

group. Similarity can includes a number of features including size,
shape and color.
 LAW OF
PROXIMIT
Y
- Elements that are placed together are perceived as being more
related than those spaced further apart.
 LAW OF
PRAGNAN
Z
-The word pragnanz is a German term meaning "good figure." The
law of Pragnanz is sometimes referred to as the law of good figure
or the law of simplicity. This law holds that objects in the
environment are seen in a way that makes them appear as simple
as possible.
 LAW OF
CONTINUIT
Y
- Linking things that form a predictable pattern. It makes separate
parts look as though they are connected /joined even though they
are not. The law of continuity holds that points that are connected
by straight or curving lines are seen in a way that follows the
smoothest path. Rather than seeing separate lines and angles, lines
are seen as belonging together.
 LAW OF
CLOSUR
E
-The  law of Closure refers to our tendency to ignore the gaps and
complete an incomplete shape in order to rationalize the whole. Our
minds automatically fills the missing information to create familiar
shape and images.
 LAW OF
COMMON
FATE
-The  is the tendency for people to perceive items moving in the
same direction as being more closely related or unified group than
objects that are moving in different directions.
 LAW OF
FIGURE &
GROUND
-One Gestalt principle is the figure-ground relationship. According to
this principle, we tend to segment our visual world into figure and
ground. Figure is the object or person that is the focus of the visual
field, while the ground is the background.
 LAW OF
COMMON
REGION
The principle of common region is highly related to proximity. It
states that when objects are located within the same closed region,
we perceive them as being grouped together.
“Container creates groupings”
 LAW OF
SYMMETRY &
ORDER
-“People tend to perceive objects as symmetrical shapes that form
around their center.”

The Law of Symmetry is the gestalt grouping law that states that

elements that are symmetrical to each other tend to be perceived as
a unified group
 LAW OF
COMMON
REGION
The principle of common region is highly related to proximity. It
states that when objects are located within the same closed region,
we perceive them as being grouped together.
“Container creates groupings”
 LAW OF
UNIFORM
CONNECTEDNE
SS
-Also known as Law of Unity
Elements with visual connectedness are perceived more related
than elements with no connection.
 LAW OF
FOCAL
POINT
-A point of interest, emphasis, or difference will capture and hold the
viewer's attention
 LAW OF
PARARELLIS
M
-Elements that are parallel to each other are seen as more related
than elements not parallel to each other.
 LAW OF
PAST EXPERIENCE

-“Elements tend to be perceived according to an observer's past

experience.
 CLASSROOM APPLICATION
OF GESTALT LEARNING
 Learning is self-directed.  Through trial-and-error solutions are
discovered and insight occurs.
 In Kohler's research, apes put sticks together to reach food.  
 Simplifying problems and organizing information into meaningful
groups brings understanding to the problem.

 When the problem is understood, performance results

 Insightful learning leads to understanding and longer retention 
 Transfer of information: learning is flexible, can be remembered,
and applied to other situations.
 Teachers should encourage their students to
discover the relationship of the elements that
make up a problem
 Incongruities, gaps, or disturbances are
essential stimuli in the learning process
 Educational instruction should be based on the
Laws of Organization