Max Wertheimer Gestalt Learning 2
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Max Wertheimer was a pioneering Gestalt psychologist born in 1880 in Prague. He studied psychology and received his doctorate in 1905. From 1910-1914, he worked with Wolfgang Kohler and Kurt Koffka to develop the fundamental concepts of Gestalt theory through experiments testing their ideas. He later served as a professor of psychology in Frankfurt from 1929-1933 before immigrating to the United States in 1933. There, he joined the faculty at the New School for Social Research in New York City, where he remained for ten years until his death in 1943 working to complete his research on "productive thinking".
Max Wertheimer Gestalt Learning 2
- 1. Max Wertheimer (1880 - 1943) Gestalt Learning Theory Productive Thinking Biography Max Wertheimer was born in Prague, April 15, 1880. He studied law at the University of Prague from 1898-1901, and became interested in psychology, philosophy, and physiology. From 1901 to 1904 he studied these subjects and received a doctorate in 1905. He did further study in psychology in Prague, Frankfurt, and Vienna.From 1910 - 1914 he worked with Wolfgang Kohler and Kurt Koffka developing the fundamental concepts of Gestalt theory. The three conducted experiments to test their theories. In these early years he met many influential people including Carl Jung and Albert Einstein. He served as professor of psychology at the University of Frankfurt from 1929 - 1933, and migrated to the United States in 1933.He joined the faculty of the New School for Social Research in New York City and remained there for ten years. In 1943 he finished his work on "productive thinking" and died in New Rochelle, NY that same year. Theory Wertheimer was the core of the trio of early German Gestalt Theorists (with Koffka and Kohler). His ideas featured the view that thinking proceeds from the whole to the parts, treating a problem as a whole, and permitting the whole to command or dominate over the parts. This was a synthesis (up - chunking to more inclusive concepts) approach rather than an analytical approach (down - chunking to details). Wertheimer thought reductionism was a fundamental problem of his time; he was particularly interested in the nature of problem solving. Gestalt theory had a central idea of "grouping", or aspects of visual and other stimuli which cause the subject to interpret a problem or perceptual event in a certain way. Grouping factors included (1) proximity, elements that are close in space tend to be grouped together and perceived as one or a few objects, (2)similarity, items that have some similar characteristics tend to be grouped, (3) closure, elements which appear to complete some shape or object tend to be grouped, and (4) simplicity, the tendency to organize objects into simple figures. These factors were called the "Laws of Organization". Features of the productive thinking process included 1. Grouping and reorganizing components of a situation 2. Functioning in relation to characteristics of the whole rather than piecemeal 3. Avoids summing successions of parts or chance occurrences 4. Structural truth leads to sensible expectations and assumptions. In Wertheimer's model, genuine thinking starts with a problem. The structural features and requirements of the problem cause tension, the strain of which produces vectors that prompt the individual to modify the situation in an improved direction. The process of resolving a problem is to proceed from a bad gestalt to a better one.
- 2. Learning Theory Bibliography Sahakian, 1976 Wertheimer, 1923 Wertheimer, 1924 Gestalt Learning Theory Gestalt became one of the main theories of learning. The three main Gestalt theorists (Wertheimer, Kohler, and Koffka) were all Germans, and received their training and did their early work in Germany, but all three ended their careers in the US. The term "Gestalt" was coined by Graf Christian von Ehrenfels. His ideas influenced the trio of theorists. Gestalt was a holistic approach and rejected the mechanistic perspectives of the stimulus - response models. Numerous new concepts and approaches emerged from this different philosophical perspective. The Gestalt theory proposes that learning consists of the grasping of a structural whole and not just a mechanistic response to a stimulus. A "Gestalt" is an integrated whole system with it's parts enmeshed. The whole is greater than just the sum of the parts. The "PHI" phenomenon described a characteristic of things wherein they have a recognizability inherent in their nature. Examples include the recognizability of a melody, no matter how it is arranged or what instrument plays it, or the recognizability of a letter rendered in a wide variety of different fonts or type styles. Other examples include the apparent motion created by a rapid sequence of stills in motion pictures, and the sequences of illminating elements in neon signs which give the illusion of movement. Visual and auditory examples are numerous. This phenomenon leads to the conclusion that elements sensed are not the only reality. "Phenomenology" is the acceptance of first hand experience as it is found in human consciousness. Gestalt Learning Theory proposed several laws of organization, which are innate ways that human beings organized perceptions. A gestalt factor is a condition that aids in perceiving situations as a whole or totality. Isomorphism refers to the Doctrine of Psychophysical parallelism and depicts the cerebral cortex as "mapping these gestalt fields of stimuli. The Factor of Closure suggests that perception tends to complete incomplete objects. When only part of an image, sound, thought or feeling is presented as a stimulus, the brain attempts to complete it to generate the whole. The Factor of Proximity suggests that when elements are grouped closely together, they are percieved as wholes. This has relevance in reading, visual arts, and music.
- 3. The Factor of Similarity proposes that like parts tend to be grouped together in cognition. This has implications for instruction, suggesting that learning is facilitated if similar ideas are treated and linked together and then contrasted with opposing or complementary sets of ideas. The Figure-Ground Effect suggests that the eye tends to see the objects, rather than the spaces or holes between them. Trace Theory - This proposes a mechanism for learning in which neruological changes occur as connections are made in the brain. These changes, called traces, represent links between thoughts, ideas, concepts, images, etc. REpetition and uniqueness reinforce a trace. Thus, learning is the creation of traces. Traces group together to form maps. Instructional methods relating to repetition and to making items to be learned somehow distinctive to make learning (trace formation) quicker and more lasting. From the early theorys of Gestalt, there also emerged a branch of therapeutic interventions, called Gestalt Therapy. Fritz Perls went through psychoanalytic training with Karen Horney and then with Wilhelm Reich. He also adapted existentialist philosophy along with Zen and Taoist views to therapeutic work, and was strongly influenced by Freud.