Gestalt and His Theory Of Psychology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Gestalt and His Theory Of Psychology - Essay Example The Gestalt effect refers our brain's form creating capability, especially with respect to the visual recognition of figures and whole forms instead of an assortment of lines and curves. Gestalt psychology is most developed in perception and cognition but also has great relevance in studying individual behaviour (Henle 2006). But in observing behaviour errors can crop up due to false notions and deductions when drawing conclusions on scientific data. The most distinctive feature of scientific data is the way they are gathered. For example, if psychologists want to investigate a particular issue, say, to determine the circumstances which people act to help those in distress, or the impact of variable reinforcement schedules on the behavior of lab rats, or whether children imitate aggressive behavior they see on TV, psychologists will construct situations to establish conditions from which data can be generated (Schultz p.5). They may conduct lab experiments, observe behavior under controlled real-world conditions, take surveys, or calculate the statistical correlation between two variables. In using these methods scientists can have a measure of control over the situations or events they choose to study. In turn, those events can be reconstructed or replicated by other scientists at other times and places. Thus, data can be verified later by establishing conditions similar to those of the original study and repeating observations. But much of this data is seen narrowly and not viewed as having associations to other factors. For example, in testing whether children get aggressive after watching violence on TV many researchers fail to consider other factors, such as educational level of the child or the parents' upbringing abilities, or whether the child has problems in school, or consider the fact that certain processed foods when consumed by youngsters can result in uncontrollable behavior. Most scienti fic data do not view the whole, but only the part. Gestalt theory developed by Max Wertheimer resulted from the concrete investigations in psychology, logic, and epistemology. To give a description and make a comparison, we can consider transitioning from the world of everyday events to the world of science. Something as simple as crossing the road, becomes extremely complicated when trying to explain in scientific terms as both psychology of the person and physics are involved. It may not be unusual to assume that while making this transition we shall gain a deeper and more precise understanding of the essentials. The changeover could be seen as progress. But we often find that this turns out not to be the case. Explanations can be difficult to formulate. It is the same in psychology. In this regard also, we find science focused on acquiring a systematic collection of data, yet often excluding through that very activity of acquiring information, precisely that which is most vivid and real in the living phenomena it studies. In Gestalt theory wholes exist, the behavior of which is not determined by their individual elements, but where the part-processes are themselves determined by the intrinsic nature of the whole (Boeree 2000). Gestalt theory endeavors to determine the nature of such wholes and seems particularly fitted