Philosophy of Humanity

Philosophy of Psychology (Psychological Theory)

Gestalt Psychology

In addition to the early psychological theories, which sought to establish the experimental method within the discipline, and the behaviorists, who focused on studying human behavior, the early 20th century witnessed the emergence of another psychological approach centered on the study of human perception: Gestalt psychology. Its name derives from the German word "Gestalt" (form, structure). The foundations of Gestalt psychology were laid by Austrian philosopher Baron Christian von Ehrenfels (1859-1932), who, based on his research in music, concluded that if one changes the key of a melody—replacing all notes while maintaining the intervals—the melody remains the same. This indicates that the essence of a melody is not in its individual components but in the relationships between them. The melody is an independent construct, which he termed a "Gestalt." This line of inquiry was further developed by psychologist and musicologist Friedrich Carl Stumpf (1848-1936), who established the Institute of Psychology in Berlin in 1894. This institute specialized in the experimental study of human perception, employing methods that had become standard following Wundt's time, with the goal of understanding how individuals perceive what they see, hear, and feel, and how they form knowledge from this information. The most significant advancements in this field were made by three of Stumpf's students: Max Wertheimer (1880-1943), Kurt Koffka (1886-1941), and Wolfgang Köhler (1887-1967), who are considered the founders of Gestalt psychology. Gestalt psychology encompasses several schools, with the one founded by Wertheimer, Koffka, and Köhler referred to as classical Gestalt theory or the Berlin School of Gestalt Psychology.

The psychologists of this school focused on the process of human perception of reality. They asserted that reality is a vast array of diverse phenomena that cannot and need not be comprehensively grasped. The human mind organizes the received information about reality by creating Gestalts (whole structures). For example, if the eye perceives a brown color, a rectangular shape, the presence of legs, and the sense of solidity, the mind synthesizes this information into a single Gestalt—a table. In doing so, the mind not only combines the received data but also eliminates the superfluous. For instance, if someone enters a room where a table stands and is asked what they see, they will respond that they see a table, even though their gaze captures not only the table but also the floor on which it stands, the wall behind it, and much more. However, the person, even without realizing it, isolates the Gestalt—what their mind perceives—from the background—everything else they do not consciously notice, although it falls within their sensory field. The mind is the creator of Gestalts, and the process of their creation became the focus of interest for Gestalt psychologists.

The core of Max Wertheimer's and his colleagues' scientific legacy lies in the theory of productive thinking, which posits that thinking is a process directed toward solving problems. Individuals constantly face tasks related to orienting themselves in the world, acquiring knowledge, and other interests. Thinking, in addressing these tasks, extracts the necessary information from the stream of data and disregards what is irrelevant to the task. Furthermore, thinking also structures reality, giving it form. A Gestalt is not merely the sum of its parts. For instance, a set of physical and chemical properties does not make an object a table. When a person thinks about a table, they recall not its form and characteristics but its function—what tasks it performs. The function of a table arises not from its material composition or color, mass, and size, but from how the human mind defines it. Thinking creates the table as a table.

For a Gestalt to be formed, it is crucial to establish its boundaries, as it is the boundaries—separating what belongs to the Gestalt from what does not—that define the Gestalt. The components that make up a Gestalt acquire specific roles within the Gestalt that they did not possess before becoming part of it. For example, all geometric points are identical, but when they become elements of a circle, some points become more significant, while others become less so: the most important point is the center of the circle, followed by the points on the circumference, and lastly, all points lying within the plane of the circle but not on the circumference or the center.

An eminent figure from the Berlin School of Gestalt psychology was Kurt Zadek Lewin (1890-1947), who emigrated to the United States and made significant contributions to social psychology, particularly in the fields of management, leadership, and organizational behavior. Lewin had a profound impact on these areas. His notable achievement lies in his insights concerning the relationship between theory and practice. He confronted the prevalent belief in the U.S. at that time that there was a chasm between theory and practice and that young professionals should be trained in practical skills without concern for theory. In contrast, Lewin argued that a sound theory is of immense practical value in organizing a company's operations. Effective organization cannot occur without a solid theoretical foundation, as one cannot expect employees to practice effectively without first elucidating the company’s goals and mechanisms, i.e., its theory. Therefore, theorists always play a leading role in all spheres of the economy and public life, guiding development, while practitioners, often unconsciously, merely implement the programs devised by theorists. However, only good theory is effective, which requires a criterion to evaluate which theory is correct and which is flawed. Lewin believed that the most effective criterion for evaluation is results: if a theory achieves the expected outcomes, it is valid; if not, it is incorrect.

Another area of Lewin’s significant contribution was his theory of change. He posited that achieving change in people's lives necessitates passing through three stages: unfreezing, change, and refreezing. People are not ready to change; their behavioral habits are like being frozen, and therefore, must first be unfrozen. After implementing changes and when people begin to act differently, these new practices must be refrozen to become enduring aspects of human behavior.

The ideas initiated by the Berlin School of Gestalt psychology were further developed by other schools, incorporating their own modifications. Among these, the Second Leipzig School of Psychology holds a prominent place (the first psychological school in Leipzig was Wundt’s experimental psychology). The most distinguished representatives of this school were Felix Krüger (1874-1948) and Friedrich Sander (1889-1971). They emphasized the subject in the formation of Gestalts. While Berlin Gestalt psychologists focused on the relationship between Gestalt and its components, distinguishing between Gestalt and background, and the laws governing Gestalt formation, the Leipzig Gestalt psychologists investigated the psyche as the environment in which Gestalts are formed. However, the contributions of this school did not gain widespread recognition in the global scientific community, as Sander, during the war, actively supported the Nazi regime and sought to use his psychological theories to justify Nazism. Consequently, the teachings of this school became associated with Nazism and were perceived more as an element of ideology rather than science.

The third center of Gestalt psychology was the Graz School, which developed in Austria, founded by Alexius Meinong von Gotsch (1853-1920), a native of Lviv. Other notable members included Vittorio Benussi (1878-1927), Stefan Vitasek (1870-1915), among others. The Graz School brought together not only philosophers and psychologists but also mathematicians, natural scientists, and music theorists. A distinguishing feature of this school, setting it apart from the Berlin School, was the belief among Graz Gestalt psychologists that Gestalt formation was a process of uniting and generalizing components, whereas Berlin Gestalt psychologists held that Gestalts were formed instantaneously upon encountering a stream of information.

A new surge in the development of Gestalt psychology came with Gestalt therapy, a field focused on practical assistance for patients. The founders of Gestalt therapy were American scholars Frederick Salomon Perls (1893-1970), his wife Laura Perls (1905-1990), and Paul Goodman (1911-1972). They started with the premise that if everything a person thinks of are Gestalts—structures constructed by the human mind—then the world a person inhabits is their own creation. If a person is happy, it means they are creating Gestalts that make them happy; if they experience depression and crises, these too are caused by the Gestalts they construct. Gestalt therapy aims to train human thinking to form positive Gestalts and thus create a world of happiness. Among the methods used by Gestalt therapists, a popular technique involves the use of imaginary figures: the patient sits on a chair, an empty chair is placed beside them, the patient imagines that the empty chair is occupied by someone with whom they have unresolved issues or who has caused their emotional distress. The patient then speaks aloud to this imaginary interlocutor and listens to their own body (voice tone, pitch, sensations of warmth, pain, etc.). This exercise allows the patient to release negativity and move beyond it. After this catharsis, the patient focuses on positive experiences (gratitude, joy, happiness), with these feelings being accompanied by physical actions: speaking aloud, bowing when expressing gratitude, and hugging when expressing love and forgiveness.