gestalt

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What are the basic principles of Gestalt Psychology?

-- chryslaine alpuerto (chryslaine@hotmail.com), September 17, 2003

Answers

You can find an extensive answer to this question in any history of psychology textbook, which will have a chapter on Gestalt Psychology as one of the early "schools." You can also find articles in any encyclopedia of psychology. Note that "Gestalt Psychology" is not the same at all as "Gestalt Therapy".

-- Hendrika Vande Kemp (hendrika@earthlink.net), September 17, 2003.

Gestalt psychology was originally concerned with the visual perception of objects, but its influence extended far beyond perceptual phenomena. The principal assumptions are (1) that perception occurs in a field of forces, such that the whole is "greater than" the sum of the parts; and (2) that perception is guided toward achieving certain end states that are particularly pleasing and coherent.

-- Jonathon D. Brown (jdb@u.washington.edu), September 21, 2003.

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