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KOHLER

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� 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 vonEhrenfels. His ideas influenced the trio of

theorists.

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� Gestalt was a holistic approach and rejected themechanistic perspectives of the stimulus - responsemodels.

� The Gestalt theory proposes that learning consists of the grasping of a structural whole and not just amechanistic response to a stimulus.

� Gestalt theory is well known for its concept of insightlearning.

� These theories attempt to describe how people tend toorganize visual elements into groups or unified wholeswhen certain principles are applied.

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� Gestalt Learning Theory proposed several laws

of organization, which are innate ways that

human beings organized perceptions

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The Factor of Closure

� The Factor of Closure suggests that perceptiontends to complete incomplete objects. When onlypart of an image, sound, thought or feeling is

presented as a stimulus, the brain attempts tocomplete it to generate the whole.

� The law of closure says that, if something ismissing in an otherwise complete figure, we will

tend to add it. A triangle, for example, with asmall part of its edge missing, will still be seen asa triangle. We will close the gap.

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The Factor of Proximity

� The Factor of Proximity suggests that when elementsare grouped closely together, they are perceived aswholes. This has relevance in reading, visual arts, andmusic

� Things that are close together as seen as belongingtogether. For example...

**************

**************

**************� You are much more likely to see three lines of close-

together *s than 14 vertical collections of 3 *s each.

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The Factor of Similarity

� The Factor of Similarity proposes that like parts tend tobe grouped together in cognition. This has implicationsfor instruction, suggesting that learning is facilitated if similar ideas are treated and linked together and then

contrasted with opposing or complementary sets of ideas.

� Take a look at this example:

[ ][ ][ ]

� Despite the pressure of proximity to group the bracketsnearest each other together, symmetry overwhelmsour perception and makes us see them as pairs of symmetrical brackets.

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The Figure-Ground Effect

� The Figure-Ground Effect suggests that the

eye tends to see the objects, rather than the

spaces or holes between them.

� Figure-ground is another Gestalt psychology

principle. It was first introduced by the Danish

phenomenologist Edgar Rubin (1886-1951). ...

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� The classic example is this one:

� Basically, we seem to have an innate tendency to pereiveone aspect of an event as the figure or fore-ground and theother as the ground or back-ground. There is only oneimage here, and yet, by changing nothing but our attitude,

we can see two different things. It doesnt even seem to bepossible to see them both at the same time!

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CON

CE

PTO

F GE

STALT T

HEORY

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Insight Learning

� Insight learning involves a sudden realization

distinct from cause-and-effect problem

solving. Insight learning manifests as a

spontaneous occurrence, and is a noteworthy

phenomenon in the learning process. Insight

learning can also be described as "an

epiphany" and "eureka.

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The framework of Insight Learning

� The experience of insight learning often

involves three factors:

1. Seemingly all possible problem-solving

attempts have been exhausted and are

unsuccessful.

2. Ongoing attempts to solve an apparently

unsolvable problem eventually end.3. A perfect solution to the problem is

suddenly realized in a spontaneous way.

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� According to Wolfgang Köhler's experiments,insight learning is observable when studyingproblem-solving behavior in chimpanzees.

� To get the bananas, the chimp would have to usean object as a tool. The objects in the play areaincluded sticks of different lengths and woodenboxes.

� He discovered that chimpanzees were very good

at using tools. They used sticks as rakes to pull inbananas places out of reach. And they also usedsticks as clubs to bring down fruit hung overhead.

Chimp Experiments

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� Sometimes they stood long sticks on end andquickly climbed up the 7 meters and grabbed thebananas before the stick fell over. Thechimpanzees also learned to use boxes as step

ladders, dragging them under the hung bananasand even stacking several boxes on top of oneanother.

� Kohler's chimps were able to do more than usetools, he actually observed chimps buildingtools. For example, he observed chimpsbreaking off branches from a tree to make a"rake."

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� One of the smartest chimps, Sultan, was given a verydifficult problem. Kohler placed a bunch of bananasoutside Sultan's cage and two bamboo sticks insidethe cage. However, neither of the sticks was long

enough to reach the bananas. Sultan pushed thethinner stick into the hollow of the thicker one, andcreated a stick long enough to pull in the bananas

� Other chimps have been observed using a short stickto bring in a long stick, and then using the long stick tobring in a bunch of bananas. Kohler believed thatthese chimps showed insight -- acting as if they "saw"the solution before carrying out the actions. However,not all scientists agree with this idea

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� A similar example involved a five year old girl,presented with a geometry problem way over

her head: How do you figure the area of aparallelogram?

� She considered, then excitedly asked for apair of scissors. She cut off a triangle from

one end, and moved it around to the otherside, turning the parallelogram into a simplerectangle.

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� The idea behind both of these examples, and

much of the gestalt explanation of things, is

that the world of our experiencing is

meaningfully organized, to one degree or

another. When we learn or solve problems,

we are essentially recognizing meaning that is

there, in the experience, for the dis-covering.

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