Introduction

In 1912, max Wertheimer published experiments on apparent motion which served as the
foundation of a new orientation called a Gestalt psychology. It was led by Wertheimer and two
of his close associates Wolfgang köhler and kurt kofka.
The term Gestalt does not have a literal English translation, and the words ‘form’, ‘shape’,
‘configuration’, ‘structure’, and ‘pattern’ are commonly used to provide a functional translation.
Gestalt psychology emerged as a revolt against the Wundt’s structural psychology and its
elementary dimensions and also criticized American Behaviourism. It was a revolt against the
idea that few bits and pieces of ‘experience’ together glued to form ‘the whole’. Gestalt
believed that it could never be the complete experience. Thus, Gestalt expresses that a system
of psychology should conceptualize psychological events as organized, coherent and unified
phenomena. For instance, when we smile, it’s not just the muscles acting in a certain way. It
also depends on what’s going on around the individual, it correlates with the event, then the
mind processes it and the muscles respond a certain way to smile.
Gestaltists believe that an entity loses its identity if analysed in a preconceived framework.
This does not limit the range of experiences of the individual or the event to make it adaptable
to the researcher’s mold. Accordingly, the goal of Gestalt psychology was to investigate the
organization of mental activity and thereby, determine the exact nature of person-environmental
reciprocal actions (Brennan & Houde, 2017).
Basic Principles of Gestalt Psychology
Max Wertheimer started experiments on phi phenomenon in 1910 which marked the formal
beginning of Gestalt psychology. The phi phenomenon or apparent movement (as it is called
sometimes) can be exemplified using two discrete lights. When two stationary objects (lights)
are flashed on the retina (at different locations), and if one succeeds the other by a brief interval,
then the subject notices a sweeping movement in a direction from one flash of light to another.
Thus, the subject does not see two discrete elements, that is two separate lights but rather a
complete event which is radically different from its elements. It was very clear to the Gestalt
psychologists that the piecemeal examination of the individual elements can never explain the
whole experience. They also took the position that the parts put together do not make a whole,
rather whole exists prior to its parts. According to Köhler (1947), “One of the main tasks of
Gestalt Psychology is that of indicating the genuine rather than any fictitious parts of the
whole.” (p.168), indicating that paying attention only to the individual and isolated parts could
be fictitious.
Principles of Perceptual organization
Wertheimer (1923/1938) found that the basic gestalt principle remained true in various
intellectual and sensory domains. Whatever we do, we perceive our world in unified wholes
and the organization is already given in the experience. Gestalt psychologists articulated some
principles that govern the basic organization of perceptual wholes. These were also called as
the principles of primitive organization due to the understanding that they were native and
natural. Some of the important principles are as follows:

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 a) Principle of similarity:

The principle states that the elements that are similar to each other in any way (color,
orientation, size etc.) tend to be perceived as a unified group. In Figure 1, two separate groups
based on shape can be seen– the circles and the squares.
X O X O X O O O O O O O
X O X O X O X X X X X X
X O X O X O O O O O O O
X O X O X O X X X X X X
X O X O X O O O O O O O

figure 1: law of similarity

Source: https://healthywaymag.com/psychology/gestalt-psychologyprinciples-theory
a) Principle of proximity: Elements that are close together either in time or space are
perceived as a unified group. In Figure 2, we see two pairs of vertical lines rather than four
vertical lines.

figure 2: law of proximity

b) Principle of closure: The principle states that, if there are certain parts that are missing
or left out in the perceptual object, we tend to complete it psychologically, thereby filling the
gaps. In Figure 3, we would see a circle and star instead of disconnected lines.

figure 3: Principle of closure

Source: https://uxpro.cc/publications/using-gestalt-laws-of-perceptualorganization-in-ui-
design/
Principle of continuity: The objects that have a continuity with each other are perceived to
be flowing in the same direction and are perceived as a figure (as seen in Figure 4). It is also
known as principle of good continuation (Field et al. 1993). We tend to follow the contours
whenever the elements of a pattern imply a direction.

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 figure 4: Principle of continuity

c) Principle of figure and ground: It asserted that information is not organized

perceptually alone, some contrast is also required to gather knowledge from the data. Edgar
Rubin (1886-1951) explained that the element that stands out is the figure. Other thing that
seems to retreat in the background is called as ground. It basically argues that it is vital to
recognize figure from its ground. A major characteristic of figure is that it is distinct in
comparison to the ground which is vague and indistinct. In a reversible figure, the figure and
ground seem to shift back and forth as an individual tries to fixate eyes on it.

figure 5: man and crane, mimbres culture pot, c. 1000 -1150 aD

Source: Figure–ground (perception) - Wikipedia
a) law of Prägnanz: According to Wertheimer, all the above principles contribute to law
of prägnanz or the principle of good form. It states that we would assume the best possible form
of the objects even if the physical objects may not be in their symmetrical and developed form.
Thus, it allows us to see our world in a coherent and orderly way.
Contributions
Learning
Gestalt psychologists had attacked behaviourism and its tenets and criticized how it was
based on the atomism and mechanism of 19th century physics. They opposed the S-R
psychology of Watson, connectionism of Thorndike and the reflexological focus of Pavlov.
Memory
Gestalt principles have also been applied to memory. One of the common ways to understand
memory in those times was that after perceiving something, we could recall it successfully
because of the trace that was left in the brain. The trace gradually is wiped out leading to
forgetting. Memory has been understood as a dynamic process by the Gestalt psychologists in
which trace undergoes various changes due to time lapse.
Isomorphism
The Gestalt viewed isomorphism as a solution to the mind-brain problem. The word
isomorphism means having the same form or appearance. It has been defined in the following

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terms: “Experienced order in space is always structurally identical with a functional order in
the distribution of underlying brain processes” (Köhler 1929/1947; p.61). It is the “structural
correspondence between experience and underlying brain processes” (Brennen, 2017; p.381).
For instance, if we experience a rhythm (which is an auditory temporal sequence), we may
expect a pattern of events in the brain that is isomorphic (similar in form or appearance) with
the experience. Isomorphic representation is a parallel process between the perceptual and
physiological levels- how perceptual field (elicited by stimulus activity) is related to the brain
field (comprises of electrochemical activity).
Gestalt psychology has been heavily criticized for being too dependent upon theory and
lacking sufficient concrete evidences to support it (Marx & Cronan-Hillix, 1987). For instance,
the term insight has been theoretically inferred and the empirical explanation is quite weak.
Thus, the system has been considered vague and imprecise. The physiological assumption
related to isomorphism has also been criticized. It is definitely a unique explanation and the
Gestalt psychologists could only indirectly explain it. The experiments and studies conducted
by them have been considered poorly controlled, non-quantitative, and ill-designed (Singh,
2011). Some have also raised questions stating that unnecessary cues were provided to the
subjects affecting their problem-solving ability and thus, unknowingly impacting the results.
Harrower (1932) stated that Gestalt psychologists did not empirically define their key term,
organization. The difference between organization and non-organization should have been
clearly stated so that the experimental studies would have been carried out only to understand
organization properly.
Despite these criticisms, the contribution and continuing relevance of Gestalt psychology
cannot be ignored. Its impact in the field of perception of certainly provided a new perspective
to the theory of perception. They were responsible for a shift from the part to whole, a shift
from structure to process and a shift from “objective science” to “epistemic science”.