...Gestalt psychology reflection Paper Barrie Bogatov Psy/310 14 March, 2015 Since its inception, psychology has taken many twists and turns from the theories of Skinner, Thorndike, experiments from Watson, Pavlov etc. and from them we have learned a great deal. Nevertheless, according to Schultz & Schultz (2012) “at approximately the same time the behaviorist revolution was gathering strength in the United States, the Gestalt revolution was taking hold of German psychology” (Schultz & Schultz, 2012 pg 262). When it comes to Gestalt psychology, one can say that this field had many influences from many different founders with many different views and theories. Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Köhler, Ernst Mach, and Kurt Koffka are some of the ones that had a huge impact on the development of Gestalt psychology. Gestalt psychology as we know is “the study of perception and behavior from the standpoint of an individual's response to configurationally wholes with stress on the uniformity of psychological and physiological events and rejection of analysis into discrete events of stimulus, percept, and response” Max Wertheimer was a young scholar who was going to school to study law. But during his time at the University of Prague he decided to change his major to a field of study that he found rather interesting and that field was philosophy and psychology. As per different students, who took his lectures or had been to his office said that the way he saw...
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...Gestalt Psychology Reflection April Cage Professor Katrina Ramos 3/16/15 INTRODUCTION Gestalt psychology means unified whole. The three main founders who established the school of gestalt psychology were Max Wertheimer, Kurt Koffka as well as Wolfgang Kohler. The foundations of the Gestalt psychology are perception, memory and learning. Some of the principles of Gestalt psychology are isomorphism, productive thinking as well as reproductive thinking. It refers to theories of visual perception developed by German psychologists in the 1920s. Instead of approaching psychology as atoms or elements according to Wundt’s theory, Gestalt psychology on the other hand, focuses on human experiencing psychological events as a whole. Reflection Max Wertheimer used to study law but his interest soon shifted to philosophy and psychology. He developed a keen interest on perception after observing how the flashing of lights at train station created an illusion of movement. He was at the University of Frankfurt where he worked with Kurt Koffka and Wolfgang Kohler and the three of them established a school of thought known as Gestalt Psychology. He pursued perceptual ideas through his studies with chimpanzees as director of the Canary Island Anthropoid Station in 1913. He became an American citizen and finally became the president of the American Psychological Association in 1959. Kohler contributed substantial literature work to the field of...
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...This is an approach that focus on the whole rather than different parts. In this therapy we are more interested in you instead of the different parts of you. Field theory is the understanding of the patterns and relationships that are in between a client and their environment. The Now is a term used to describe experiencing the full present moment. With Gestalt therapy it is viewed that if you focus on the past or future you are just avoiding living the present moments and avoiding the reality. One of the ways therapist that use The Now is by asking what and how questions so that the client can focus on the present moment. Examples of questions are “what are you feeling, how do you think that make you feel? Questions that are directly focusing on the now. Clients often try to avoid focusing on the present and try to move back to the past or future. Unfinished business is also a key concept which is feelings that were undealt with, feelings that can interfere with focusing on the present moments. These feelings were never fully dealt with so were pushed to the...
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...Gestalt Psychology Reflection Jessica Flatequal PSY/310 11/09/2015 University of Phoenix Major contributors of Gestalt Psychology were Max Wertheimer, Kurt Koffka, and Wolfgang Kohler. The main observations, questions, and principles characteristics from Gestalt Psychology became part of every American Psychologists mental equipment. Mark Wertheimer wrote a paper on phi motion in 1912, which was known to start Gestalt Psychology. Throughout this paper I will review the main contributing events in Gestalt Psychology and its influences in America. Contributions Gestalt contributed to therapy known as Gestalt therapy which focuses on raising individuals boundaries, needs, and sensory. This therapy helps contribute to one’s own self-worth. Gestalt has always focused on whole rather than individuals. Gestalt psychology focuses on human experiencing psychological events as a whole. Wertheimer shifted his interest from law to philosophy and psychology. He had an influence on other things besides the school of thought such as sensation and perception. Kurt Koffka main interest of study was colors such as the difference of color with short and long wave lengths. As a professor at Smith College where he studied the principles of Gestalt, concentrating on focusing and memory. Wolfgang Kohler worked side by side with Werheimer and Koffka at the University of Frankfurt where he studied perceptual ideas through...
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...Influences of Gestalt psychology were Immanuel Kant’s study on the focuses of perception as a whole, Ernst Mach’s influence of sensation thinking, and Christin von Ehrenfel’s further exploration and experimentation on Mach’s sensations theory. Max Wertheimer studied Ehrenfel’s work and used it as the bass for his movement of the Gestalt theory. In addition, the two other founders of Gestalt psychology, Kurt Koffka and Wolfgang Kohler, studied elements of consciousness and artificial abstractions that furthered Gestalt research and movement. “After Wertheimer initiated the studies on the perception of apparent movement, Gestalt psychologists seized on other perceptual phenomena. The experience of perceptual constancies afforded additional support for their views” (Schultz, 2011, p. 271). The idea of perceptual constancy is having completeness and or wholeness not very even if information is missing. Gestalt psychology is theory of the mind being so complex and dynamic that sensory elements such as vision and sound interact in order to fill in missing information that is perceived by an individual who is perceiving the information given. The founders of Gestalt psychology explain perceptual and a few defining principles. The first law is similarity, meaning items are perceived as being together such as forming a group. For example, if an individual were to see a group of squares and circles the law similarity would allow the individual to group the squares and circles separately...
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...My Beliefs, Values, and Clinical Gestalt with Individual’s and Systems Jerra K. Roberts University of Phoenix CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY: I certify that the attached paper, which was produced for the class identified above, is my original work and has not previously been submitted by me or by anyone else for any class. I further declare that I have cited all sources from which I used language, ideas and information, whether quoted verbatim or paraphrased, and that any and all assistance of any kind, which I received while producing this paper, has been acknowledged in the References section. This paper includes no trademarked material, logos, or images from the Internet, which I do not have written permission to include. I further agree that my name typed on the line below is intended to have, and shall have the same validity as my handwritten signature. Student's signature (name typed here is equivalent to a signature): ___Jerra K. Roberts ________________________ ___ My Beliefs, Values and Clinical Gestalt with Individual’s and Systems’ Clinicians working in the Human Service field have extremely challenging jobs. They must learn to balance their own beliefs with the client’s beliefs. This involves taking the clinicians’ personal values and experiences and putting them aside to determine what is the best treatment approach for the client. Recognizing my own identity will help me see how I fit in the community and with the clients who I interact with...
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...Gestalt psychology Reflection Paper Shenique Harmon-Anthony Psychology 310 PATRICIA LAFOUNTAINE December 14th 2015 Erving Polster, in the book Gestalt Therapy Integrated: Contours of Theory & Practice attempted to give his own version of an analogy that in his thinking summarizes a portion of the theory in question. He says, “When a person has swum, traveled, run a lathe, planted flowers, ridden a motorcycle, made wine, painted a picture, parachuted, he has increased the fund from which he may draw for new figural developments. In other words, as the background of his experience becomes more diversified, it also becomes potentially more harmonious with a whole range of happenings.” This description briefly encapsulates why Gestalt psychology is considered as a whole. Gestalt psychology believes that things should not be looked at individual elements but as a whole. It is a school of thought in psychology that looks at the human mind and behavior as a whole. It is noted that they are three founders who are responsible for establishing the school of gestalt psychology. Max Wertheimer, Kurt Koffka as well as Wolfgang Kohler. However, its moorings are anchored in the work of Max Wertheimer and was formed partially as a response to the structuralism of Wilhelm Wundt. Gestalt psychology has some foundations and those are perception, memory and learning. The major principles of Gestalt psychology are isomorphism, productive thinking and reproductive thinking. The main...
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...Introduction Gestalt therapy, which was founded by Fritz and Laura Perls in the 1940s, teaches the therapists and their clients the phenomenological awareness method, where feeling, perceiving and acting are differentiated from interpreting and rearranging the pre-existing attitudes. Gestalt therapists and clients’ dialogue, thus communicating their phenomenological perspectives, and their differences in perceptions form the basis and focus of experimentation and continued dialogue. The desired outcome of the therapy process is for the client to become aware of their actions, how they are acting, and the ways they can change their actions and learn to accept and appreciate themselves. Here, the emphasis is mainly on the process rather than the content of the therapy, that is, what is happening rather than what is being discussed. Gestalt therapy was mainly considered for adults. However, Violet Oaklander (2007) says that it is also suitable to be applied to children since it involves the body and the senses, all of which fit the therapeutic works with the children. The purpose of this paper is to formulate a response in the manner a Gestalt therapist would work with children of ages between 4 and 12. Here, the general and Gestalt literature is explored, synthesized and evaluated on working with this particular population, their specific needs and particular ethical challenges that may emerge while working with them. A comparison is offered on how different modalities with the...
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...Cognitive Theorist Paper Cognitive theories began to become extremely popular in the late twentieth century. Cognitive theorist such as Jean Piaget , Edward C. Tolman , Albert Bandura and Max Wertheimer raised the most attention in the psychology world. The focus of this reading will be on Max Wertheimer. What he brought to the field of learning and cognition; the Gestalt theory, the theory he is most notably known for and the concepts most commonly accepted from that model will be discussed and analyzed. Max Wertheimer born on April 15th 1880 in Prague was a well-known psychologist. His father was an educationist and his mother had received her doctorate degree from the University of Wurzburg. Wertheimer studied at the Psychological Institute at the University of Frankfurt. He later worked as a professor at the University of Frankfurt for several years. Wertheimer migrated to the United States in 1933. He worked as a professor at the New York School for Social Research for a period of ten years. Due to his remarkable academic skills and efforts New York schools became one of the top-notch schools of psychology in the beginning of the twentieth century. Mark Wertheimer, along with Kohler and Kofka, was one of the founding members of Gestalt psychology. Gestalt theory emphasized higher- order cognitive processes. The main focus of Gestalt theory was “grouping”. In learning opposed to the reductionism of behaviorism, Gestalt concentrates on the way in which the mind insists...
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... there have been many people and innovations in the psychiatric world that have spurred from him. One of those innovations was the Gestalt Theory by Fredrick S. Perls. The background behind Perls and his theory, an analysis of what his theory was and what it did, and how it is still used today, is what is focused on in this paper. Fredrick S. Perls created the Gestalt Theory in the 1940’s and continued to have an influence on culture through the 1950’s. His main interests in existenalism and Eastern religions, and Gestalt psychology contradicted what his Freudian training had taught him, but in the end led him to his well-known Gestalt Theory. “Perls saw the human being as a unified organism, an integration of mental, physical, emotional. And sensory processes expressed in the present moment” (Irving B. & Craighead, 2010). A lot of Perls work had been influenced by Kurt Goldstein, a neurologist, Moreno’s social experimentation, field therapy by Kurt Lewin, and ideas derived from Zen (Gaie, 2003). His theory focused on the less shy and submissive idea of feelings and brought up the value of the client/patient dynamic and the effectiveness of facing the problem head on. Even though all the people and therapy’s listed above had an influence on Perls, he was able to mesh all of what he had learned together beautifully into his own. The Gestalt Theory that was created by Fredrick Perls is a theory that focuses on self-acceptance and taking responsibilities for one’s own actions...
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...Student Learning Guide Counselling Methods 1 © South African College of Applied Psychology (Pty) Ltd Developed and produced by the South African College of Applied Psychology Sunclare building, Claremont, Cape Town, 7708, South Africa. 2012. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by means of electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of the publisher. Copyrighted materials reproduced herein are used under the provision of the South African Copyright Act 98 of 1978 section 12 (1) (a)(b) (3), for private study only by students. STUDENT LEARNING GUIDE: COUNSELLING METHODS 1 2 Table of contents How this guide works ........................................................................................................................ 10 Module Readings .............................................................................................................................. 11 Prescribed text book ......................................................................................................................... 11 Prescribed and recommended readings ........................................................................................... 11 Session One: An Overview of Theories of Psychotherapy and Counselling ..................................... 14 Reading for the session .....................................................................
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...Aspects of Psychology Unit 1 Individual Project By Harold Robinson III Abstract: In this assignment I will discuss three different perspectives of psychology. I will discuss how behaviorism, cognitive, and gestalt theories have affected the world as it is today. I will be using both opinionated statements as well as facts from a reputable resource. The paper is about the three unique and important perspectives taking in psychology behaviorism, cognitive, and gestalt theories. Behavioral Psychology is basically interested in how our behavior results from the stimuli both in the environment and within ourselves. They study, often in minute detail, the behaviors we exhibit while controlling for as many other variables as possible. Often a grueling process, but results have helped us learn a great deal about our behaviors, the effect our environment has on us, how we learn new behaviors, and what motivates us to change or remain the same. (Heffner,2001) An example of behaviorism would be how both •people and animals are able to adapt their behavior when new information is introduced, even if a previous behavior pattern has been established through reinforcement. Probably the most cited theory in the cognitive development in children is Jean Piaget (1896-1980). As with all stage theories, Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development maintains that children go through specific stages as their intellect and ability to see relationships matures. These stages are completed in a...
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...MOODULE 2: THEORIES OF PSYCHOLOGICAL COUNSELLING THE BEHAVIOURIST THEORY OF COUNSELLING Introduction to Theories A theory can be defined as a systematic way of explaining a fact or an event. It refers to procedure that has been put forward empirically tested that explains a situation as a phenomena. Importance of Theory in Counselling Theories help a counselor to; • Explain the existence of a behaviour by understand if how it’s conceptualized, perpetuated and its manifestations. • Theories also help a counsellor to predict behaviour. The prediction of behaviour is quite important in the cases where a client manifests destructive behaviour. • Finally theories also help a counsellor to control behaviour. This is also important in cases where behaviours are destructive. Each theory has stipulated techniques which are meant to control behaviour. Types of Theories There are several types of theories which helps a counsellor to understand, predict and control behaviour. But for this course, emphasis will be placed on the following theories: • Psychological Theory • Behaviour Theory • Poison Centred Theory • Cognitive Behavioural Theory THE PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY Background Before the development of the psychological view point in terms of understanding, the human behaviour, in the late 18th Century and Mid 19th Century by Mesmer, Dr. John Breur, Dr. Jean Charcot among others. Psychological disorders and disturbances was mainly looked...
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...Author, Year Chapter Author, Year Part 2: Reflection I. Describe a specific population of clients with whom you hope to work in the future. Explain why you have chosen this population and what you hope to accomplish with this client base. (Note this point will remain the same on future papers, if you want to keep it. Please delete.) II. Explain which one of the two theories in your chart would be the most effective in working with this client population and explain why. III. Describe at least two interventions from your chosen theory you would suggest using and how these interventions would assist this client population in reaching counseling goals. References Finn, A. (2011). Jungian analytical theory. In D. Capuzzi & D. Gross (Eds.). Counseling and psychotherapy: Theories and interventions. (5th ed., pp. 77- 94). Alexandria, VA: American Counseling Association. Haley, M. (2011). Gestalt therapy. In D. Capuzzi & D. Gross (Eds.). Counseling and psychotherapy: Theories and interventions. (5th ed., pp. 167- 191). Alexandria, VA: American Counseling Association. Johnson, A. (2011). Psychoanalytic theory. Haley, M. (2011). Gestalt therapy. In D. Capuzzi & D. Gross (Eds.). Counseling and psychotherapy: Theories and interventions. (5th ed., pp. 97- 76). Alexandria, VA: American Counseling Association. Note: Be sure to change your references to reflect those you have cited in the...
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...Gestalt Psychology Reflection PSY 310 January 11, 2016 Sam Ivory Dr. Fine Gestalt psychology Reflection The school of thought is what Gestalt psychology theory is about. Gestalt believes that all things and scenes are observed in the simplest forms. Also known as the 'Law of Simplicity,' the meaning behind the theory is that the whole of an object or scene is more important than its individual parts. When you observe everything as a whole it allows us to us find order in disorder and unity among outwardly unrelated parts and pieces of information (Cherry, 2015). Gestalt theories have implications for education focusing more meaningful learning and true understanding of principles, over the traditional structured approaches based on memory and recall (King, Wertheimer, Keller & Crochetiere, 1994). Gestalt psychology gave a unique way on human perception. According to Gestalt psychologists, you don't just see the world; what you see, depending on what you are expecting to see. The reason behind Gestalt psychology is that it encourages people to 'think outside of the box' and to look for patterns. Another contribution to Gestalt psychology is the development of our senses is capable of visual recognition of things as a whole and not just simple line and curves (Schamber, 1986). However the breakdown of the mental process wasn’t done until it was in their smallest forms. The psychologist believed that behavior must be studied in all of its complexities instead...
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