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Gestalt

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
(gӘshtält') [Ger.,=form], school of psychology that interprets phenomena as organized wholes rather than as aggregates of distinct parts, maintaining that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The term Gestalt was coined by the philosopher Christian von Ehrenfels in 1890, to denote experiences that require more than the basic sensory capacities to comprehend. In 1912, the movement was given impetus in psychology by German theorists Max Wertheimer , Wolfgang Köhler , and Kurt Koffka as a protest against the prevailing atomistic, analytical psychological thought. It was also a departure from the general intellectual climate, which emphasized a scientific approach characterized by a detachment from basic human concerns. According to the school, understanding of psychological phenomena such as perceptual illusions could not be derived by merely isolating the elementary parts for analysis, because human perception may organize sensory stimuli in any number of ways, making the…
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Full text Article Gestalt

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
(gӘshtält') [Ger.,=form], school of psychology that interprets phenomena as organized wholes rather than as aggregates of distinct parts, maintaining that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The term Gestalt was coined by the philosopher Christian von Ehrenfels in 1890, to denote…
| 322 words
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Full text Article GESTALT

From Dictionary of Visual Discourse: A Dialectical Lexicon of Terms
The German word for ‘form’, ‘shape’, ‘figure’, ‘pattern’ or ‘configuration'. The idea of Gestalt as an organized or unified whole that is more than the sum of its parts. This holistic notion was transformed into a technical concept of cognitive pattern or figure-ground structure by a school of…
| 502 words
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Full text Article Gestalt

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
Concept of a unified whole that is greater than, or different from, the sum of its parts; that is, a complete structure whose nature is not explained simply by analysing its constituent elements. A chair, for example, will generally be recognized as a chair despite great variations between…
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Full text Article Gestalt Therapy

From Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology
Gestalt therapy is a type of psychotherapy based on Gestalt psychology, also called the Gestalt theory of the Berlin school. Gestalt therapy focuses on the totality of functioning, behaviors, experiences, and relationships at the present time, rather than on separate aspects of current life or past…
| 1,599 words
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Full text Article Gestalt Psychology

From Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology
Gestalt psychology is a school of psychology that studies human experience and behavior as wholes rather than independently functioning, disparate parts. The Gestalt school of psychology, or Gestaltism, was founded in the early twentieth century by the German psychologist Max Wertheimer (1880–1943) …
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Many counselors have seen the training film of Fritz Perls working with “Gloria.” This does not accurately depict Gestalt therapy as it is practiced today. So, what is Gestalt therapy? Gestalt has been described as an existential field theory and characterized as a phenomenological behaviorism. A…
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Gestalt Psychology Version of the well-known...
German theoretical school led by Max Wertheimer which flourished from 1911 to the mid-1930s. The key features of this were its holistic, anti-reductionist orientation and its incorporation of scientific ideas from contemporary physics, most centrally the notion of the ‘field’. Gestalt Psychology was…
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Full text Article Gestalt Therapy

From Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine
Gestalt therapy is a form of psychotherapy that helps the client focus on the here and now rather than on the past. Gestalt therapy stresses the development of client self-awareness and personal responsibility. The goal of Gestalt therapy is to raise clients' awareness of how they function in their…
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Full text Article Gestalt Therapy

From Encyclopedia of Applied Psychology
Gestalt therapy has roots in psychoanalysis, Gestalt psychology, Reichian character analysis, and the work of the early phenomenologists. It was developed in the 1940s primarily by Frederick Perls, Laura Perls, and Paul Goodman. Gestalt therapy is humanistic, holistic, and experiential. It is a…
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GESTALT PSYCHOLOGY
Gestalt psychology, which started in the early twentieth century, provided an important counterpoint to the academic psychology of its time, specifically Watson's behaviorism and Wundt's structuralism. Its full impact, however, would not be felt until many decades after its birth. Gestalt psychology…
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