Essay on the gestalt theory

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Pages: 6
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Hovik Chilian
Professor Rodgers
Intro to Psychology
7 Nov 2013
The Gestalt Theory
The Gestalt theory is a complex but rather interesting theory that I will be writing about in this essay. For this essay, I will be looking for the different parts of the Gestalt theory. Before that, I will find where the name “Gestalt” even means and originated from. I will also find out who discovered the theory. I will describe the theory and provide background information on the theory. I will describe how the theory is exhibited. I will also explain whether I agree with this theory. There are also plenty of examples of each kind of point in the Gestalt theory. Although these examples are for visual purposes, there are famous ones that I will be …show more content…
During that time, in 1929, he wrote Gestalt Psychology” (Boeree, 2000). As the quote has it, Wolfgang had met and discussed the gestalt theories together and it resulted into Wolfgang publishing a book on the Gestalt Theory. The final founder of the Gestalt Theory is Kurt Koffka. Kurt “he wrote an article for Psychological Bulletin which introduced the Gestalt program to readers in the U.S” (Boeree, 2000). So after these three best friends met at the University of Frankfurt and discussed the Gestalt Theory. They went their separate ways to spread the theory to young and up and coming future of psychologists. The Gestalt theory has many different laws; the first one that I will be talking about is the Figure and Ground law. “The terms figure and ground explain how we use elements of the scene which are similar in appearance and shape and group them together as a whole. Similar elements (figure) are contrasted with dissimilar elements (ground) to give the impression of a whole” (“Gestalt Principles”, 1999). A good example of this is the Macintosh logo (Soegaard, 2005). A terrible example of this is when you see an animal that blends into the environment with the use of camouflage. If there is a chameleon on a brown branch, it will turn brown.
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