GESTALT THEORY OF LEARNING

GESTALT THEORY OF LEARNING
A. Introduction to Gestalt Psychology
1. Psychology Roots
Etymologically in the German language the noun “gestalt” has two meaning: beside the connotation of shape or form as an attribute of things, it has the main of a concrete entity which has or may have a shape.

Gestalt psychology, founded by Max Wertheimer, was to some extent a rebellion against the molecular of wound’s program for psychology, in sympathy with many others at the time, including William James.
Philosophically the school of Gestalt Psychology roots from traditional such as:
a. Existential philosophy, which began with Kierkegaard and was further develop by Marcel and Marleuponty, focuses on existence existential meaning of freedom, destiny, and the existence of God.
b. Phenomenology, in its broadest sense is a philosophical doctrine that educates the scientific study of immediate experience as is the basic (subject matter) of psychology.
c. Holisms, and the concept of the whole, were taken up by Jan Smut (1926) in Holism and evolution, Smuts considered the organism to be a self-regulating entity with metabolism and assimilation being fundamental function of all organic wholes.
d. Humanism, as a multifaceted approach to human experience and behavior, focuses on an individual’s self-actualization and uniqueness, with choice and integration.

2. Nature of Human in Gestalt Psychology
a. Biological field theory
The field concept believes that all organisms exist in environmental context with reciprocal influences on each other.
In it is organized interactive, interconnected, and interdependent totality.
b. Theory of the organism
An organism is an ordered whole, intrinsically self regulating individual, seeking growth towards maturity and the fulfillment of its nature.
c. Organisms self-regulation
Self-regulation is a process in which the organisms strive for the maintenance of equilibrium.
d. Concept of contact
Contact, as the “lifeblood of growth”, is paramount for survival and change. It is understood as the other (environment and internal others, i.e. alienated aspect, blocked feelings, thoughts, and memories. Like as, friendship, cooperative, conflict, hostility, competition, and war.
The essence of human life is contact.
e. Whole making capacity
f. Problem solving: involves restructuring and insight. It was proposed that problem solving involves mentally combining and re-combining the various. Element of a problem until a structure that solves the problem is achieved.

B. GESTALT THEORITICAL

1. Principle of totality: taking into account all the physical and mental aspects of individual simultaneously because the nature of the mind demands that each component be considered as part of a system of dynamic relationships.
2. Principle of psychophysical isomorphism: a correlation exists between (conscious experience) and cerebral activity.

The focus of gestalt theory is the idea of “grouping” characteristics of stimuli cause us to structure or interpret a visual field or problem in a certain way.
1. Proximity: element tend to be grouped together according to their nearness.
2. Similarity: items similar in some respect tend to be grouped together.
3. Closure: items are grouped together if they tend to complete some entity.
4. Simplicity: items will be organized into simple figures according to symmetry, regularity, and smoothness.
The basic ideas of gestalt psychology.
1. Perception is often different from reality
2. The whole is more than the sum of its parts
3. The organism structures and organizes experiment
4. The organism is predisposed to organize experiment in particular ways

Considered thinking to happen in 2 ways:
1. Productive thinking (solving a problem with insight, this is a quick insightful unplanned response to situations).
2. Reproductive thinking