Gestalt Psychology

GPC 150 Psychology of Learning

Gestalt Theory
Constructivist Theory

Max Wertheimer
Considered the founder of Gestalt Psychology

Experience can not be understood by analyzing its parts.

The phenomenological experience is different from the
parts that make it up.

Gestalt Psychology
Opposition to behaviorism, structuralism.
Gestalt as Phenomenology:
A phenomenologist studies meaningful, intact mental
events without dividing them for further analysis.

Gestalt Psychology
Gestalt
holistic
subjective
nativistic
cognitive

Behavioristic
atomistic
elementistic
molecular
objective
empiricistic
behavioral

Gestalt Psychology
Field Theory
A field can be defined as a dynamic, interrelated
system, any part of which influences every other part.
Nothing in it exists in isolation.

Gestalt Psychology
Kurt Lewin
A psychological fact, according to Lewin, is anything of
which a person is conscious (e.g., hunger, fatigue, other
people, animals, objects around).
A persons life space is the sum of all of these
psychological facts.

Gestalt Psychology

Gestalt Psychology

Only those things consciously experienced can influence

behavior.

Perception is not built up from sensations but is a

result of perceptual organization

Past experiences can only affect the peson if they are

reflected in the present moment.

We use heuristics (principles, rules) to make best

guesses about the identity of stimuli

A change in any psychological fact rearranges the entire

life space.

Perception is not just about detecting color or shape.

Perception is about organizing visual information.

Gestalt Psychology

Gestalt Psychology

The Gestaltists assigned an active role to the brain.

It is the nature of the brain to impose organization
and meaning on sensory information.
Organizational abilities characterize any physical
system, the brain being but one example.

We behave according to what we believe to be true.

Gestalt Psychology

Gestalt Psychology

If you think there is no exam tomorrow, how will you

behave tonight?

Learning, to the Gestaltist, is a cognitive phenomenon.

The organism comes to see the solution after
pondering a problem.

Learning is the result of good perception which enable

an individual form correct concept in their mind.

When the solution comes, it comes suddenly as an

insight.

Gestalt Psychology
Trial-and-error that is cognitive rather than behavioral.
When the correct strategy is discovered, insight is said to
have occurred.

Gestalt Psychology
Transposition
When a principle learned in one problem-solving
situation is applied to the solution of another
problem.
For example: Chickens were fed on a dark shade of
gray paper but not on a lighter shade.
Given a choice between the two shades of gray, they
chose the darker one.

Gestalt Psychology

Gestalt Psychology

Transposition
After preliminary training, the choice was between the
dark paper on which it was trained and a still darker
sheet.

Gestalt Psychology
Transposition
Behaviorists predict that the animal would approach the
lighter of the two shades of gray in the new situation
because it is the exact one that had been reinforced.

Gestalt Psychology
Wertheimer
When someone acts on memorized facts or rules
without understanding them, one can often make
stupid mistakes.

Gestalt Psychology
Transposition
Gestaltists predicted that what was a relational principle;
the animal learned the principle of approaching the
darker of the two objects. This prediction was generally
correct.

Gestalt Psychology
Gestaltists view unsolved problems as creating
ambiguity or an organizational disbalance in the mind.
Reduction of ambiguity can be seen as the Gestalt
equivalent to the behaviorists notion of
reinforcementan intrinsic reinforcer.

Traditional approaches to teaching inhibit

development of understanding.

Gestalt Psychology

Gestalt Psychology

The Law of Figure: Ground Discrimination

Law of similarity

Gestalt Psychology

Constructivism
Started with Piagets work and his cognitive
development theory.
Important name: Jerome S. Bruner

Law of continuity

Knowledge comprises symbolic mental

representations, such as propositions and images.
Knowledge is seen as something that is actively
constructed by learners based on their existing
cognitive structures.

Constructivism

Constructivism

Schema: Structure for representing concepts in memory

Schemas are developed by prior knowledge and

experience.

Schema Theory: Theory of how knowledge is

represented and how the representation of knowledge
guides the application of knowledge

Information from the environment is processed and

transformed depending on prior schemas.
Schemas help people understand, interpret, and
remember incoming information

Constructivism
Benefits of connecting new information to prior
knowledge:
Better retention of information
Better ability to access information in authentic
situations

Constructivism
Each learner interprets experiences and information in
the light of their extant knowledge, their stage of
cognitive development, their cultural background,
their personal history, and so forth.
Learners use these factors to organize their experience
and to select and transform new information.
Knowledge is therefore actively constructed by the
learner rather than passively absorbed

Constructivism
The role of the teacher is to facilitate discovery by
providing the necessary resources and by guiding
learners as they attempt to assimilate new knowledge
to old and to modify the old to accommodate the
new.

Constructivism
Intrinsic motivation is emphasized.
Successful learning requires active effort of the
learner.

Teachers must thus take into account the knowledge

that the learner currently possesses when deciding
how to construct the curriculum and to present,
sequence, and structure new material.

Constructivism
Whole activities, as opposed to isolated skill exercises,
authentic activities which are inherently interesting and
meaningful to the student, and real activities that result
in something other than a grade on a test are
emphasized.

Implications of Constructivsm in Education

Discovery learning
Cooperative learning
Self-regulated learning
Scaffolding

Implications of Constructivsm in Education

Tailor strategies to student responses

Encourage analysis, interpretation, prediction
Use open-ended questions and discussion
Connect past experiences with new learning
Use project-based learning
Use problem-based learning

Implications of Schema Theory in Education

Students construct and apply appropriate schema to
solve practical problems in various domains
Become expert problem solvers in school courses
Instructional Strategies
Reduce extra cognitive load Irrelevant tasks
Increase relevant cognitive load

Implications of Schema Theory in Education

Students learn best when they link new information
with related existing ideas
Information is forgotten unless integrated into existing
schemata

Both understanding and memory are driven by

meaning