Fundamentals of Gestalt psychology. Gestalt psychology and gestalt therapy (literature review)

Gestalt psychology is a branch of psychology that originated in Germany. It allows you to study and understand the psyche from the point of view of integral structures that are primary in relation to certain components.

This article will allow you to understand what the theory of Gestalt psychology is and who are its representatives. Further, such points as the history of the emergence of this direction of psychology, as well as what principles are laid down in its basis, will be considered.

Definitions and concepts

Before considering the ideas and principles, it is necessary to define the basic concepts of Gestalt psychology. This is a psychological direction that aims to explain perception, thinking and the personality as a whole.

This direction is built on gestalts - forms of organization that create the integrity of psychological phenomena. In other words, a gestalt is a kind of structure that has integral qualities, as opposed to the sum of its components. For example, a portrait or photograph of a certain person includes a set of certain elements, but other people perceive the image as a whole (while in each case it is perceived differently).

The history of the emergence of this psychological direction

The history of the development of the direction of Gestalt psychology dates back to 1912, when Max Wertheimer released his first scientific work on this topic. This work was based on the fact that Wertheimer questioned the generally accepted idea of ​​the presence of separately existing elements in the process of perceiving something. Thanks to this, the 1920s went down in history as a period of development of the Gestalt psychology school. The main personalities who figured in the birth of this direction:

1. Max Wertheimer.
2. Kurt Koffka.
3. Wolfgang Kehler.
4. Kurt Levin.

These scientists have made an invaluable contribution to the development of this direction. However, more about these representatives of Gestalt psychology will be discussed a little later. These people set themselves a difficult task. The first and main representatives of Gestalt psychology were those who wanted to transfer physical laws to psychological phenomena.

The principles of this psychological direction

Representatives of Gestalt psychology have established that the unity of perception, as well as its orderliness, is achieved on the basis of the following principles:

1. Proximity (stimuli that are close to each other tend to be perceived collectively rather than individually).
2. Similarity (stimuli that have a similar size, shape, color or outline are perceived collectively).
3. Integrity (perception tends to be simplified and whole).
4. Closure (describes the tendency to complete any figure so that it takes on a holistic form).
5. Adjacency (close position of stimuli in time and space).
6. General area(Gestalt principles shape everyday perception in the same way as past experience).
7. The principle of figure and ground (everything that is endowed with meaning acts as a figure that has a less structured background).

Guided by these principles, representatives of Gestalt psychology were able to determine the main provisions of this area of ​​psychology.

Key points

Based on the principles, the main provisions can be described as follows:

1. All processes of psychology are holistic processes that have their own structure, their own set of specific elements that will always be secondary to it. Based on this, the subject of Gestalt psychology is consciousness, which has a structure filled with closely related elements.
2. Perception has such a feature as constancy. This suggests that the constancy of perception is the relative immutability of certain properties that objects possess (in the presence of changes in the conditions of perception). For example, it can be the constancy of lighting or color.

Fundamental Ideas of Gestalt Psychology

Representatives of this school identified the following main ideas of this area of ​​psychology:

1. Consciousness is a holistic and dynamic field in which all its points are in constant interaction with each other.
2. Creation is analyzed with the help of gestalts.
3. Gestalt is a holistic structure.
4. Gestalts are explored through objective observation and description of perceptual contents.
5. Sensations are not the basis of perception, since the former cannot physically exist.
6. The main mental process is visual perception, which determines the development of the psyche and is subject to its own laws.
7. Thinking is a process that is not formed on the basis of experience.
8. Thinking is a process of solving certain problems, which is carried out through "insight".

Having determined what kind of direction in psychology it is, as well as understanding its basics, one should describe in more detail who the representatives of Gestalt psychology are, as well as what contribution they made to the development of this scientific field.

Max Wertheimer

As noted earlier, he is the founder of Gestalt psychology. The scientist was born in the Czech Republic, but he conducted his scientific activities in Germany.

According to historical data, Max Wertheimer, while relaxing, had the idea to conduct an experiment in order to understand why a person can see the movement of a certain object at a time when in reality it is absent. Getting off at the Frankfurt platform, Wertheimer bought the most ordinary toy strobe light in order to conduct an experiment right in the hotel. Some time later, the scientist continued his observations in a more formal setting at the University of Frankfurt.

In general, these studies were aimed at studying the perception of the movement of objects, which does not actually occur. During the experiment, the scientist used the term "impression of movement." With the help of such a device as a tachistoscope, Max Wertheimer passed a beam of light through the small holes of the toy (one slot of the toy was located vertically, and the second had deviations from the first by twenty to thirty degrees).

During the study, a beam of light was passed through the first slot, and then through the second. When the light passed through the second slit, the time interval was increased to two hundred milliseconds. In this case, the participants in the experiment observed how the light appears first in the first, and then in the second slit. However, if the time interval of illumination of the second slit was shortened, then the impression was created that both slits were constantly illuminated. And when illuminating the second slit for 60 milliseconds, it seemed that the light constantly moved from one slit to the second, and then returned back.

The scientist was convinced that such a phenomenon is elementary in its own way, but at the same time it represents something different from one or even several simple sensations. Subsequently, Max Wertheimer gave this phenomenon the name "phi-phenomenon".

Many tried to refute the results of this experiment. In particular, Wundt's theory confirmed that the perception of two light strips located in the neighborhood, but nothing more, should have been created. However, no matter how strictly introspection was carried out in Wertheimer's experiment, the strip continued to move, and it was not possible to explain this phenomenon using the existing theoretical positions. In this experiment, the movement of the light line was the whole, and the sum of the constituent elements was two fixed lines of light.

Wertheimer's experience challenged the usual atomistic associationist psychology. The results of the experiment were published in 1912. This was the beginning of Gestalt psychology.

Kurt Koffka

Another representative of Gestalt psychology is Kurt Koffka. He was a German-American psychologist who carried out his scientific work with Wertheimer.

He devoted sufficient time to understanding how perception is arranged and from what it is formed. In the course of his scientific activity, he established that a child born into the world does not yet have formed gestalts. For example, Small child may not even know loved one if he changes some details of his appearance. However, in the process of life, any person undergoes the formation of gestalts. Over time, the child already becomes able to recognize his mother or grandmother, even if they change their hair color, haircut or any other element of appearance that distinguishes them from other, outsider women.

Wolfgang Köhler (Keller)

Gestalt psychology as a scientific field owes a lot to this scientist, since he wrote many books that became new theory, and performed some amazing experiments. Koehler was sure that physics as a science should have a certain connection with psychology.

In 1913 Koehler traveled to the Canary Islands where he studied the behavior of chimpanzees. In one experiment, a scientist placed a banana for animals outside of a cage. The fruit was tied with a rope, and the chimpanzee easily solved this problem - the animal simply pulled the rope and brought the treat closer to itself. Koehler concluded that this was a simple task for an animal and made it more difficult. The scientist extended several ropes to the banana, and the chimpanzee did not know which one led to the treat, so he was more often mistaken. Koehler concluded that the decision of the animal in this situation is unconscious.

The course of another experiment was slightly different. The banana was still placed outside the cage, and a stick was placed between them (opposite the banana). In this case, the animal perceived all the objects as elements of one situation and easily pushed the delicacy towards itself. However, when the stick was at the other end of the cage, the chimpanzee did not perceive the objects as elements of the same situation.

The third experiment was carried out under similar conditions. Similarly, the banana was placed outside the cage at an inaccessible distance, and the monkey was given two sticks in the hands that were too short to reach the fruit. To solve the problem, the animal needed to insert one stick into another and get a treat.

The essence of all these experiments was reduced to one thing - to compare the results of the perception of objects in different situations. All these examples, just like Max Wertheimer's experiment with light, proved that perceptual experience has a quality of integrity (completeness) that its components do not have. In other words, perception is a gestalt, and the attempt to decompose it into components ends in failure.

Research made it clear to Koehler that the animals solved the tasks they were given either through trial and error or through sudden awareness. Thus, the conclusion was formed - objects that lie in the field of one perception and are not interconnected, when solving problems, are combined into a common structure, the awareness of which helps to solve the problem.

Kurt Lewin

This scientist put forward a theory that compares the pressure of society, which determines human behavior with various physical forces (internal - feelings, external - the perception of other people's desires or expectations). This theory is called "field theory".

Lewin argued that personality is a system in which there are subsystems that are in interaction. Carrying out his experiments, Levin noted that when the feature is active, the state of the subsystem is tense, and when the activity is interrupted, it will still be in tension until the moment it returns to the execution of the action. If there is no logical completion of the action, then the tension is substituting or draining.

In simple terms, Levin tried to prove the relationship between human behavior and the environment. This scientist left the ideas of the influence of experience on the structure of personality. The field theory says that human behavior absolutely does not depend on the future or the past, but at the same time it depends on the present.

Gestalt Psychology and Gestalt Therapy: Definition and Differences

Recently, Gestalt therapy has become a very popular area of ​​psychotherapy. The methods of Gestalt psychology and Gestalt therapy are different, and the latter is more often criticized by adherents of the former.

According to some sources, Fritz Perls is a scientist who is considered the founder of Gestalt therapy, which is not related to the scientific school of Gestalt psychology. He synthesized psychoanalysis, the ideas of bioenergetics and Gestalt psychology. However, there is nothing from the school founded by Max Wertheimer in this direction of therapy. Some sources argue that in fact the link to Gestalt psychology was just a publicity stunt to draw attention to the synthesized direction of psychotherapy.

At the same time, other sources note that such therapy is still associated with the Gestalt psychology school. However, this connection is not direct, but it still exists.

Conclusion

Having sorted out in detail in who are the representatives of Gestalt psychology, and also what this area of ​​scientific activity is, we can conclude that it is aimed at studying perception, which is an integral structure.

Gestalt approaches have penetrated many scientific fields over time. For example, in pathopsychology or personality theory, as well as such approaches are found in social psychology, the psychology of learning and perception. Today it is difficult to imagine such scientific fields as neobehaviorism or cognitive psychology without Gestalt psychology.

As noted earlier, the main representatives of Gestalt psychology are Wertheimer, Koffka, Levin and Koehler. Having learned about the activities of these people, one can understand that this direction has played a huge role in the development of world psychology.

Gestalt psychology basic provisions. The concept of Gestalt psychology.

The concept and main ideas of Gestalt psychology.

Gestalt psychology- a science that has become the most productive option in solving the problem of maintaining the integrity of Austrian and German psychology. The main representatives of Gestalt psychology, such as M. Wertheimer, W. Koehler and K. Koffka, K. Levin, created science to resist structuralism.

They put forward the following ideas of Gestalt psychology:

The subject of Gestalt psychology is consciousness, the understanding of which should be based on the principle of integrity;

Consciousness is a dynamic whole where everything interacts with each other;

The unit of analysis of consciousness is the gestalt, i.e. integral figurative structure;

The main method of studying gestalts was direct and objective observation and description of the contents of one's own perception;

Perception does not come from sensations, since they do not exist in reality;

Visual perception is the most important mental process, which is able to determine the level of development of the psyche, which has its own laws;

Thinking cannot be viewed as a set of certain knowledge and skills formed by trial and error. Thus, thinking is the process of determining and solving the conditions of the problem, through the structuring of the field in real time. Experience gained in the past has no bearing on the solution of the problem.

Gestalt psychology is a science that has explored holistic structures consisting of a mental field, developing the latest experimental methods. Representatives of Gestalt psychology believed that the subject of this science is undoubtedly the study of the psyche, the analysis of all cognitive processes, the dynamics and structure of personality development. The methodological approach to the study of this science is based on the concept of mental field, phenomenology and isomorphism. Mental gestalts have similar physical and psychophysical characteristics, i.e. the processes occurring in the cerebral cortex are similar to the processes occurring in the external world and realized by us in experiences and thoughts. Each person is able to realize their own experiences and find a way out of this situation. At present, almost all properties of perception are revealed thanks to the research. Also proved the value this process in the formation and development of imagination, thinking and other cognitive functions. This type of thinking is complete process the formation of figurative ideas about the world around us, allowing us to reveal the most important mechanisms of creative thinking.

The history of the emergence and development of Gestalt psychology.

For the first time, the concept of Gestalt psychology was introduced in 1890 by H. Ehrenfels in the study of perception processes. The property of transposition was singled out as the main property of this process, i.e. transfer. At the beginning of the 19th century, the Leipzig school was created, where, in fact, a complex quality, permeated with feeling, was defined as a single experience. Gestaltists soon begin to go beyond the scope of psychology, thus, by the 1950s, with the advent of fascism, the manifestation of a sharp desire for Gestalt psychology subsides. This science had a huge impact on the process of formation and development of psychological science. And by 1978, the International Psychological Society was created under the name "Gestalt theory and its applications", which included the following representatives from around the world: Germany (Z. Ertel, G. Portele, M. Stadler, K. Huss), USA ( A. Lachins, R. Arnheim, son of M. Wertheimer Michael Wertheimer) and others, Finland, Italy, Austria, Switzerland.

Basic ideas, facts and principles of Gestalt psychology.

One of the most important representatives of Gestalt psychology is the philosopher Max Wertheimer. His work was devoted to the study of visual perception experimentally. The data obtained in the course of his research laid the foundations for an approach to perception (and later to other psychological processes) and stimulated criticism of associationism. Thus, the principle of integrity, according to which concepts and images are formed, became the main principle of the formation of the psyche. Conducting research and perception made it possible to discover the laws of perception, and later the laws of gestalt. They made it possible to reveal the content of mental processes during the interaction of stimuli throughout the body, correlating, structuring and preserving individual images. At the same time, the correlation of objective images should not be static, immovable, but should be determined by changing relationships established in the process of cognition. Further experimental studies by Wertheimer made it possible to establish that there are many factors on which the stability of the figure and its perfection depend. This includes the commonality of color, the rhythm in the construction of rows, the commonality of light, and much more. The action of these factors obeys the main law, according to which the actions are interpreted as a desire for stable states at the level of electrochemical processes.

Since perceptual processes are considered innate, while explaining the features of the functioning of the cerebral cortex, the necessary objectivity arises, turning psychology into an explanatory science. An analysis of problem situations, as well as ways to solve them, allowed Wertheimer to distinguish several stages of thinking processes:

The emergence of a directed feeling of tension, mobilizing the creative forces of each person;

Conducting an analysis of the situation and awareness of the problem to create a unified image of the current situation;

Solving the existing problem;

Decision-making;

Execution stage.

Wertheimer's experiments revealed the negative impact of habitual methods of perceiving structural relationships. The published publications consider the analysis of creative thinking (its mechanisms) and the problems of creativity in science.

Gestalt psychology: subject, method, areas of research, basic concepts.

The problem of integrity is the main problem of Gestalt psychology. The subject is mental integrity. The term "gestalt" was first introduced by Enfeis.

The method is phenomenological.

Areas of study:

Perception (factors and laws of structure formation; principle of isomorphism)

Integrity principles:

1. oversummativity of the whole - it is not reduced to the sum of the component parts. It was based on the fact that the elements that make up the whole can change in their characteristics. If the changes do not concern the structure of the whole, they do not change the quality of the whole.

2. the transposition of the whole (the gestalt remains recognizable also in the transposed form)

Gestalt psychology arose in the early 1920s in Germany as a reaction against the atomism and mechanism of all varieties of associative psychology. Founding Fathers: M. Wertheimer, W. Köhler, K. Koffka - representatives of the Berlin School; and, of course, a huge contribution was made by K. Levin, who founded his own school.

The concept of "gestalt" was introduced by Ehrenfels in the article "On the quality of form" (1890) in the study of perceptions.

1912 - article on the perception of movement. This year is the birth date of Gestalt psychology. The task is not a description of experiments, but an interpretation in the light of the principle of isomorphism, the action of multidirectional forces, the basis of which are gestalts.

1918 - Koehler conducted experiments with monkeys. This is also the beginning of Gestalt psychology. It was discovered that thinking, intelligence in monkeys and humans are different. If the animal combines the conditions and means of solution into a single whole, then after a while insight arises (sudden discernment of connections for a solution).

1920 - Koehler conducts an experiment with chickens. He showed that the chicken reacts not to individual influences, but to integral relationships between the elements of the situation. Gestalt is a fundamental property of the psyche.

Koffka - an explanation of development from the standpoint of gestalt: initially the world is gestalt, but gestalts do not communicate with one another and are not perfect enough in themselves.

20th - journal "Psychological Research". Spread of psychology. The basic principles of Gestalt psychology are formulated.

1926 - Levin publishes the book "Intentions ..."

The pioneers of holistic psychology were scientists of the Leipzig school - F. Kruger, I. Volkelt, F. Sander (late 10s - late 30s of the twentieth century). The main concept of their psychology is the concept of a complex quality as a holistic experience, permeated with feeling. They did not develop it - they were afraid of some methodological difficulties.

The history of Gestalt psychology begins with the publication of the work of M. Wertheimer "Experimental studies of the perception of movement" (1912), which questioned the usual idea of ​​the presence of individual elements in the act of perception. In this work, he described the effect of apparent movement (stroboscopic movement). Very entertaining.

Immediately after this, the Berlin School of Gestalt Psychology was formed around Wertheimer in Berlin: M. Wertheimer, K. Koffka (1886-1941), W. Köhler (1887-1967), K. Levin (1890-1947). Research covered perception, thinking, needs, affects, will. In general, the Gestaltists have seriously gone beyond the limits of psychology → and let's define all the processes of reality by the laws of Gestalt!

The central problem in Gestalt psychology is the problem of integrity and a holistic approach, as opposed to the elementarism and mechanism of the old, associative, and new, behavioral, psychology.

Important points:

1. A new understanding of the subject and method of psychology: it is important to start with a naive picture of the world, to study reactions as they are, to study experience that has not been analyzed, retaining its integrity. In this structure individual elements stand out, they actually exist. But they are secondary and stand out in terms of their functional significance in this whole. The whole cannot be decomposed into elements, because then it ceases to exist.

2. Criticism of the method of analytical introspection. Gestaltists believed that analysis is a continuation, initially perception gives complete picture. Analytical introspection was opposed by another phenomenological method aimed at direct and natural description by the observer of the content of his perception, his experience. In contrast to introspective psychology, the subjects were required to describe the object of perception not as they know it, but as they see it in this moment. There are no items in this description.

3. With the help of experiments using the phenomenological method, it was found that the elements of the visual field are combined into a perceptual structure depending on a number of factors. These factors are the proximity of elements to each other, the similarity of elements, isolation, symmetry, etc. It was formulated that a holistic image is a dynamic structure and is formed according to special laws of organization. → The formulation of some laws of perception (I don’t describe it, because I think that everyone remembers this very well):

The law of differentiation of figure and background; (separation of visual sensations into an object - a figure located on the background)

The law of pregnancy (the existence of a tendency to perceive the simplest and most stable figure of all possible perceptual alternatives.)

The law of addition to the whole (amplification) (clear, but not complete structures have always been supplemented to a clear geometric whole.)

4. This phenomenology was explained using the principle of isomorphism. → Structures are not the result of mental activity. The mental world is an exact structural reproduction of the dynamic organization of the corresponding brain processes.

5. Experimental study of thinking (Köhler, Wertheimer, Dunker & Mayer). According to Köhler, the intelligent solution is that the elements of the field, previously unconnected, begin to be combined into some structure corresponding to the problem situation. The structuring of the field in accordance with the problem occurs suddenly as a result of discretion (insight), provided that all the elements necessary for the solution are in the field of perception of the animal. Wertheimer extends this principle to human problem solving → highlighting the main stages of thinking:

Emergence of a theme → the emergence of a sense of “directed tension”, which mobilizes the creative forces of a person;

Analysis of the situation, awareness of the problem → creation of a holistic image of the situation;

Problem solving → largely unconscious, although preliminary conscious work is necessary;

Insight → the emergence of an idea for a solution;

Performing stage.

6. Works by K. Levin (1890-1947)

Levin proceeded from the fact that the basis of human activity in any of its forms, whether it be an act, thinking, memory, is intention - a quasi-need. The prefix quasi- is needed by Levin in order to distinguish his understanding of need from that already established in psychology and associated mainly with biological, innate needs. A quasi-need is some desire, a tendency to fulfill, to realize some goal, which is set either by the subject himself, or comes from someone else, for example, from the experimenter. It is formed in the current situation in connection with the accepted intentions, goals and directs the activity of a person. Quasi-need creates a system of tension in the personality. This voltage system tends to discharge. Detente, according to Levin, is the satisfaction of needs. Hence the name of the theory of K. Levin - "dynamic theory of personality." Discharging needs is carried out in a certain situation. This situation was called by Levin the psychological field. Each thing in the psychological field is characterized not by its physical properties, but appears in some relation to the needs of the subject. It is the need that determines that one object has an incentive character, attracts to itself, has a positive valence, the other does not have such an incentive character, has a negative valence.

In connection with quasi-needs, Levin investigated the problem of goal setting and goal-directed behavior. These studies introduced into psychology a complex of the most important concepts that characterize behavior related to the achievement of goals: the target structure and target levels of the individual, including real and ideal goals, the level of aspirations, the search for success and the desire to avoid failure, and some others.

Levin enriched psychology with a number of new methods and techniques:

a. experiments on interrupted action (M. Ovsyankina);

b. experiments on memorizing incomplete and completed actions (B. V. Zeigarnik);

c. substitution experiments (K. Lissner and A. Mahler);

d. experiments to identify the level of claims (F. Hoppe);

e. saturation experiments (A. Karsten), etc.

6. Gestalt psychology has been applied in the field of psychotherapeutic practice. On its principles, in combination with psychoanalysis, F. Perls founded Gestalt therapy.

“Tell me and I will forget. Show me and I will remember. Call me with you, and I will understand. Confucius (ancient thinker and philosopher of China).

Perhaps everyone knows psychology as a system of life phenomena, but few know it as a system of proven knowledge, and only those who specifically deal with it, solving all kinds of scientific and practical problems. The term "psychology" first appeared in scientific use in the 16th century, and denoted a special science that was engaged in the study of mental and mental phenomena. In the 17th - 19th centuries, the scope of research by psychologists expanded significantly and covered unconscious mental processes (the unconscious) and the detail of a person. And since the 19th century psychology is an independent (experimental) field of scientific knowledge. Studying the psychology and behavior of people, scientists continue to look for their explanations, both in the biological nature of man and in his individual experience.

What is Gestalt psychology?

Gestalt psychology(German gestalt - image, form; gestalten - configuration) is one of the most interesting and popular trends in Western psychology that arose during the open crisis of psychological science in the early 1920s. in Germany. The founder is a German psychologist Max Wertheimer. This trend was developed not only in the works of Max Wertheimer, but also in the works of Kurt Lewin, Wolfgang Keller, Kurt Koffka and others. Gestalt psychology is a kind of protest against Wundt's molecular program for psychology. Based on studies of visual perception, the configurations " gestalts”(Gestalt - a holistic form), the essence of which is that a person tends to perceive the world around him in the form of ordered holistic configurations, and not separate fragments of the world.

Gestalt psychology opposed the principle of dismembering consciousness (structural psychology) into elements, and constructing from them, according to the laws of creative synthesis, complex mental phenomena. Even a peculiar law was formulated, which sounded as follows: “the whole is always more than the amount its constituent parts." Initially subject Gestalt psychology was a phenomenal field, in the future there was a rather rapid expansion of this topic, and it began to include questions studying the problems of the development of the psyche, the founders of this direction were also concerned about the dynamics of the needs of the individual, memory and creative thinking of a person.

School of Gestalt Psychology

The school of Gestalt psychology traces its origin (pedigree) from the important experiment of the German psychologist Max Wertheimer - "fi - phenomena", the essence of which is as follows: M. Wertheimer using special devices- a stroboscope and a tachiostoscope, studied two stimuli in the test people (two straight lines) by transmitting them different speeds. And found out the following:

• If the interval is large, the subject perceives the lines sequentially
• Very short interval - lines are perceived simultaneously
• Optimal interval (about 60 milliseconds) - the perception of movement is created (the subject's eyes observed the movement of the line "right" and "left", and not two data lines sequentially or simultaneously)
• With the optimal time interval - the subject perceived only pure movement (he realized that there was movement, but without moving the line itself) - this phenomenon was called "phi-phenomenon".

Max Wertheimer stated his observation in the article "Experimental Studies of the Perception of Motion" - 1912.

Max Wertheimer - famous German psychologist, founder of Gestalt psychology, became widely known thanks to experimental work in the field of thinking and perception. M. Wertheimer (1880 -1943) - was born in Prague, where he received elementary education, studied at the universities - in Prague, in Berlin with K. Stumpf; O. Kulpe - in Würzburg (received in 1904 the degree of Doctor of Philosophy). In the summer of 1910 he moved to Frankfurt am Main, where he became interested in the perception of movement, thanks to which new principles of psychological explanation were subsequently discovered.

His work attracted the attention of many prominent scientists of the time, among them was Kurt Koffka, who participated in Wertheimer's experiments as a test subject. Together, based on the results, on the method of experimental research, they formulated a completely new approach to explaining the perception of movement.

And so Gestalt psychology was born. Gestalt psychology becomes popular in Berlin, where Werheimer returns in 1922. And in 1929 he was appointed professor at Frankfurt. 1933 - emigration to the USA (New York) - work in new school social research, here in October 1943 he dies. And in 1945 it comes out Book: "Productive Thinking", in which he experimentally explores the process of solving problems from the standpoint of Gestalt psychology (the process of finding out the functional significance of individual parts in the structure of a problem situation is described).

Kurt Koffka (1886-1941) is considered to be the founder of Gestalt psychology. K. Koffka was born and raised in Berlin, where he was educated at the local university. He was always especially interested in the natural sciences and philosophy, K. Koffka was always very inventive. In 1909 he received his doctorate. In 1910 he fruitfully collaborated with Max Wertheimer at the University of Frankfurt. In his article: "Perception: an introduction to Gestalt theory" he outlined the basics of Gestalt psychology, as well as the results of many studies.

In 1921 Koffka published book "Fundamentals mental development» devoted to the formation of child psychology. The book was very popular not only in Germany, but also in the United States. He was invited to America to lecture at the Universities of Cornell and Wisconsin. In 1927, he received a professorship at Smith College in Northamptop, Massachusetts, where he worked until his death (until 1941). In 1933 Koffka publishes Book "Principles of Gestalt Psychology", which turned out to be too difficult to read, and therefore did not become the main and most complete guide to the study of the new theory, as its author expected.

His research on the development of perception in children revealed the following: the child, as it turned out, actually has a set of not very adequate, vague images outside world. This led him to the idea that the combination of the figure and the background on which the image is shown plays an important role in the development of perception. given subject. He formulated one of the laws of perception, which was called "transduction". This law proved that children do not perceive the colors themselves, but their relationships.

Ideas, laws, principles

Key Ideas of Gestalt Psychology

The main thing that Gestalt psychology works with is consciousness. Consciousness is a dynamic whole where all elements interact with each other. A striking analogue: the harmony of the whole organism - the human body works flawlessly and properly long years, consisting of a large number of organs and systems.

• Gestalt is a unit of consciousness, an integral figurative structure.
• Subject Gestalt psychology is consciousness, the understanding of which should be based on the principle of integrity.
• Method Gestalt cognitions are observation and description of the contents of one's perception. Our perception does not come from sensations, since they do not exist in reality, but is a reflection of fluctuations in air pressure - the sensation of hearing.
• visual perception - the leading mental process that determines the level of development of the psyche. And an example of this: a huge amount of information obtained by people through the organs of vision.
• Thinking is not a set of skills formed through mistakes and trials, but a process of solving a problem, carried out through the structuring of the field, that is, through insight in the present.

Laws of Gestalt psychology

The law of figure and background: figures are perceived by a person as a closed whole, but the background, already as something continuously extending behind the figure.

Transposition law: the psyche does not react to individual stimuli, but to their ratio. The meaning here is this: elements can be combined if there are at least some similar features, such as proximity or symmetry.

law of pregnancy: there is a tendency to perceive the simplest and most stable figure of all possible perceptual alternatives.

The law of constancy: everything strives for permanence.

Law of Proximity: the tendency to combine into a holistic image of elements adjacent in time and space. We all, as we know, find it easiest to combine similar items.

Closure law(filling in the gaps in the perceived figure): when we observe something completely incomprehensible to us, our brain tries with all its might to transform, to translate what we see into an understanding that is accessible to us. Sometimes it even carries a danger, because we begin to see what is not in reality.

Gestalt principles

All the above properties of perception, whether it be a figure, a background, or constants, certainly interact with each other, thereby carrying new properties. This is the gestalt, the quality of the form. Integrity of perception, orderliness are achieved due to the following principles:

• Proximity(everything that is nearby is perceived together);
• Similarity ( anything that is similar in size, color, or shape tends to be perceived together);
• Integrity(perception tends to simplify and integrity);
• Closure(acquisition of a shape by a figure);
• Adjacency ( proximity of stimuli in time and space. Adjacency can predetermine the perception when one event triggers another);
• General area(Gestalt principles shape our daily perception along with learning and past experience).

Gestalt - quality

The term "Gestalt-quality" (German. Gestalt qualification) introduced into psychological science X. Ehrenfels to denote the integral "gestalt" properties of some formations of consciousness. The quality of "transpositivity": the image of the whole remains, even if all parts change in their material, and examples of this:

• different tonalities of the same melody,
• paintings by Picasso (for example, Picasso's drawing "Cat").

Perception constants

Size Constancy: the perceived size of an object remains constant, regardless of the size of its image on the retina.

Form constancy: the perceived shape of an object is constant, even as the shape changes on the retina. It is enough to look at the page you are reading, first directly, and then at an angle. Despite the change in the "picture" of the page, the perception of its form remains unchanged.

Brightness Constancy: The brightness of an object is constant, even under changing lighting conditions. Naturally, subject to the same illumination of the object and the background.

Figure and background

The simplest perception is formed by dividing visual sensations into an object - figure located on background. Brain cells, having received visual information (looking at the figure), give a more active reaction than when looking at the background. This happens for the reason that the figure is always pushed forward, and the background, on the contrary, is pushed back, and the figure is also richer and brighter than the background in content.

Gestalt therapy

Gestalt therapy - the direction of psychotherapy, which was formed in the middle of the last century. The term "gestalt" is a holistic image of a certain situation. The meaning of therapy: a person and everything around him is a single whole. The founder of Gestalt therapy is a psychologist Friedrich Perls. Contact and border are the two main concepts of this direction.

Contact - the process of interaction of human needs with the possibilities of his environment. This means that the needs of a person will be satisfied only in the case of his contact with the outside world. For example: to satisfy the feeling of hunger - we need food.

The life of absolutely any person is an endless gestalt, whether it be small or big events. A quarrel with a dear and close person, relationships with dad and mom, children, relatives, friendship, falling in love, talking with work colleagues - all these are gestalts. Gestalt can arise suddenly, at any time, whether we like it or not, but it arises as a result of the appearance of a need that requires immediate satisfaction. Gestalt tends to have a beginning and an end. It ends when satisfaction is reached.

Gestalt Therapy Technique

The techniques used in Gestalt therapy are principles and games.

The most famous are the three below presented games for understanding yourself and the people around you. Games are built on an internal dialogue, the dialogue is conducted between parts of one's own personality (with one's own emotions - with fear, anxiety). To understand this, remember yourself when you experienced a feeling of fear or doubt - what happened to you.

Game technique:

• To play, you will need two chairs, they must be positioned opposite each other. One chair is for an imaginary “participant” (your interlocutor), and the other chair is for you, that is, a specific participant in the game. Task: to change chairs and at the same time play the internal dialogue - try to identify yourself as much as possible with different parts of your personality.
• Making circles. A direct participant in the game, going in a circle, must turn to fictional characters with questions that excite his soul: how the participants in the game evaluate him and what he himself feels for an imaginary group of people, for each person individually.
• Unfinished business. An unfinished gestalt, always needs completion. And how to achieve this, you can learn from the following sections of our article.

All Gestalt therapy is about finishing unfinished business. Most people have a lot of unresolved tasks, plans related to their relatives, parents or friends.

Unfinished Gestalt

It is a pity, of course, that not always the desires of a person come true, but speaking in the language of philosophy: the completion of the cycle can take almost a lifetime. Gestalt cycle in ideal, looks like that:

1. The emergence of a need;
2. Search for the possibility of its satisfaction;
3. Satisfaction;
4. Exit contact.

But there are always some internal or external factors that impede the ideal process. As a result, the cycle remains unfinished. In the case of the complete completion of the process, the gestalt is deposited in consciousness. If the process remains incomplete, it continues to exhaust a person throughout his life, while also delaying the fulfillment of all other desires. Often, incomplete gestalts cause malfunctions in the mechanisms that protect the human psyche from unnecessary overloads.

To complete unfinished gestalts, you can use the advice that a hundred years ago gave the world - wonderful poet, playwright and writer - Oscar Wilde:

"To overcome temptation, you need to ... give in to it."

A completed gestalt will certainly bear fruit - a person becomes pleasant, easy to communicate with and begins to be easy for other people. People with incomplete gestalts are always trying to complete them in other situations and with other people - forcibly imposing roles on them in their incomplete gestalt scripts!

A small, simple, effective rule: start by completing the simplest and most surface gestalt . Fulfill your cherished (preferably not serious) dream. Learn to dance the tango. Draw nature outside the window. Take a parachute jump.

Gestalt exercises

Gestalt therapy is a general therapeutic principles that helps to help "himself" learn to understand the mysterious labyrinths of his soul and recognize the sources of the causes of internal contradiction.

The following exercises are aimed: at the simultaneous awareness of oneself and the existence of another. In general, they urge us to step beyond the bounds of the possible. While doing the exercises, try to analyze what you are doing, why and how you are doing it. The main task of these exercises is to develop the ability to find your own estimates.

1. Exercise - "Presence"

Goal: Focus on the sense of presence.

• close your eyes
• Focus on bodily sensations. Correct posture if necessary
• Be natural every moment
• Open your eyes, relax them, remaining a frozen body and thoughts
• Let your body relax
• Concentrate on the feeling of "existence" (feel "I'm here")

After concentrating for some time on the feeling of I, relaxed at the same time and with your mind silent, bring your breath into awareness and shift your attention from “I” to “here”, and mentally repeat “I am here” simultaneously with inhalation, pause, exhalation .

2. Exercise - Feeling "You"

The purpose of the exercise: to be able to experience the state of presence "in another person", that is, to be able to feel the state of "You" in return - the state of "Ego". The exercise is performed in pairs.

• Face each other
• Close your eyes, take the most comfortable postures.
• Wait for a state of complete peace.
• open your eyes
• Start a wordless dialogue with your partner
• Forget about yourself, focus only on the person looking at you.

H. Exercise "I / You"

The exercise is also performed in pairs, you need to sit opposite each other.

1. Concentrate;
2. The eyes must be open;
3. Maintain mental silence, physical relaxation;
4. Concentrate on both the senses of "I" and "You";
5. Try to feel the "cosmic depth", infinity.

The purpose of the exercise is to reach the state: "I" - "YOU" - "Infinity".

Gestalt Pictures

Changeling drawings (visual illusions): What do you see? What emotions are conveyed on each side of the pictures? It is not recommended to let children view such pictures. preschool age because they can cause mental disorders. Below are the famous "dual" images: people, animals, nature. What can you see in each of the pictures?

In addition, the idea of ​​Gestalt psychology underlies such pictures, which are called "drudles". Read more about drudles on.

With this article, we wanted to awaken in each of you the desire to start taking care of yourself - to open up to the world. Gestalt, of course, cannot make you richer, but happier - no doubt.

Gestalt psychology emerged as a reaction to attempts at an atomistic understanding of experience - an analysis in which the elements of experience were reduced to their simplest constituents, and each was analyzed in isolation from the others, and experience was understood simply as the sum of these components. The very concept of "Gestalt" denies the value of this kind of atomistic analysis.

The basic principle of the Gestalt psychology approach is that the analysis of the parts cannot provide an understanding of the whole, since the whole is determined by the interaction of the parts. The parts isolated from the gestalt do not remain identical to what they were in their specific place and with their specific function as a whole. (Experiment with two points).

Basic concepts grouped by areas of study:

Perception: A holistic image (percept) as a unit of perception, a figure-ground (proximity, closed contour, similarity, symmetry).

Thinking: penetration into the situation, insight, functional solution.

Personality: the concept of the field, the forces of the field, the valence of forces, the conflict of forces, the principle of simultaneity and influence of the past and future.

The main representatives of Gestalt psychology, such as M. Wertheimer, W. Koehler and K. Koffka, K. Levin, created science to resist structuralism.

They put forward the following ideas of Gestalt psychology:

· The subject of Gestalt psychology is consciousness, the understanding of which should be based on the principle of integrity;

Consciousness is a dynamic whole, where everything interacts with each other;

· The unit of analysis of consciousness is the gestalt, i.e. integral figurative structure;

· The main method of studying gestalts was direct and objective observation and description of the contents of one's own perception;

Perception does not come from sensations, since they do not exist in reality;

Visual perception is the most important mental process, which is able to determine the level of development of the psyche, which has its own patterns;

· Thinking cannot be viewed as a set of certain knowledge and skills formed by trial and error. Thus, thinking is the process of determining and solving the conditions of the problem, through the structuring of the field in real time. Experience gained in the past has no bearing on the solution of the problem.

For the first time, the concept of Gestalt psychology was introduced in 1890 by H. Ehrenfels in the study of perception processes. The property of transposition was singled out as the main property of this process, i.e. transfer. At the beginning of the 19th century, the Leipzig school was created, where, in fact, a complex quality, permeated with feeling, was defined as a single experience. Gestaltists soon begin to go beyond the scope of psychology, thus, by the 1950s, with the advent of fascism, the manifestation of a sharp desire for Gestalt psychology subsides. This science had a huge impact on the process of formation and development of psychological science. And by 1978, the International Psychological Society was created under the name "Gestalt theory and its applications", which included the following representatives from different countries world: Germany (Z. Ertel, G. Portele, M. Stadler, K. Huss), USA (A. Lachins, R. Arnheim, son of M. Wertheimer Michael Wertheimer) and others, Finland, Italy, Austria, Switzerland .

Basic concepts:

Gestalt is a holistic structure that has a special quality compared to the sum of its parts. A specific feature of Gestalt is the property of transposition (transfer). Experiment - 2 points at some distance from each other are lit alternately with different intervals of 200, 30 and 50 ms. At a certain time interval (50 ms) there is an apparent movement, a stroboscopic effect, a phi-phenomenon. Movement as a special quality cannot be reduced to the sum of two points.

Insight - a holistic understanding of the situation - such a holistic organization of the problem situation, which allows you to solve the problem, eliminate the conflict contained in it. Insight in thinking (understanding) is a gestalt in perception.

Research covered perception, thinking, memory, affects, will.

Method - a phenomenological method - a direct description by the observer of the content of his perception, his experience (description of objective perception as they see it at the moment). Allows you to describe not only subjective phenomena, but also externally observed behavior (experiments on animals). There is no difference between description and explanation (description is explanation).

2. Basic principles:

The principle of isomorphism (an expression of the structural unity of the world: physical, physiological and psychological: the mental world is an exact structural reproduction of the dynamic organization of the corresponding brain processes).

The principle of structurality (a whole that determines the properties and meaning of its parts is called a structure): an element does not have a value, but receives it in a certain structure in which it is included.

3. Studies of visual perception.

The primary in perception is the whole. Feeling is not an element; the unit is considered to be a visual image, a figure on the background. The elements of the visual field are combined into a structure depending on a number of factors (the proximity of the elements to each other, the similarity of the elements, isolation, symmetry, etc.).

A holistic image is a dynamic structure that is formed according to the special laws of the organization. AT visual field perceptual forces are binding and restraining perceptual forces.

Shape and background properties:

the figure looks more intense than the background

the contour is perceived as belonging to the figure

the figure appears phenomenally closer (and larger) than the background, and the background extends continuously behind the figure.

Laws of perception:

The law of figure and background (Ruby) (the figure is a stronger and more stable structure than the background);

The law of pregnancy (the tendency of the perceptual organization towards internal order, leading in a situation of an ambiguous stimulus configuration to a “good figure”, to a simplification of perception;

The law of addition to the whole (“amplification”, if the figure is not completed, in perception we strive to see it as a whole).

This phenomenology was explained using the principle of isomorphism. Structures are a direct reflection in consciousness of a physiological process in the brain, resulting from external influences that reach the cortical fields in the form of afferent impulses. Physiological patterns were explained by the physical laws of the electromagnetic field.

Koehler's experiments with chickens. Light and dark stripes + grain. The grains were presented on light gray and dark gray sheets of paper. On the first one it was possible to peck, on the second - the grains were glued. Gradually, through trial and error, the chicken developed a positive reaction to the light gray leaf. She unmistakably approached the light gray leaf and pecked at the grains. When the reaction was strengthened, then a critical experiment was presented: light gray and White list s. Chicken behavior: positive for white sheet and negative for light grey. Conclusion: chicken training was developed not for absolute darkness or lightness of tone, but for relative. Another critical experience with black and dark gray sheets. The reaction is similar (orientation to relative lightness). All this shows with perfect clarity and persuasiveness that the chicken reacts to the situation presented to it as a whole: a reaction to a lighter tone. Those. the structure of visual perception of a chicken as a whole determines the properties of its constituent elements. Hence the conclusion that structures are primary primitive acts. The whole is not the highest, as previously thought; the structural is not the result of intellect, creative synthesis, etc.

4. Research of thinking.

Stages of thinking: setting a task based on conditions; grouping, reorganization and structuring; discovery of structure by insight; finding implementation paths in accordance with this structure.

Koehler: The intelligent solution is that the elements of the field that were not connected before begin to be combined into some structure corresponding to the problem situation. "Insight" - insight.

Early 1920s: experiments with great apes. Cage, bait, stick. 3 stages:

chaotic random activity

idle stage

insight (the monkey jumps up, grabs a stick, takes out the bait).

Intelligent behavior - the solution of specific problems. Everything needed for the solution is presented in the visual field. Insight is a qualitative change in behavior. Prior to insight, the problem situation is chaotic, behavior is chaotic. After - the parts are united into a whole, the behavior is orderly, has a purpose.

Means and ends are intertwined. 1) understanding without a solution (no stick - functional replacement of the stick - good test subject error). There is insight, but the goal is not achieved. 2) decision without understanding (decision by analogy with the actions of relatives. The goal is not achieved (“stupid” chimpanzee). Behavior in parts outwardly coincides with the decision system, but the parts are separated, and actions do not give a result. No insight - insight is not reduced to the sum their parts.

Wertheimer: thinking consists in discretion, awareness structural features and structural requirements in actions that meet these requirements and are determined by them, and thereby, in changing the situation in the direction of improving its structure.

The conditions for restructuring the situation are the ability to abandon the habitual patterns that have developed in past experience and are fixed by exercises, patterns that turn out to be inadequate to the task situation. Go to new point vision is carried out suddenly as a result of insight - insight.

The basis of human activity in any of its forms (act, thinking, memory) is intention - need. A need is a certain desire, a tendency to fulfill, to realize some goal. Quasi-needs are formed in the current situation in connection with the accepted intentions, the goals direct the activity of a person. Quasi-need creates a system of tension in the personality, which tends to discharge. Discharge and then satisfaction of need.

Each thing in the psychological field is characterized not by its physical properties, but appears in some relation to the personality of the subject (positive and negative valence).

The unity of the individual and the environment is a living space that has properties - the level of reality, the temporal perspective. In understanding the living space, Levin included expectations, ideas about the future (ideal plan) and the past, but in connection with the way they are presented in the present. hence the problem of goal formation and goal-directed behavior.

The main provisions of Gestalt theory:

The idea of ​​the integrity of the image;

2. The idea of ​​isomorphism (there are similarities between psychological processes and nervous (material) processes;

3. The idea of ​​immanent Gestalt dynamics (figure - background). Changes can occur in the picture of the world that we have developed;

4. The dominance of a "good figure" (closed, symmetrical, balanced);

5. The idea of ​​assimilation and contrast (perception of an individual, assimilating him with a group (stereotypes);

6. The principle of structure.

insight- (from English. insight- insight, insight, understanding, insight, sudden conjecture) - an intellectual phenomenon, the essence of which is an unexpected understanding of a problem and finding its solution. It is an integral part of Gestalt psychology. The concept was applied in 1925 by W. Köhler. In Köhler's experiments with great apes, when they were offered tasks that could only be solved indirectly, it was shown that after a series of unsuccessful trials, the monkeys stopped their active actions and simply looked at the objects around, after which they could quickly come to the correct solution. Later this concept was used by K. Dunker and M. Wertheimer as a characteristic human thinking, in which the solution is achieved by mental comprehension of the whole, and not as a result of analysis.

5. basic concepts and provisions of behaviorism. Scheme "S-R". Conditioning and Learning Studies (Thorndike, Watson)

subject of behaviorism- this is human behavior - these are all deeds, words, actions, both acquired and innate.

Behavior, from the point of view of behaviorists, is any reaction in response to an external stimulus, through which an individual adapts to external environment. This is any reaction, including vascular and secretion by the gland.

From the point of view of behaviorism, personality is the experience that a person acquires throughout life - it is a set of studied behaviors.

Proponents of behaviorism consider human behavior from the standpoint of its formation under the influence of the external environment. They believe that a person's behavior is shaped by his environment (social environment), and not by the internal structures and processes that take place inside a person.

Largely influenced by the work of Pavlov, Watson stated that the observation of behavior can be described in terms of stimuli (S) and responses (R). Watson believed that a simple S - R scheme is quite suitable for describing the observed behavior. The task of psychology is to predict reactions by stimuli, and to determine by reactions what stimuli they arose to. People, as Watson said, are the product of their experience and their behavior can be completely controlled by controlling their environment.

The main task of behaviorism from Watson's point of view is the observation of human behavior in order to:
a) in each given case, with a given stimulus (situation), determine what will be
reaction;
b) in the case of a given reaction, determine what situation caused it.

Behaviorism(English) behavior - behavior) - a direction in the psychology of humans and animals, literally - the science of behavior. This trend in psychology, which determined the appearance of American psychology at the beginning of the 20th century, radically transformed the entire system of ideas about the psyche. His credo was expressed by the formula according to which the subject of psychology is behavior, not consciousness. Since then it was customary to put an equal sign between the psyche and consciousness (processes that begin and end in consciousness were considered psychic), a version arose that by eliminating consciousness, behaviorism thereby eliminates the psyche. The founder of this direction in psychology was the American psychologist John Watson.

The most important categories of behaviorism are stimulus, which is understood as any impact on the body from the environment, including this, the current situation, reaction and reinforcement, which for a person can also be a verbal or emotional reaction of people around. At the same time, subjective experiences are not denied in modern behaviorism, but are placed in a position subordinate to these influences.

In the second half of the 20th century, behaviorism was replaced by cognitive psychology, which has dominated psychological science ever since. However, many ideas of behaviorism are still used in certain areas of psychology and psychotherapy.

Edward Lee Thorndike was the first to argue that psychology should investigate behavior, not mental elements or the experience of consciousness. Thorndike created his own approach, which he called connectionism (from the English connect - to connect). The approach was based on the study of the relationship between irritation (situation, elements of the situation) and the reactions of the body. Thorndike was the first to introduce the concept of a connection between a situation (stimulus) and an organism's reaction, and insisted that in order to study behavior, it must be divided into stimulus-response pairs (S-R).

Thorndike began his research on behavior by studying learning processes. He attempted to quantify learning by counting "wrong" behaviors and recording the time it took animals to achieve a goal. The learning method used in Thorndike's experiments was called "trial and error". In the course of his experiments, Thorndike deduced two laws of learning: the law of effect and the law of exercise.

Law of effect: every action that causes satisfaction in a given situation is associated with this situation, so that when it reappears, the occurrence of this action becomes more likely than before.

The law of the exercise: the more often an action or reaction is used in a given situation, the stronger the associative connection between the action and the situation (the repetition of the response in a particular situation leads to its strengthening). Subsequently, Thorndike found that encouragement contributes to the consolidation of an action (reaction) more effectively than simple repetition.

Key points behaviorism J. Watson clearly formulated in the program article in 1913 "Psychology through the eyes of a behaviorist." He claimed:

* behavior is built from secretory and muscular reactions of the body, which in turn are determined by external stimuli acting on the animal;

* the analysis of behavior should be carried out strictly objectively, limited to the registration of externally manifested phenomena;

* the main content of experimental psychology is the registration of reactions in response to strictly dosed and controlled irritation.

These provisions produced a real revolution in experimental psychology. Subsequently, they were supplemented and expanded by other researchers. Most strongly behaviorism affected the development of American psychology.

Watson believed that his classical scheme provided the key to the study of complex, holistic human behavior. To do this, he introduced the concept of "act" - such a holistic reaction of the body. Watson included writing a book, playing football, building a house, etc. as acts. all acts, according to Watson, can be reduced to motor or secretory reactions of the body. Reactions can be explicit (external, directly observable) or implicit (abbreviations internal organs or secretion of glands). The latter can be studied with the help of special instruments.

instincts: early in his scientific career, Watson recognized the significant role of instincts in the behavior of animals. Subsequently, he refused to use this concept in his scientific constructions. Watson argued that everything that seems instinctive is in fact socially conditioned. Moreover, the refusal to recognize the role of innate factors in determining the behavior of animals and humans led Watson to deny the existence of innate abilities. His famous phrase is related to this: “Entrust me with a dozen healthy normal children and give me the opportunity to raise them as I see fit; I guarantee that by choosing each of them at random, I will make him what I think: a doctor, a lawyer, an artist, a merchant, and even a beggar or a thief, regardless of his data, abilities, vocation or race of his ancestors.

Emotions: considered by Watson as the main reaction of the body to a specific stimulus. Emotions are a form of implicit behavior in which internal responses are manifested in the form of a change in complexion, an increase in heart rate, and so on. This approach does not involve studying the process of conscious perception of emotions. Watson proposes to describe emotions in terms of an objective stimulating situation, external and internal reactions of the organism.

Thinking: reduced by Watson to implicit motor behavior. He assumed that thinking should include an implicit speech reaction or movement. In essence, Watson reduced thinking to silent conversation, which is based on the same muscle movements that we use for habitual speech. As a person grows older, this “muscular behavior” becomes invisible and inaudible. In this way, thinking becomes a way of soundless inner conversation. The "stream of consciousness" is replaced in Watson's behaviorism by the "stream of activity".

^ Methods of Behaviorism. As a reformer of psychological science, Watson could not fail to propose new methods psychological research. These were methods that, in Watson's opinion, met the requirements of objectivity and repeatability applied to all psychology as a whole. It was supposed to use the following methods in behavioral psychology: observation, testing, verbatim recording of the subject's speech and the method of forming conditioned reflexes.

Testing involved evaluating not any mental quality of the subject, but his behavior. The test results were supposed to show the person's response to a specific stimulus or stimulus situation, and only that.

verbatim method speech behavior assumed the fixation of the subject's speech in certain situations and under the influence of certain stimuli. Speech reactions proper were subject to research; what the person felt or thought at the moment was not taken into account.

The method of conditioned reflexes, as the name implies, involved the study of the process of formation of conditioned reflexes. The method was supposed to be used in the laboratory to study complex behavior, for which this behavior was divided into separate components. In fact, the classic laboratory experiment of the behaviorists has its origins in the method of conditioned reflexes, as Watson called it.

The phenomenon of instrumental conditioning consists in the fact that if any action of an individual is reinforced, then it is fixed and then reproduced with great ease and constancy. If the barking of a dog is regularly reinforced with a piece of sausage, then very soon it begins to bark, "begging" for sausage.

Watson described the process of developing a skill, built a learning curve (using the example of learning to shoot from a bow). At first, random trial movements predominate, many are erroneous and only a few are successful. The initial accuracy is low. The improvement over the first 60 shots is fast, then slower. Periods without improvement are observed - on the curve these sections are called "plateaus". The curve ends with the physiological limit inherent in the individual. Successful movements are associated with great changes in the organism, so that they are better served and physiologically "because of this they tend to be fixed.

The retention of skills constitutes memory. In contradiction with the attitude to the refusal to study unobservable mechanisms of behavior, Watson puts forward a hypothesis about such mechanisms, which he calls the principle of conditioning. Calling all hereditary reactions unconditioned reflexes, and acquired ones - conditioned, J. Watson claims that essential condition The formation of a connection between them is the simultaneity in the action of the unconditioned and conditioned stimuli, so that stimuli that initially did not evoke any reaction now begin to evoke it. It is assumed that the connection is the result of switching excitation in the central instance to the path of a stronger, i.e., unconditioned stimulus. However, the behaviorist does not deal with this central process, limiting himself to observing the relationship of the response with all new stimuli.

In behaviorism, the process of skill formation and learning is interpreted mechanically. Skills are formed through blind trial and error and are an unguided process. Here, one of the possible paths is presented as the only and mandatory one. Despite these limitations, Watson's concept laid the foundation for scientific theory the process of motor skill formation and learning in general.

6. The problem of the unconscious in psychoanalysis: definitions, facts, interpretation. Methods for studying the unconscious

Psychoanalysis is a psychotherapeutic method developed by Z. Freud. Its fundamental concept is the idea of ​​unconscious mental processes and the psychotherapeutic methods used to analyze them.

Freud believed that the psyche consists of three layers - conscious, preconscious and unconscious - in which the main structures of the personality are located. The content of the unconscious, according to Freud, is inaccessible to awareness under almost no conditions.

In the unconscious layer there is one of the personality structures - Id, which is actually the energy basis of the personality. The id contains innate unconscious instincts that strive for their satisfaction, for relaxation and thus determine the activity of the subject. There are two main innate unconscious instincts - the instinct of life and the instinct of death. The struggle between instincts usually takes place in the unconscious layer.

From Freud's point of view, instincts are the channels through which the energy passes, shaping our activity. Libido is the energy associated with the life instinct. The energy associated with the instinct of death and aggression is It (Id). He also believed that the content of the unconscious is constantly expanding, since those aspirations and desires that a person could not realize in his activity for one reason or another are forced out into the unconscious.

The second structure of the personality - the Ego, according to Freud, is also innate and is located both in the conscious layer and in the preconscious. Thus, we can always realize our Self, although this may not be easy for us. If the content of the Id expands, then the content of the Ego, on the contrary, narrows, since the child is born, in Freud's words, with an "oceanic feeling of the Self", including the whole surrounding world. Over time, he begins to realize the boundary between himself and the world around him, to localize the Self to his body, thus narrowing the volume of the Self.

The third personality structure - the Super-Ego - is not innate; it is formed in the process of life. The mechanism of its formation is identification with a close adult of the same sex, whose traits and qualities become the content of the Super-Ego. In the process of identification, children also form the Oedipus complex (for boys) or the Electra complex (for girls), that is, a complex of ambivalent feelings that the child experiences towards the object of identification.

The superego serves as a source of moral and religious feelings, a controlling and punishing agent. If I make a decision or perform an action to please It, but in opposition to the super-I, then It experiences punishment in the form of pangs of conscience, feelings of guilt.

Such a state of internal conflict, in which a person is constantly located, makes him a potential neurotic. Therefore, Freud emphasized that there is no clear line between the norm and pathology. Ability to support your mental health depends on psychological defense mechanisms that help a person, if not prevent, then at least mitigate the conflict between the Id and the Super-Ego.

Freud identified several defense mechanisms, the main ones being:

repression, (desire is forced out into the unconscious)

the regression

rationalization,

projection

sublimation.

Repression is the most ineffective mechanism. Desire is forced into the unconscious, a person completely forgets about it, but the remaining tension, penetrating through the unconscious, makes itself felt in the form of symbols that fill our dreams in the form of errors, slips of the tongue, reservations.

Regression and rationalization are more successful types of protection, since they allow at least a partial discharge of the energy contained in human desires. At the same time, regression is a more primitive way of getting out of conflict situation. A person may start biting nails, ruining things, chewing gum or tobacco, believing in evil or good spirits, seeking risky situations, etc., and many of these regressions are so generally accepted that they are not even perceived as such. Rationalization is associated with the desire of the Super-Ego to somehow control the situation, giving it a "respectable" appearance. Therefore, a person, not realizing the real motives of his behavior, covers them up and explains them with invented, but morally acceptable motives.

During projection, a person attributes to others those desires and feelings that he himself experiences.

The most effective mechanism is what Freud called sublimation. It helps to direct the energy associated with sexual or aggressive desires in a different direction, to realize it, in particular, in artistic activity. In principle, Freud considered culture to be the product of sublimation, and from this point of view he considered works of art, scientific discoveries. This path is the most successful because the full realization of the accumulated energy, catharsis, or purification, of a person takes place on it.

The history of Gestalt psychology begins with the release of the work of M. Wertheimer "Experimental studies of the perception of movement" (1912) (phi-phenomenon - the illusion of moving from place to place of two alternately switched on light sources), which questioned the usual idea of ​​the presence of individual elements in the act of perception . It turned out that the perception of movement is possible in the absence of the movement itself or, in the language of describing the perception of movements in associationism, in the absence of a consistent chain of sensations that reflect the movement of an object in space. In our perception, space is structured, elements are combined into figures based on relations that are not reducible to the elements themselves. The phenomena of the figure and the background clearly appear when considering the so-called dual images, where the figure and the background seem to spontaneously change places (there is a sudden "restructuring" of the situation) ..

M. Wertheimer outlined the principles of organizing perception in his work, published in 1923. He proceeded from the fact that we perceive objects in the same manner in which we perceive apparent movement - that is, as a whole, and not as sets of individual sensations. M. Wertheimer also described the phenomenon of "pure movement", when the subjects, clearly seeing the movement, did not perceive the moving object. It is called the stroboscopic movement.

The basic premise of these principles is that the organization of perception occurs instantaneously, at the same moment when we see or hear. various forms or images. Parts of the perceptual field become connected, combining with each other to create a structure that would stand out from the general background. The organization of perception occurs spontaneously, and its occurrence is inevitable whenever we look around us.

According to Gestalt theory, the primary activity of our brain in visual perception of objects is not the accumulation of their individual manifestations. The area of ​​the brain responsible for visual perception does not respond to individual elements of visual inputs and does not link them together through a mechanical process of association. On the contrary, the brain is dynamic system, in which all elements are active at each moment of interaction. Elements that are the same or close to each other tend to combine, while elements that are dissimilar or far apart do not combine.

This theory in Gestalt psychology is called the principle of pregnancy or balance (the law of good form). "Good" in the Gestalt sense of the word is a simple and stable form. This principle generalizes a number of found phenomenal patterns that establish the fact that the elements of the external physical world are combined into a gestalt according to the principle of maximum simplicity and regularity, i.e. there is an objective tendency in our phenomenal field to combine sensory elements into the simplest structure possible under given particular stimulus conditions. The action of the principle of pregnancy is to establish a balance between the binding and restraining forces of the phenomenal field: the counteraction of the binding forces introduces a variety of external stimulation, it is a separating force and increases the tension within this field. The simplicity of the perceptual gestalt is explained by the least tension of the forces mentioned above. Example: if some notes are not played when listening to a familiar melody, then the melody is perceived as a whole, the absence of notes is not noticed; poorly printed text is read normally. The formation of a perceptual gestalt is not an intellectual synthesis of sensory information, but a direct sensory reflection of the physical world.

The principle of pregnancy is reflected in the particular regularities found by the Gestaltists, discovered during an experimental study of the perception of apparent movement, form, and optical-geometric illusions. These are the grouping laws that describe those objective conditions under which the elements of the physical world are combined in a phenomenal field into perceptual gestalts.

Gestalt grouping factors (or principles of organization of perception) were described by M. Wertheimer:

• proximity factor - nearby elements are combined into a gestalt; perceived closeness caused by grouping can be both spatial and temporal;
• Similarity factor -- Gestalt is formed by similar elements.

Grouping on the basis of proximity and similarity extends to the perception of sound - notes that appear to be the same in pitch and immediately following one another in time can be perceptually perceived as a melody ..

• factor of "good continuation" - elements lying on one straight line or a curved line of a simple form are easily perceived as a single whole, all identical elements follow in the same direction, which gives their combination the properties of a directional figure;
• · the factor of the general destiny - the elements moving in one direction are perceptually united in one group; similar grouping occurs on the basis of identity, but this principle applies only to moving elements (flying birds, a “wave” of fans);
• · factor of objective attitude -- structure once perceived tends to be perceived in the same way in similar situations ;
• · symmetry factor - priority in perceptual grouping is given to more natural, balanced and symmetrical figures;
• Closure factor - when grouping elements, preference is given to the option that favors the perception of a more closed or complete figure;
• · the factor of the same type of connection - the perception of a single structure formed by physically interconnected elements - this is a perceptual association of non-identical and rather distant from each other, but indisputably interconnected objects into a single whole. The influence of the same type of connection on perception turns out to be stronger than the influence of the similarity and proximity of elements. Familiar objects physically connected to each other are perceived as perceptual units, and this phenomenon is based on exactly the same type of connection. The same type of connection does not belong to the number of principles originally formulated by the founders of Gestalt psychology. In 1995, it was formulated by Rock and Palmer as one of the fundamental principles of perception, which plays the same fundamental role as the perception of the "figure-ground" combination.

These principles of perception are independent of higher thought processes or past experiences; they are present in the observed objects by themselves. M. Wertheimer called them auxiliary factors, but he also recognized that perception is also influenced by the main factors of the organism itself: for example, higher thought processes that determine prior awareness and attitude can also affect perception. However, in general, Gestaltists tried to pay more attention to the auxiliary factors of the organization of perception than to the results of learning or experience.

The fundamental Gestalt law of pregnancy reflects the results of the Gestalt principles of grouping. The organization of a visual pattern based on Gestalt principles simplifies the process of perception and makes it more efficient. For example, it is easier to identify a closed figure than an open one, because it does not require data on the size of the gap and its location; the description of a symmetrical figure can also be laconic - it is enough to describe only one half of it, because The second half is a mirror image of the first..

Balanced, good (in the Gestalt sense of the word) figures tend to be remembered better than disorganized ones. Perhaps this is because they are easier to "encode", which means that the cognitive costs of recognizing them are lower. The assumption that the whole is perceived better than its parts also has a lot of evidence. Identification of the stimulus is facilitated if it is part of some pattern that depicts a three-dimensional object; The perception of a stimulus is also facilitated when it is presented not in isolation, but as an integral part of some well-known configuration.

The fundamental basis of our vision of the world as a collection of physically unrelated objects and surfaces is that some details of the visual picture stand out against the background of other parts of it. In 1915, Edgar Rubin discovered the phenomenon of figure and ground: "The part that is perceived as a clearly defined form is called the figure, and the rest is called the background." Functionally, in the figure-ground combination, there is a tendency to perceive parts of the visual image as solid, well-defined objects that stand out against their background. According to E. Rubin, the fundamental principle that determines the relationship between the figure and the background is as follows: “If one of the two homogeneous, painted in different colors fields are larger and include another, the probability that a smaller field included in a larger one will be perceived as a figure is very high ”(E. Rubin, 1915). However, any clearly defined part of the field of view can be perceived as a figure, in which case the rest will be perceived as a background (Fig. 2).

Fig.2.

In cases where the configuration is formed by two great friend from each other and homogeneous elements, none of which is included in the other, and which, moreover, have common boundaries, both elements can be perceived with equal probability as figures and are possible different interpretations their relationship (Fig. 3). The figure and background of such ambiguous configurations may change places as a result of switching attention. One has only to change the focus of attention, as the background begins to be perceived as a figure, and vice versa ..

Fig.3.

Rubin identified the following major perceptual differences between figure and ground:

• 1. The figure is a "thing", and the contour is perceived as its outline.
• 2. It seems to the observer that the figure is closer to him, in front of the background, and the background seems to be less clearly localized, extending endlessly behind the figure.
• 3. Thanks to the background, the figure seems more impressive, significant and better remembered, in addition, the figure evokes more associations with recognizable, familiar objects than the background.

Between the figure and the ground there are not only perceptual differences noted by Rubin. The combination of figure and ground has a striking effect on the perception of lightness: an area of ​​the visual field with constant lightness is more susceptible to the effect of lightness contrast if it is perceived as a figure than an area perceived as a background.

By the difference between figure and ground, the Gestaltists tried to explain our perception of real objects - why we usually see things, and not gaps between them, bordered by things, etc., completely ignoring the more essential dependence of perception on the objective significance of real things ..

The difference in the perception of figure and ground does not require any learning and does not depend on the person's previous experience. Gestalt theory postulates given from birth field properties nervous system, which, together with the objective physical properties of the visual field, quite definitely allow us to speak of a stimulus, i.e. objective determinism of our perception. The proof of this was the study of patients successfully operated on for congenital cataracts. Having first been able to see already in adulthood, patients were able to distinguish between figures and ground before they learned to distinguish and identify various figures. Differentiation of figure and ground is a basic, fundamental stage in the organization of perception, which has also been proven by the example of many lower animals (including insects) and primates, which distinguish figure from ground even when their individual visual experience was minimal. That. it was found that the neurons of the primary visual cortex, specializing in the recognition of certain hallmarks objects, when stimulated by the elements of the figure, they demonstrate greater activity than when stimulated by the elements of the background. The spatial differentiation of the figure and the background occurs not only visually, but also tactilely.

Another well-known phenomenon of perception or the phenomenological principle of constructing a perceptual gestalt, singled out by H. Ehrenfels, is transposition (transfer). It lies in the fact that the perceptual form is resistant to changes in its constituent sensory elements. by the most good example action of this phenomenal principle is the constancy of perception. A well-known example is the invariability of our musical perception of any one melody, transported during its performance in various keys. Those. the melody remains the same when translating it from one key to another; the gestalt of the square is preserved regardless of the size, position and color of its constituent elements, etc.

Another, opposite to transposition, phenomenological principle, also established by Gestalt psychologists, is the temporal variability of Gestalt. It is enough to look at ambiguous figures for a few minutes to understand this fundamental feature of our perception - its not static, but active character. The well-known American researcher of visual perception D. Marr very figuratively described the stimulus pattern (Fig. 4): “This configuration is full of violent activity - it seems that competing spatial organizations are fiercely fighting each other.”

Fig.4.

Indeed, we see a series of constantly changing images - squares, crosses, concentric circles of various sizes, etc. In accordance with the above phenomenological principles and laws of gestalt formation, unifying and separating forces actively interact in our phenomenal field, as a result - at a given moment in time we see what we see ..

Subsequently, the two fundamental principles of Gestalt psychology - pregnancy and figure-ground - were supplemented by the learning theory of K. Koffka, the concept of energy balance and motivation by K. Lewin and the last principle introduced by the "here and now", according to which the primary factor mediating the behavior and social functionality of the individual, is not the content of past experience (this is the fundamental difference between Gestalt psychology and psychoanalysis), but the quality of awareness of the current situation. On this methodological basis, F. Perls, E. Polster and a number of other Gestalt psychologists developed the theory of the contact cycle, which became basic model almost all practice-oriented approaches in Gestalt psychology.

According to this model, the entire process of interaction between an individual and a figure, from the moment of the emergence of spontaneous interest to its complete satisfaction, includes six stages: sensation, awareness, energy, action, contact, and resolution.

• 1. Feeling. At the first stage, spontaneous interest in the object has the character of a vague, indefinite sensation, often anxiety, thereby causing initial tension. The need to understand and specify the source of sensation prompts the individual to focus on the object that caused it (transition to the stage of awareness). .
• 2. Awareness. The purpose of awareness is to saturate the figure with meaningful content, its concretization and identification. In fact, the process of selecting a figure from the background is reduced to the first two stages of contact.
• 3. Energy. Already in the process of awareness, there is a mobilization of energy associated with the initial tension and necessary for focusing and holding attention. If the figure isolated from the background as a result of awareness turns out to be significant for the subject, then the initial interest is stimulated, and the tension not only does not decrease, but, on the contrary, increases, gradually acquiring the character of “charged energy of concern”. As a result, the third stage of the cycle begins, at which the energy of the system reaches its peak, and the figure in subjective perception "approaches" the individual as much as possible. This creates the conditions for the transition to the action stage.
• 4. Action. At this stage, the individual moves from perception or perceptual behavior to attempts to actively influence the figure that has aroused interest, which should lead to the latter's adaptation to physical or psychological "appropriation" or assimilation. By assimilation, F. Perls understood the selective integration not of a holistic, preserving the original structure of the object, as is the case in the classical concept of introjection, but of those of its components that really meet the needs of the individual. This requires the division of the figure into components, figuratively speaking, its “chewing”, which is the quintessence of the action in the scheme under consideration. For example, in the context social relations When coming into contact with a certain person, an individual must not only realize his needs, but also determine which of them this partner can objectively and subjectively is ready to satisfy.
• 5. Contact. As a result of the action directed at the figure that aroused interest, the most intense experience arises, within which the impressions received from sensory awareness and motor act are integrated. In the logic of this model, contact is the point of the maximum possible satisfaction of the initial interest or need under the existing conditions.
• 6. Permission. The final stage of resolution (in some authors it is designated as completion) involves the reflection of the experience gained at the contact stage and its integration at the intrapersonal level. This is how learning occurs in the logic of Gestalt psychology.

At the end of the contact cycle, the figure ceases to be relevant and to attract attention to itself - the gestalt is completed, which is the same, it is destroyed. As a result, there is the possibility of a new sensation and the resumption of the cycle. From the point of view of Gestalt psychology, the whole life of a person is a continuous chain of such cycles.

Based on the model presented by F. Perls and his followers, an original system of psychotherapy was developed, which found wide application. In social psychology, this scheme and psychotechnics associated with this approach are used to study communication styles, group norms, interpersonal and intergroup interaction. They have also found wide application in the field of organizational consulting, coaching and training of practical social psychologists.