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Republic of the Philippines

Union College
Santa Cruz Laguna

Cognitive theory of learning

Gestalt theory

A research in Advance Educational Psychology

Presented to the faculty of MAED for the MAED
Major in Administration and Supervision

STUDENT

GUALOLARINA C. FERNANDEZ Ed D. RGC

PROFESSOR
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Introduction

Gestalt theory has in recent decades provided the starting point for a number of

systematic efforts in social psychology, among them those of Lewin and Heider.

The following are some selected examples of problems studied from this point of

view.(1) Social action in man depends upon the capacity of the participants to perceive

and understand one another. These operations involve reference to the mental processes

of others; in everyday life one makes sense of the actions of persons by referring to their

feelings, perceptions, intentions, and ideas. Yet, it is widely accepted that there is no

access to these internal events in others, that one can only observe their actions, and

that these actions need not be expressive of internal events. How, then, is one to explain

the conviction that another is in pain or is angry or that his voice is charged with sorrow?

According to one account such conclusions can only be reached indirectly, on the

basis of association and inference by analogy with one’s own experiences. A more

behavioristic account disregards reference either to the experience of the observer or of

the observed; the actions in question are said to acquire significance on the basis of

association with other actions and environ mental conditions. Each of these formulations

treats the perceived actions of others as initially neutral. Gestalt theory proposes a

fundamentally different conception of the relation between action observed in others and

their experience, holding that these are structurally closely similar. Fearfulness, joy,

hesitation, boldness are expressed in action as much as in the dynamics of experience.

The outward form of an action is an expression of underlying forces. If so, understanding

the mental life of another person is not primarily a question of generalizing from the

physical to something unrelated to it

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The source of the gestalt movement can be traced to one paramount concern. As

a rule the events of mental life possess form, sense, and value; these are its striking

characteristics. Yet, the prevailing scientific psychology contained virtually no reference

to these attributes, and its accounts appeared correspondingly limited and barren. The

customary reply to this stricture was that scientific procedure requires analysis into

elements and therefore permits no other outcome. Accepting this reasoning, some

thinkers concluded that important human phenomena and problems necessarily fall

outside the reach of science. Others, among them the vitalists, appealed to higher and

undefined agencies as sources of form and sense. Gestalt psychologists rejected such a

solution on the ground that it adopted a questionable postulate about the demands of

scientific investigation. An approach that fails to do justice to the most obvious facts of

experience cannot, they held, be scientifically correct. They saw in this situation a

challenge to re-examine the starting point of psychology.

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PURPOSE/SIGNIFICANT OF THE STUDY

With the intent to ascertain the effectiveness of gestalt teaching methods and

approaches, the researcher look forward that the present study will benefit the students,

Students

Through this study, students—especially those who are taking up education

courses, will be informed of what is Gestalt Learning Theory all about. How it viewed the

learner, the learning process and the like. With the help of this knowledge, they can

understand the nature of the learners and the learning process which they may use when

they are in the actual educational setting.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

This study will discuss about the Gestalt Learning Theory, its pioneer proponents

and effectiveness of gestalt teaching methods and approaches. Through this study, the

researcher sought to find out the answers on the following questions:

1. How do Gestalt Theorists define the following:

3.1. Learning

3.2. Thinking

3.3. Motivation

2. What is the concept of Gestalt Theory?

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Foreign Literature

Respicio (2008) conducted a study on the effectiveness of concept mapping on

the student’s achievement and attitude towards College Algebra. He found out that it was

more effective tool than the chalk and board strategy in improving students’ achievement.

He further recommended that concept mapping should be implemented in the classroom

as a tool to enhance students’ cognitive, affective and psychomotor learning in College

Algebra.

Similarly, Cano (2005) investigated the effects of concept mapping on students’

achievement and attitude towards physics. She concluded that there are significant

differences in the test results of students using concept mapping and concept mapping

by group is more effective than constructing maps individually. In addition, students

appreciated more the physics as a subject after exposure to concept maps and the

students developed positive attitudes like objectivity, critical-mindedness, curiosity,

intelligent-responsibleness and persistence.

Consequently, Feliciano (2007) also studied the effectiveness of concept mapping

in teaching basic subjects among grade four pupils and found out that with the use of this

technique, learning was achieved by the students in the subjects of Mathematics, English

and Science and MAKABAYAN. She also concluded that it is an effective strategy.

In the same way, Garcia (2005) studied the use of concept mapping in teaching

physics to college students. She concluded in her study that there was an improvement

in the performance of the students after they were exposed in concept mapping approach.
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In addition, Ranay (1996) also studied the effectiveness of concept mapping in

teaching selected topics in General Chemistry I and found out that concept mapping is

an effective strategy in teaching Kinetic Molecular Theory. Students understand more and

retain concepts better using concept mapping in their study.

On the other hand, Villaflor (1998) studied the effect of problem solving approach

on the Mathematics achievement of selected third year students and concluded that

teaching with problem-solving approach was found to be effective in improving the

students’ mathematics achievement.

Consequently, San Jose (1998) also focused the emphasis of his study on the

effects of problem-solving teaching approach on students’ problem solving ability and

attitude towards Mathematics’. He concluded in his study that students who were exposed

to the problem-solving approach performed significantly better. Furthermore, it helped

students understand the concepts better.

Cuzzamu (2007) studied about the problem solving performance in Mathematics

and working memory capacity as basis for proposed teaching strategies. He found out

that there is a significant relationship between the working memory capacity and

mathematics problem solving ability among students. Students had high performance

because of their good working memory capacity. He further recommended that teachers

should not fail in providing discovery to make learning more meaningful.

Villanueva investigated the effectiveness of discovery approach as a method of

teaching and concluded that it was more effective that traditional expository teaching
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methods in bringing about learning, retention and transfer, stimulating critical thinking and

developing positive attitudes towards teachers and subject matter.

Concept of Gestalt theory

They form a mere mosaic of stimuli that may be grouped in numerous ways and

that provide no basis for the veridical organization of the percept. Unity of the physical

object does not account for unity of the percept. How then do units emerge from discrete

stimulation? Wertheimer described certain fundamental principles of grouping, or unit

formation, in perception, among them those of proximity, similarity, closure, common fate,

and good continuation (Wertheimer 1925). Working with discontinuous points or lines, he

demonstrated that they tend to fall into groups, in accordance with relative spatial

proximity and qualitative similarity; grouping also occurs in accordance with closure and

good continuation. Wertheimer considered one principle, that of Prägnanz, fundamental

and inclusive of the others. The principle of Prägnanz maintains that grouping tends

toward maximal simplicity and balance, or toward the formation of “good form.”

The facts of grouping establish, first, that sets of stimuli produce effects not derivable from

the effects of the single stimuli. These effects, observable only in extended wholes, are

dependent upon strictly objective conditions—namely, specific geometrical relations

between stimuli. Second, the stimulus relations logically permit other groupings that do

not in fact occur. Thus, the facts of grouping give evidence of selective principles

according to which sensory data are organized, and the units of perception must therefore
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be considered products of organization or specific effects of processes resulting from

certain relationships. Third, the same sensory conditions of grouping that usually give rise

to veridical perception sometimes produce non-veridical perception. As the facts of

camouflage show, physically real units are not necessarily perceived, and perceptual

units sometimes arise in the absence of corresponding physical units. Fourth, Wertheimer

concluded that he had identified primary principles of grouping in perception. He explicitly

included past experience as one determinant of grouping but maintained that it cannot

account for the other grouping tendencies that are themselves necessary conditions of

learning. Last, the principles of grouping have a broad range of application; foremost is

their capacity to explain object and form perception in general.

The treatment of partwhole relations, which is central to the gestalt position, may

best be illustrated with the contribution of von Ehrenfels, who in 1890 described

perceptual facts that are not a sum of independent local components. A property of a

visual entity, such as roundness or symmetry, does not reside in its separate parts or in

their sum; the same is true of the character of a tem poral unit, such as a melody. Such

properties are also transposable; a melody is recognized in a new key, although it shares

no tones with that heard originally, and a square is recognizable as such when it is

enlarged or reduced or when it appears in a new part of the field. There are innumerable

facts of this order that refer to qualities in wholes only, among them those we call straight,

closed, hard, smooth, translucent.

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These form qualities, or Gestaltqualitäten, posed a problem for a psychology that

took sensations as the sole contents of experience. Reversing the traditional formulation,

Wertheimer proposed not only that a coherent whole has properties and tendencies not

discoverable in its isolated parts but also that a part has properties which it does not

possess when it stands alone or when it belongs to another unit. The character of a whole

often determines whether one of its parts will be perceptible or not and what its properties

will be. Given three dots in a linear array, one is perceived as middle, the others as ends;

these properties are relationally deter mined and do not exist for the isolated components.

This thesis of partwhole determination asserts that a part is a dependent property

of its whole and thus draws a basic distinction between “part” and “element.”

Furthermore, a host of discoveries demonstrated that the identical stimulation, at different

points in time, of a given region can produce markedly different effects, depending upon

the stimulation occurring in neighboring regions. The perceptual constancies and the so-

called illusions revealed striking discrepancies between what is in fact observed and what

should be observed if local sensations alone were the content of experience. The shapes

and sizes of objects remain within limits approximately constant as their orientation and

distance are varied, and the colors of objects tend to look the same when the conditions

of illumination change widely. The same proximal stimulation may cause perception of

bright or dark, of upright or tilted, of large or small, of motion or rest, of motion at a high

or at a low velocity, depending upon other stimulus conditions. In an effort to bolster the

classical position the interpretation advanced was that the sensations in question were in

fact unchanged but were corrected by judgments or “unconscious inferences” formed in

the course of past experience. A clearer and more consistent explanation of these and
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other facts could be given using the assumption that they were effects of perceptual

organization initiated by specific stimulus relations

Important support for the gestalt treatment of perception came from the

demonstration by Rubin (1915) of the distinction between “figure” and “ground,” between

the thing-character of the former and the formlessness of the latter. A step in the same

direction was the subsequent discovery by Michotte (1946) that particular conditions of

successive stimulation produce the experience of causality. When figural units are

perceived to move in relation to each other at certain rates, they are experienced as

functionally connected; the observer refers to the motion of one object as the cause, while

the motion of another object is perceived as the effect. Still other patterns of movements,

which can also be clearly specified, produce the impression of animated movement. In

the light of these and related findings atomism in perception ceased to be a viable

position.

The concept of gestalt received a fundamental elaboration in the work of Kohler

(1920; 1940). As a first step Kohler called attention to a striking similarity between certain

aspects of field physics and facts of perceptual organization. He pointed to certain in

stances of functional wholes in physics that cannot be compounded from the action of

their separate parts. There are macroscopic physical states that tend to develop toward

an equilibrium and in the direction of maximum regularity. One can describe the local

conditions in such functional wholes with any desired degree of precision, but they do not

function as independent parts. Systems of this character, of which there are numerous
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instances, are physical gestalten. They meet the criteria of von Ehrenfels (1890) for a

gestalt quality.

Following the lead of the phenomenal data,

Kohler proposed that there are macroscopic field processes in the brain, involving

interactions which account for the effects of grouping and segregation and for the

operation of the Prägnanz principle. Traditionally, cortical action was described in terms

of separate excitations conducted along insulated fibers to circumscribed areas. The

relational determination of experiences implies that the neural processes corresponding

to separate stimulations must influence each other across distances in a manner that

depends on their relative properties.

Köhler proposed a fundamental change in the conception of cortical functioning. A

region such as the optic sector may be considered an electrolyte; the processes within it

occur according to physical laws of self-distribution rather than according to the

microanatomy of neural networks. Local states of excitation are surrounded by fields that

represent these states in their environment and interact with other local states similarly

rep resented. On this basis Kohler put forward the hypothesis that there are physiological

processes which are special instances of physicochemical gestalten and that these are

the correlates of phenomenal gestalten.

Implicit in the preceding examination is the assumption of psychophysical

isomorphism, or the proposition that brain processes include some structural features that

are identical with those of organized experience. Isomorphism refers not to metrical but

to topological correspondences; brain processes are assumed to preserve the functional

relations of symmetry, closedness, and adjacency, not the exact sizes and angles of
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patterns projected on the retina. This formulation diverges from the widely accepted view

that phenomenal and physiological events are lawfully correlated but have no further

likeness between them. The postulate of isomorphism is intended as a heuristic guide to

investigation. In this manner Kohler sought a unified explanation for facts in

neurophysiology and psychology among certain facts of physics

Memory and association

There is a natural transition from the gestalt study of perception to memory. When

a form has been perceived it may be subsequently recognized and recalled; thus, the

products of perceptual organization are among the contents of memory. The persistence

of past experiences requires a concept of memory traces; further, the resemblance

between memories and original experiences implies that memory traces preserve the

organized character of earlier processes. Gestalt studies of memory start from this

assumption; a first effort to elaborate a theory of memory-trace action will be found in

Koffka (1935).

The preceding formulations lead directly to one of the problems of memory—

recognition. The facts of transposition to which von Ehrenfels first called attention imply

the recognition of wholes or gestalten and, further, that recognition occurs on the basis of

gestalt similarity and in the absence of identical elements in past and present situations.

Since recognition depends upon the activation of specific memory traces and is highly

selective, the gestalt proposal is that such memory-trace contact occurs on the basis of

distinctive similarity, analogous to grouping by similarity in immediate experience. This

formulation further implies that if the process corresponding to a present experience is to

contact a corresponding memory trace, it must have its effect beyond its immediate locus
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and that neural conduction along insulated nerve fibers alone does not suffice to explain

recognition. Thus, according to this account recognition depends upon an interaction that

is relationally determined.

Local Literature

Gestalt theory the concept of an association as a mere bond is not a satisfactory

basis of explanation. Processes in nature are as a rule relationally determined. In this

connection Kohler (1929; 1941) proposed that an association is not a new process, but

an aftereffect of organization and that it is dependent upon the relative properties of the

respective terms. When two items are connected they form a unit and leave a

corresponding unitary trace; subsequent excitation of a part of this trace will spread to the

entire trace. Given this starting point there is no reason to single out the relation of

contiguity, to the exclusion of others; all relations, such as those of similarity and good

continuation, should bind events to each other. More generally, conditions favorable to

organization should be conditions of association.

Accordingly, the formation of associations and perceptual organization receive a

unified interpretation. There remain unresolved issues in this area, but the available

evidence supports the conclusion that relations other than contiguity exert pronounced

effects on the formation of associations (Asch 1960). [

Thinking

Two themes have been most prominent in the gestalt treatment of thinking: one concerns

the occurrence of understanding or insight; the other, the occurrence of processes of

discovery. Of these, understanding is the more general phenomenon; it occurs often in

the absence of the discovery of solutions and provides a basis for them. To understand
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is to have an awareness of a required relation between immediately given facts. When

such understanding is present the relation is experienced as “following from” the given

facts—that is, the nexus between them is itself understandable. Given two premises and

a conclusion the latter either develops out of the former or contradicts it. Such relations,

which have the character of “if A, then B and onlyB,” contrast most strongly with the

association between heterogeneous facts; the terms and their relation form a unit all parts

of which are dependent upon one another. An understandable relation between two terms

is not a third term added to them; given any two of the parts the third is demanded. The

relation in question is thus a dependent part-property of a whole. The first point of the

gestalt account of thinking is that understanding or insight in the sense here described

per vades human experience and that no thinking is possible in its absence.

Understandable relations have the character of requiredness, or “oughtness.” This is the

outstanding trait of facts of aesthetics and ethics as well as of logic; in each of these

realms requiredness is relationally determined, being a property of an interdependent

situation. Thus, the concept of value becomes related to that of organization. One

observes an important aspect of requiredness when a situation is incomplete; in such

cases the gap has particular properties that produce tendencies toward completion in

accordance with the character of what is given. Gestalt theorists have sought to explore

the conditions of requiredness out of a concern for establishing whether there are ethical

invariants; these invariants would provide an alternative to a relativistic foundation for

ethics.

Connections between concrete empirical events are not, however, understandable in the

same way as logical connections. That heavy bodies fall when dropped cannot be
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automatically deduced; the underlying functional connections are hidden, and

conclusions concerning them must be based on induction. Accordingly, the prevailing

tendency of psychology since David Hume has been to stress the role of purely factual

regularities in our knowledge of causal action. Gestalt psychology proposes that empirical

events too are often related in ways that are structurally simple and that these relations

facilitate the learning of the causal interplay. Duncker (1935) has pointed out that there

are farreaching correspondences between the phenomenal properties of causes and of

their effects. They are often coincident in space and time and thus stand out against a

background of more indifferent events. A sound is heard where an object is seen to strike;

a sheet of paper acquires a crease where it is folded; fire burns shortly after a match is

applied to an object. There are also pronounced similarities of content and form between

cause and effect. The shape of a footprint corresponds to that of a shoe; a hot object

transmits heat to its surroundings; a wet object moistens things in contact with it. Further,

variations of cause often produce parallel variations of effect. The accelerated rhythm of

the motions of knocking parallels the changing rhythm of the sounds produced; the

stronger the push one applies to an object, the faster and farther it moves. These relations

make possible a systematic ordering of empirical facts, although the relations are not fully

intelligible.

Gestalt psychology treats productive thinking as the development of new

structures or organizations. The discovery of a solution begins with a situation and a goal

that cannot be directly reached; what requires explanation is how the gap is bridged. The

principal point of the gestalt account is that the operations of thinking do not occur

piecemeal but are effects of organization and reorganization. First, thinking is a directed
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process based on an initial view of a coherent but incomplete situation. The direction

arises from the problem itself—more accurately, from the gap between the view of the

given conditions and the goal. The urge to over come the difficulty creates the tensions

and vectors that lead to a re-examination of the materials and of the problem. This

formulation asserts a distinction between an aggregate of independent facts and a

structure; there can scarcely be productive thinking when the possibility of grasping a

principle is excluded. Further, under the stress of the initially incomplete view the material

is reorganized; parts and relations previously unnoted or in the back ground emerge, often

abruptly, analogously to the reversal of perceptual forms, and parts previously separated

become united. These changes in the meaning of parts, including changes of relation and

direction, produce the transition to a new view that has greater coherence. From the

outset the steps are guided by the main lines of the problem and are taken with reference

to each other. The operations of centering and recentering, of separating fundamental

from peripheral features, spring from the whole character of the situation or from a

structural view of the gap and its stresses. These formulations account for the fact that

the organization of the problem situation often changes before the more detailed steps

can be elaborated.

The preceding account represents only some first steps toward a theory discovery. There

is at this time no satisfactory explanation of the occurrence of sudden reorganization that

favors the emergence of a solution. Reference to understanding or insight does not

constitute an explanation, since these are descriptive terms that do not clarify the

underlying operations.
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The treatment of thinking in gestalt psychology was formulated in explicit opposition to

the associationism of the early decades of the twentieth century, which excluded

reference to understandable relations and, indeed, to relations generally. Associationism

postulated that connections between psychological events are neutral and devoid of

meaning—that is, given events A and B, nothing in the character of A points to B rather

than to any other event. Associationism also excluded reference to operations of

organization and reorganization. Accordingly, it described the emergence of changed

views and of new solutions in terms of the reshuffling of associative chains, the

components of which remain constant. This approach defined knowledge as a repertoire

or inventory of specific data and of connections between them. From the standpoint of

gestalt theory the striking powers of thinking seem to disappear under the associationistic

treatment. Thinking involves functions different from association, although it draws some

of its materials from associations. No purely contingent associations, however strong, can

provide understanding.
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Discussion

1. How do the Gestalt Theorists define the following:

1.1. Learning

a. Learning is consists of the grasping of a structural whoel and not just a mechanistic

response to a stimulus.

b. Learning is a special problem of perception. Problem caused perceptual

disequilibrium which motivated the organism to solve it.

c. Human learning and perception are influenced by the way stimuli are arranged and

their arrangement may hold more meaning than the stimuli themselves, (Eller, et.al,

1999).

d. Learning is a reflective process, whereby the learner either develops new insights

and understanding or changes or restructures his/her mental process. Gestaltists

emphasized observational learning, imitation and modeling, (Ornstein, 1990).

e. Learning typically takes the form of a insight which is suddenly occurring

reorganization of the field of experiences as when one “has a new idea” or discovers

a solution to the problem.

f. Learning is the modification of an accomplishment in a certain direction, consist in

creating trace systems of a particular kin, in consolidating them, and in making them
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more and more available for both in repeated and in new situations. This describes

learning because available traces modify new processes and thereby achieve

modification of behavior and accomplishment. The problems in learning include the

problem of achievement and problem of memory, (Koffka, 1963).

g. Learning is an active process of selecting and organizing. A person’s response to a

situation depends upon the way he perceives it. Perception is a critical factor in

learning.

h. The learner sees the learning situation as a whole. Of each learning situation that

the learner sees the relationship and similarities between tow learning situations and

hence, transfer of learning will take place, (Vega, 2004). Several factors that could

affect this transfer of learning are mental ability of the learner, nature of the subject

matter, attitudes and efforts of the learner, manner of teaching, facilities and

learner’s background, (Bustos, 1996).

1.2. Thinking

It is a response to a problem-situation processing for a solution. Insight to logical,

structural factors is stressed instead of past experience or association with similar

problems or trial and error types of solution, (Halsey, 1990). It happens in two ways:

 Productive thinking wherein we solve a problem with insight and this is a quick

insightful response to situations and environmental interaction.

 Reproductive thinking is solving a problem with various experiences and what

is already known, (Wertheimer).

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1.3. Motivation

It emerges from dynamic psychological situation, characterized by a person’s

desire to do something. They are more likely to talk about success and failures as

motivators, the former being the reward for completing an act. Success and failures not

merely achievements as such but represent the relationship between a person’s ambition

and his achievement. They also gave emphasis on the present situation, (Biehler, 1972).