ASSOCIATIONISM AND GESTALTISM

Associationism is a classic psychological concept, particularly in the seventeenth and the

nineteenth century, it is based on the idea that physical activity has a material support and life is
explained by the action of the association as central and fundamental phenomenon in the formation
and manifestation of psychic phenomena. As it interprets mental activity it is called atomism
psychological . Holism is the opposite of atomism ( gestaltism ). If the atomists were of the view
that any whole can be divided into parts and analyzed, the holists say the whole is actually more
than the sum of its parts.
Gestaltism appeared in Germany earlier amid concerns of the German psychology devoted
to global and spiritual approach to psychic life because the associative design was getting
increasingly criticized because of its elementarisming of the mechanical approach and of the
organization of mental life. Unlike the associationism (who believed that the stimuli are perceived
as parts and then turned into images, the gestaltists state the priority of the whole upon the parts.
Gestaltism emerged precisely as a reaction against the associationism.
Associationism precursors were Aristotle, John Locke, E. Condillac , JF Herbart. Aristotle
classified as simple association: contiguity, similarity, contrast. The man would develop from an
initial state (tabula rasa) thanks to the experience and to the process of association of ideas. In time,
associationism became the fundal principle of psychic life, considering that any psychological
process of association is the result of an association of irreducible elements. Thus, starting from the
sensation, it was appreciated that perception would be their sum: the association of the perceptions
would give rise to the notions, which associate in judgements and then in reasoning.
Johann Friedrich Herbart shows that spiritual life is subject to laws as stars in heaven are. He
argues for a science of the soul by applying mathematical measurements and calculations. Condillac
believes that psychic phenomena are the sum of sensations and mental deployments; mechanical
association is explained by the law. Psychology thus becomes a mere mechanical mind. David
Hume had the associative idealistic belief that all knowledge comes from experience which presents
itself as a totality of impressions and has proposed three types of association of ideas: contiguity,
resemblance, cause-effect relationship.
Herman Ebbinghaus underlies the modern research on memory and created ,’’ forgetting
curve’’. Reflexological psychophysiological orientation was initiated by Russian physiologist IM
Seceno through his Brain Reflexes (1863). Connectionism is a physiological experimentalist
variant. The most important representative was I. P. Pavlov who discovered the conditioned reflex
as a consortium and dynamic stereotypes, theorized a different organization of the two signalling
systems and founded a school of neurophysiology , Pavlovian school.
 Currently is reflected in neoassociationism, associationism and neoconnectionism.
Neoassociationism means designating a family of theories and methods of cognitive psychology
associative resumed today. Neoconnectionism assumes that cognitive activity can be explained by
patterns of neural inspiration. Applications of this idea: neuromimetic networks- networks inspired
by the functioning of the nervous system. The birth of modern experimental psychology (late
nineteenth century) led to a understanding of the concept of associationism. Now, ’’ irreducible
components’’ are known to associate stimulus and response. Other practical applications of the
associationism : free association method, teaching.
By 1910, German researchers Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Kohler and Kurt Koffka rejected
the mode of analysis in psychology at that time. They proposed an approach intended to be closer to
what is the psychology and proposed the concept of field. This model allowed them to look at
perceptions of associative other than automobile (eg.: perception is no longer regarded as a sum of
sensations – the example of transposition of a song). At its inception, it manly aimed gestaltism
perceptual processes. According to this theory, images are perceived as a pattern or a whole rather
than as a sum of distinct parts. The gestaltists have found that the perception is strongly influenced
by the context and by the configuration items collected. Gestalts word can be roughly translated as
meaning the German configuration. Parties often derive their nature and purpose of the whole and
can not be understood apart from it. Furthermore, a summarization of the individual elements
cannot replace the whole.
Gestaltism representatives have identified a number of principles by which people organize
remote parts of the visual stimuli into groups or whole objects. There are large groups proposed five
laws: the law of unification, the law of proximity, the law of inclusiveness, the continuity law, the
law of similarity. The gestaltist approach was subsequently expanded in various fields of research
(thinking, memory, aesthetics). Gestaltism has applications in modern psychotherapy. Responsible
human being as a whole is going through experiences. According to the gestalts terapy any
separation mind – body is artificial. Among the notes of G. Allport neogestaltism representatives
who conceives personality as a dynamic structure which is in transformation and H. Ez the concept
of ’’ field of consciousness’’ and consciousness as organization design and physic model life
personal of the world.
Inspired by the gestaltism of Piaget genetic structuralism and generative structuralism of N.
Chomski, the generative structure is a fundamental paradigm of contemporary epistemiology which
exceeds the associanism and the complementarity gestaltism and supports analysis and synthesis of
knowledge.