Closure applies to memory, not just visual stimuli.- Waiters can remember checks until the bill is paid.
- Zeigarnik Effect -- she gave 18-22 tasks but interrupted half part-way through. Later, interrupted tasks were 90% more likely to be recalled.
- TV cliff-hanger episodes generate tension.
Alpha the chimp filled in the missing wedge of a pie-shaped figure. - Results with other chimps produced inconsistent results, perhaps because they were too young.
Koffka distinguished between the geographic environment and the behavioral environment. Koffka distinguished between the geographic environment and the behavioral environment.- The man in the snowstorm who crossed a lake not a plain without knowing it. His behavioral environment was plain, not lake.
Despite the turmoil in Germany after WWI, Gestalt Psychology flourished in the 1920’s. Despite the turmoil in Germany after WWI, Gestalt Psychology flourished in the 1920’s.Wolfgang Kohler succeeded Carl Stumpf as director of the Berlin Psychological Institute.- A decade later, the Nazi’s wrecked it.
- In 1933, Jewish professors, including Wertheimer, Kohler & Koffka, were expelled from the university (27 psychologists).
- Many were assisted in finding jobs in the USA, some at the NYC New School for Social Research (Univ. in Exile).
Germany’s most celebrated philosopher, Heidegger, supported the Nazi’s anti-intellectualism & Hitler. Germany’s most celebrated philosopher, Heidegger, supported the Nazi’s anti-intellectualism & Hitler.Under Nazi leadership, Wundt’s lab became a folk-cell or center for ultra-nationalistic activities.Kohler (not Jewish) vigorously opposed the Nazis.- He wrote the last anti-Nazi article published, mocked the Hitler salute and gave an anti-Nazi lecture.
- He refused to take a loyalty oath to Hitler and agitated for reinstatement of Jewish colleagues.
He emigrated in 1935, going to Swarthmore.
Wertheimer studied human thought and education at the New School for Social Research (1933). Wertheimer studied human thought and education at the New School for Social Research (1933).- Fromm’s interviews with major scientists at the New School was lost until republished in 1997.
Wertheimer wrote “Productive Thinking” (1945) recommending a Gestalt approach to teaching.He developed new methods of teaching math and thought insightful productive thinking could be cultivated in all children (not just math geniuses).
Kohler studied with Stumpf, then went to the Canary Islands (Tenerife) to study primates and was stranded there for 7 years by WWI. Kohler studied with Stumpf, then went to the Canary Islands (Tenerife) to study primates and was stranded there for 7 years by WWI.Kohler questioned the S-R learning approach of Thorndike (trial & error), arguing that animals are capable of reasoning in the right context.- He said animals were unable to demonstrate higher level reasoning in puzzle boxes.
- He devised situations that animals could solve using insight.
Chimps seemed to use insight to solve more complicated problems involving combining tools or using objects to reach bananas, with transfer. Chimps seemed to use insight to solve more complicated problems involving combining tools or using objects to reach bananas, with transfer.- They seemed to have moments of insight, jumping up with inspiration after giving up on a problem.
- Animals were tested in social situations where they learned by observation and imitation.
- Kohler reported his results descriptively without numbers and statistical interpretations.
British intelligence thought he was a spy.
Apes were able to find buried food immediately but not after a delay – ape memory is limited. Apes were able to find buried food immediately but not after a delay – ape memory is limited.He demonstrated that fear is not a learned response by showing that apes reacted with fear to novel stimuli such as camels or masks not paired with punishment.
Lewin studied in Berlin under Stumpf but found Wundtian psychology irrelevant and dull. Lewin studied in Berlin under Stumpf but found Wundtian psychology irrelevant and dull.- He organized a series of workers classes to teach basic skills -- considered subversive by the university.
He volunteered for WWI winning an Iron Cross, then published “The War Landscape” describing the soldier’s experience of the war.- He used terms like life space, boundary, direction and zone, which became important in his later topological theory & described depersonalization of the enemy.
Returning to the Berlin Psychological Institute, he found Gestalt psychology interesting but had a more applied focus. |
