Gestaltlära

Gestaltlära, often translated as Gestalt psychology, is a school of thought that emerged in the early 20th century in Germany. It emphasizes that the human mind perceives experiences as unified wholes rather than collections of individual parts. The central tenet is that "the whole is other than the sum of its parts."

Gestaltlära focuses on how we organize sensory information into meaningful perceptions. Several principles describe this perceptual organization, including proximity, similarity, closure, continuity, and common fate. For example, the principle of proximity suggests that objects that are close to each other are perceived as belonging together. Similarity indicates that similar items are grouped. Closure refers to our tendency to complete incomplete figures or patterns.

Key figures in Gestaltlära include Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Köhler, and Kurt Koffka. Their research explored areas such as visual perception, problem-solving, and learning, often using simple experiments to demonstrate these principles. Gestaltlära has had a significant impact on various fields beyond psychology, including art, design, and education, influencing how we understand perception, organization, and problem-solving.