Gestalt Psychologist, Essay Example

Gestalt psychology is founded on the notion that human beings have the ability to acquire and retain evocative perceptions in a rather chaotic reality. This theory is essentially founded on the concept of the whole being greater than the sum of its distinct parts (Robbins, 2003, p. 48). The different parts of the whole do not determine the behavior of the whole. Instead, the whole determines the behavior of the distinctive parts.

While there are eight candles, Casey perceives them as two groups of candles. This is because, instead of perceiving all eight candles in their singularity, Casey’s mind find it easier to interpret and make sense of the information when it is grouped into two. By organizing the information into two groups, Casey does not have to perceive the items as “candy”, “candy”, “candy”, “candy”, “candy”, “candy”, “candy”, “candy”, which reduces our perceptive ability by virtue of taking longer to process.

Casey may attempt to group the candles together using either of four classifications, i.e. (1) similarity, (2) proximity, (3) continuity, and (4) closure (Levitin, 2012, p. 228). If Casey is classifying the objects based on similarity, then he would use the physical features of the candies. If he uses proximity, he would perceive them according to distance from each other. If he uses continuity, then he would group the candy according to the patterns that he may identify. If he groups them according to closure, then he would attempt to complete objects that appear to have openings in them.

In conclusion, Casey perceives the 8 cadies as a two groups of candies owing to the fact that the number is eight, i.e. the whole determines the behavior of the distinctive parts. Casey’s mind finds it easier to process the information as two groups of candy as opposed to eight individual candies.

References

Levitin, D. J. (2012). Foundations of cognitive psychology : core readings (2nd ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Robbins, P. R. (2003). Understanding Psychology (3rd ed.). Portland: J. Weston Walch.