Essay on "Gestalt Psychology"

Essay 5 pages (1804 words) Sources: 5

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Gestalt Psychology / Theory

In general, Gestalt psychology -- founded by German scientists Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Kohler, Hermann Ebbinghaus and Kurt Koffka -- focuses on how humans perceive the world around them. Moreover, according to Introduction to Psychology, Gestalt psychology is a response to structuralism, which held that introspection could effective lead psychologists to an understanding of the mind. Structuralism, the authors explain, was difficult in the sense that people had difficulty describing their emotional responses to stimuli and their other inner experiences. However, with Gestalt psychology, researchers (including those named above) began to study how "people consider individual elements together as units or wholes" (Feldman, 2009, pp. 13-14). According to Feldman, Ebbinghaus and Wertheimer proposed that the "…whole is different from the sum of its parts" which boils down to the assertion that human perception (or understanding) of objects is "greater and more meaningful than the individual elements that make up our perceptions" (Feldman, 14).

Thesis

The Gestalt approach to understanding our world and ourselves has been proven to be a worthy approach in many areas of living. While Gestalt has been controversial and no doubt misunderstood, this paper posits that there is ample evidence in the literature that this approach to psychology and therapy is useful and it's effectiveness is the reason it continues to be embraced by psychologists, sociologists and other professionals.

The Gestalt Approach

Professor of cognitive psychology James R. Pomerantz believes that -- "although poorly understood" -- Gestalt phenomena "are a cornerstone of perceptual psychology" (Pomerantz, 2006, p. 619). These phenomena are "powerful and robust effects" that have profound implications for how humans recognize certain objects and robust effects, and moreover, Pomerantz believes the role of color -- as important as "shape perception" -- should be thought of (using Gestalt reasoning) not as a basic feature or "primitive property of the stimulus" but rather as what professor Pomerantz views as a "complex conjunction of wavelengths" that are incorporated in humans' perception processing.

This fits in seamlessly with the description of Gestalt psychology mentioned in the summary of this paper: the whole is different than the sum of its parts. That is, color is really just a compilation of wavelengths that the eye sees as one color. Pomerantz makes the case that if color can be seen in the context of Gestalt, might an even strong argument be made for the fact that "…color is the quintessential Gestalt?" (621).

Meanwhile, expanding somewhat on Pomerantz' application of color vis-a-vis Gestalt, Dr. Janie Rhyne approaches Gestalt psychology through the experience of art. She believes that "healthy children are naturally gestaltists" because they "live in the present, give full attention to what they are doing, [and] do what they want to" (Rhyne, 2001, p. 109). Moreover, Rhyne continues, children that are healthy come to trust their "experiential data," and only if they are trained in reverse, healthy children know "what they know with direct simplicity and accuracy" (109). Rhyne, considered a pioneer in the Gestalt of art therapy, believes that most members of society do not grow up "naturally" due to the fact that people are coerced by the culture (parents, teachers) to conform to "accepted standards" which in fact causes people to "deny much of what we know to be true about our own nature" (110).

Frankly, the author continues, by the time most individuals in this society are mature, they have "forgotten how to be [themselves]. We remember just enough of what being ourselves feels like to be afraid of it" (111). Hence, that fear prevents natural living and instead keeps individuals in a "state of tension or deadness" so much of life is spent "performing instead of living," Rhyne asserts. Much (or "most") of a person's energy is put in use denying "our fear of knowing ourselves and each other deeply and wholly" (110).

But there is a way out of this "wall of fear," and it is through a Gestalt approach that Rhyne has become known for. She believes that most healthy intelligent adults have a "sneaking suspicion that we are not what we seem to be" and in that context people fear that others will see through "our game" or worst yet, "we ourselves will realize how trite and shoddy" the show is that is being put on to cover the human flaws and foibles related to this charade (110). The alternatives that Rhyne claims are out there -- to commit suicide, to create "another self-delusion" to go on pretending -- or, individuals can begin the search that Rhyne calls "courageous" to seek the "genuine" within themselves (110).

Following her build-up to the point of her article, Rhyne explains that by using art materials to make certain images a person can "rediscover" some of the "simple, naive wisdom" of the childhood experience. But what exactly is the Gestalt art experience? It basically boils down to drawing, and instead of looking at each part of what is put on paper, "the Gestalt psychologist says that we tend to see similar shapes, lines, and colors as belonging together" (114). The Gestaltist within each person sees that a number of shapes and colors are unrelated parts and are meaningless; however, put them together in an "integrated composition" and the individual sees that the whole "is obviously greater than the sum of the parts" (114).

Meantime, while Rhyne fine-tuned a Gestalt approach to therapy through art, authors Joseph Melnick and Marijane Fall embrace an effective approach to group therapy through Gestalt psychology. In an article published by the journal Counselor Education & Supervision, Melnick et al. point out that group therapy, when based on the use of Gestalt psychology -- particular emphasis on "awareness," the organization of "the present experience," the creative use of "here and now" which encompasses the past and greatly helps to influence the future -- can be effective (Melnick, et al., 2008, p. 50).

How does it work? Melnick (53) explains that their ideas emerged from the work of Fritz Perls (called the "Father of Gestalt Therapy"), who "exemplified creative experiment" in group therapy by going "beyond intellectual activities" and into the "felt sense and the arts." An example of the creative use of Gestalt therapy is presented on pages 54-55, a believable and fascinating interaction in group therapy. Basically, participant Ann starts off by saying that the gorilla she keeps on her shelf is "important" and somehow "connected to my sense of boredom," but she can't get past that. Group supervisor Jane, instead of asking deeper questions about Ann and her boredom, allows the gorilla to take center stage.

So Jane asks Ann for permission to "try an experiment," and after Ann agrees, Jane suggests that Ann pick someone from the group to be the gorilla (a crafty, Gestalt-friendly and creative tactic). Ann chooses Mary, Mary agrees to be the gorilla, and Ann begins pretending that Mary is high up on a vine. The gorilla represents the fun and laughter Ann used to have before becoming boring and serious. "Gorilla, I guess I abandoned you," Ann says. Mary replies, "Yea, I guess you have…. So are you like everyone else now? Is that what you want?" (Melnick, 55).

Ann replies "No. No. It's not what I want… I miss the other part, the fun part, I want you back," and Mary (the gorilla) says, " I miss you too." Ann says she is sad and wonders if in fact by putting the gorilla on the shelf, she put the exciting parts of her life up there too. Mary says, from now on when she sees Ann getting "too serious" she (the gorilla) will "hop off the shelf and make wild sounds in your ear' (as she says this Mary is jumping up and down pretending she really is a gorilla). And so it goes, and while Jane involves the other group members (the feedback from the other group members is "descriptive, phenomenological"; indeed one group member notices that Ann's eyes "become watery" when she described missing "your gorilla self") the author, Melnick, points to this scenario as "the emphasis that can come from Gestalt therapy and its valuing of present focus, increased awareness, and creative experiment" (56).

It is not difficult to believe in this aspect of Gestalt therapy, given that the creative utilization of a symbol of childhood like a gorilla toy can actually stir emotions and help the group supervisor bring out responses that everyone in the group relates to. It also was a fun session with the gorilla, not a serious emotion-drenched psychological drumbeat of passion.

On the subject of Fritz Perls, author Serge Ginger, who with his wife Anne Ginger founded the Paris School of Gestalt in 1980, quotes Perls' description of his application of Gestalt therapy. "I invented nothing," Perls explains (Ginger, 2007); "…all I did, was rediscover what was always there." [This Gestalt approach by Perls is a fairly universal idea that many artists have articulated; in one instance, songwriter and legendary recording artist Bob Dylan, was… READ MORE

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