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Postulates of Gestalt Psychology1) The whole is different from the sum of its parts.
2) The whole is studied in terms of its form or organisation. A Gestalt—which in German means pattern or shape—is best understood as a kind of perceptual configuration.
3)
Laws of grouping describe the general patterns of organisation obeyed by perceptual wholes. Patterns include:
- No grouping—elements are not grouped together;
![](Handler.ashx?path=ROOT/u23/5gnogroup.gif)
- Proximity—elements that are closer to one another are grouped together;
![](Handler.ashx?path=ROOT/u23/5gproximity.gif)
- Similarity—elements that are more similar to one another are grouped together;
![](Handler.ashx?path=ROOT/u23/5gsim.gif)
- Closure—elements that form closed units are grouped together;
![](Handler.ashx?path=ROOT/u23/5gclosure.gif)
- Good continuation—elements forming continuous lines or curves are grouped togeteher;
![](Handler.ashx?path=ROOT/u23/5gcurve.gif)
- Common region—elements located in the same perceived region tend to be grouped together;
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- Connectedness—elements forming a uniform connected region are grouped together.
![](Handler.ashx?path=ROOT/u23/5gconnect.gif)
4) Frames of reference determine how a set of stimuli will be grouped into a perceptual whole.
5) A Gestalt pattern can be perceived either as an independent object (figure), or as the surface or background behind the object (ground). Certain laws determine whether a region will be seen as a figure or a ground.
6) According to the principle of Pragnantz, or closure, ambiguous stimuli are interpreted in the most simple, regular, and symmetric patterns possible, based on available information.
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7) Psychological systems that reduce thinking to discrete operations on data, such a structuralism, behaviourism, and AI, are inadequate, because they fail to account for Gestalt properties of perception.
Notes:
- Presented here is primarily the Gestalt theory of perception. Applications of Gestalt theory to learning, motivation, education, and social psychology have been excluded.
- Authors on this map whose work draws on Gestalt principles include: Hubert and Stuart Dreyfus, Edwin Boring, Rudolf Anaheim.
- Other notable Gestaltists include: Kurt Koffka, Wolfgang Khler, Kurt Lewin, Max Wertheimer, and Edgar Rubin.
- Map 3 contains a variety of additional Gestalt-inspired objections to symbol systems.