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A word in defense of the empty chair, or a few words for and against experiment in modern Gestalt therapy (published in Sat Gestalt 2008)

Elena Petrova

Does the experiment need to be restored to its good name in the eyes of practicing therapists? It would seem that such a formulation of the question is almost absurd, since the experiment is the "calling card" of the Gestalt session, both in individual and group work. It is difficult to imagine a therapist committed to Gestalt ideas (even those who prefer dialogue) who would speak out against the experiment. However, it is not so common to see a well-prepared and clearly conducted experiment in supervision sessions these days. And increasingly, one comes across a condescendingly fearful memory of the client's noisy and unequivocally primitive "empty chair" conversations that left in the mind of both therapist and client a vague sense of pointless play and confusion.

Gestalt therapists often avoid not only spatial experiments with "pillows", but even just in case they avoid experimental work with dream images. Gestalt sessions are increasingly taking place as a one-to-one and face-to-face conversation on two hard chairs. Why did this happen? Is this the objective truth of the development of therapy or a random fashion? The author of the article believes that the experiment was rejected as a tribute to fashion and honestly needs to be rehabilitated. Despite all the costs and abuses that have diminished his value in the eyes of the therapeutic community. However, there are several explanations for the negative attitude to the experiment, and they are quite convincing. First, the fashion for a dialogue approach. Secondly, some of the therapist's fears about the surprise that each experiment carries with it. And thirdly, oddly enough, the ambivalence of the experience itself, which can be obtained by a person during the experiment. It is our contention that, when properly used, experimentation can be of great benefit to the therapist. And we offer several methodological considerations that can justify the application of the experiment. So, the experiment itself is not the monopoly of the Gestalt therapist. Psychotherapists of different directions, trainers, teachers, social workers use role-playing games, business games, symbolic or modeling experiments for a variety of purposes. We can find experiments of all kinds, from frustrating to educational, from exploratory in relation to unconscious reactions to mass training tasks that offer solutions to ethical conflicts. There is an opinion that the very idea of using the experiment in psychotherapy was borrowed by Gestalt therapists from psychodrama (“talking with an empty chair”, constellations, dialogue of polarities) or from training on body work and mindfulness workshop (those experiments that were included in the famous Gestalt therapy workshop were developed in the training on "bodily awareness" by the German psychotherapist Charlotte Silver)

Types of experiments by function and place in the session.

1. Provocative experiment (frustration).

2. An experiment aimed at gaining new experience in a given context.

3. Research experiment.

4. Focusing experiment (collection and clarification of information)

5. Creative fixture

Types of experiments according to the form of work

1.Experiment with role-playing relationships with a person or in a group.

2. Theatrical exposition reflecting intrapersonal processes (symbolic experiments).

3. experiments on building verbal communication

4. Individual experiments with amplification of bodily experience.

5. experiments on bodily representation of the situation (group sculpture)

6. Experiments with metaphors and dreams.

7. Experiments with polarities

Types of experiment according to the form of conducting.

1. An experiment to freely explore feelings and gain new experience. (participants and therapist do not have a predetermined plan for exactly what will be experienced)

2. a structured experiment to gain experience of a certain type.

The therapist offers several operations and tasks, in the sequence of which the person is faced with a focused experience, which helps to deepen awareness. What experiments are appropriate at different phases of the contact cycle? At different stages of the contact cycle, different experiments are used by the therapist for different purposes. In the pre-contact phase, this is an experiment that focuses and excites energy. At the contacting phase, the experiment is rather exploratory in nature. In the final contact phase, this is an experiment that creates a precedent for a new type of relationship or a new contact. The classification of experiments in relation to their placement in the contact cycle is somewhat arbitrary, but the therapist can be guided by it, considering the details of the experiment. Note that this classification is based on the cycle of contact that develops in the personal field of the client. If we consider the contact cycle of the relationship between the client and the therapist, then the experiment should be offered only if the client and the therapist have created partnerships, and the client is able to maintain his EGO function at the time of the start of the experiment.

The experiment is created in the zone of emotional stress. The therapist chooses a place for the experiment if the tension of communication in the session needs to be changed. It can be a boost task or a voltage reduction task. The intensity of energy in communication is easily registered by the therapist when he listens carefully to the client at different stages of the session. The therapist selects several components and figures from among those named by the client, and draws attention to them, creating the composition of the experiment. The elements of composition and the connections between the elements of composition in the experiment literally become a spatial reflection of the elements of tension in the mental field. In other words, it is a reflection of elements of emotional tension that are missing or inappropriate in verbal communication. For example, let us recall the system constellations that have become popular recently, taken from psychodrama. The Gestalt approach borrowed from psychodrama a method for creating a composition of constellations for working with dreams and with metaphors. A similar type of experiment is represented by the system constellations according to Bert Helinger, which make it possible to compose quite abstract episodes of mental life and complex existential problems. The most popular experiments that use the method of placement in physical space (using toys, special pillows, or even figures of group participants)

The composition in space has several characteristics, each of which contributes to the construction of the contact structure and reflects the structure of the inner spiritual space of a person. These are the vector characteristics of space, the boundaries of objects, their relative position, neighborhood. Vectorness defines the direction and distance in three-dimensional space (higher, lower, farther, closer); mutual arrangement reflects possible connections and groupings between objects. It can be seen from the projection rule that such a mutual arrangement of objects literally reflects in three-dimensional space the situation of interpersonal relationships, which is determined by emotions and attitudes, that is, it creates a three-dimensional dynamic model of existing emotions and relationships.

Making an experiment as an action in real space and real time, let's remember Kurt Lewin. When a person makes a subjective description of his mental world, he uses spatial and temporal characteristics that are almost identical to the descriptive characteristics of the objective world. In other words, the space of internal intrapsychic reality, which can be called the internal field of the psyche, in terms of subjective perception is arranged by analogy with the field of the physical three-dimensional material world. This is a world where the laws of Newtonian mechanics apply. Recall that in the "material, real" physical space, we can deal with three-dimensional physical space and with the characteristics of time. And we use vector formulas to describe interactions.

With the development of the theme, modern mathematics offers more complex constructions. The modern approach uses the concept of networks (including social networks in the field of interpersonal relations) and the mathematical apparatus that corresponds to this description system is graph theory. But we will consider this system separately. In the usual form of a spatial experiment within the framework of an individual or group Gestalt session, we use the characteristics of time (understood as the sequence of events) and the characteristics of space (placement of characters and objects in physical space, closer or further, higher or lower). The characteristic of time can also be used in popular experiments in which a “time line” is used. In this case, a person is asked to arrange "along the timeline" the events that happened to him during his life. In these instructive experiments, time has a spatial projection: if we compare two objects from the point of view of them as events in time, then in the space of the experiment we will place two such objects at different distances from the observer. What was more distant (preceded) in time is located farther in distance. We will not discuss here the mysterious nature of such parallelism. Some thinkers believe that a person created a picture of the spatial world as a copy (in terms of a sign system) of the intrapsychic world. Other authoritative authors support the feedback hypothesis, believing that the mental picture of the world is the result of practical activity in the space of the physical world. These preliminary considerations allow us to move on to a discussion of the four non-specific resources that make the experiment possible.

Spatial metaphor (consequence of the phenomena seen in K. Levin's field theory) The effect of projecting experiences into physical space. In everyday logic, it corresponds to the idea of "look at the situation from the outside." The integrity of the movement. A common idea about the truth of the body and the truth of expressive holistic movement When a person's body is involved in movement, its biomechanics itself adjusts the combination of muscle work. This combination suggests the composition and form of the movement. The beginning of the movement increases the activity of the entire body complex. The body in motion can support only one "theme" without internal contradiction, therefore, a holistic movement encourages a person to focus on one thought, push the rest into the background. Cultural experience of morphology and syntax. Speech as an additional world Corresponds to the everyday theme of the type "as long as you tell, you will understand." The form of the statement suggests continuation, according to the model and example. And pulls the speaker along, focusing energy. Field excitation effect Energy of contact Creating an interactive dialogue excites energy. By creating by the very fact of action changes in the system

First resource: spatial metaphor. The effect of energy increase is based on the fact that when projecting inner experience into the metaphorical space of the physical world, a person receives a spatial copy of the experience, in which the "boundaries" of the figures of the mental space become the literal boundaries of the physical space. This excites feelings and creates conditions for better focusing and detailing of experience, for awareness of the details of the structure of the conflict, and so on.

Second resource: physical movement activity. In Gestalt therapy, this is a well-known method of amplification. Or creating a spatial copy of an abstract image by movement, or simply strengthening a vague feeling and transferring it "from the depths of the body" (that is, from the area for which the smooth muscles and interoreceptors are responsible) to the external, contact area. That is, in the area for which the skeletal muscles are responsible, the area of spatial movement. This non-specific resource provides a basis for the activation of the whole organism due to the fact that energy and muscular experience of spatial behavior are added to the solution of problems of the mental type of problems of the "inner mental world". In terms of somato-psychic regulation, we recall that the motor cortex is included in the matter, and the whole experience of a person in terms of receiving feedback from the external objective environment. The experience of contact with one's own process and the experience of contact with the boundary of the physical world. An example of the beginning of such an experiment would be the therapist's suggestion: "Do you feel anxiety? Express the vibration that you understand as anxiety more strongly. Increase the amplitude. Understand what your body is doing now as the beginning of a thematically organized movement. Move as if EVERYTHING your body expressed the anxiety that you are now experiencing inside! The therapist's other suggestion would be more succinct: "Strengthen this movement!"

Third resource: grammatical and morphological rules of speech (language). Speech proficiency, that is, the free use of the sign system of native speech, automatically encourages a native speaker to use familiar, ready-made, grammatically recognized formulas. Most often, the pronunciation of a coherent text aloud, especially "with expression" and targeted, creates an additional support for focusing attention and clarity of thought. This effect is confirmed by the well-known saying "as long as I told, I understood!". The therapist can encourage the client to make a full statement! This effect is especially important for those who speak and think in Russian. The freedom of grammatical norms for the use of the language in Russian (compared to the Romance languages) gives the subject the freedom to increase or decrease the degree of clarity of the utterance. Involving a person in the process of storytelling adds energy, subjective pleasure from a well-formulated thought often gives freedom. "Now let's talk about what's going on with you!" Such a proposal gives the subject an initial impulse to connect what is in the body and what is currently in the emotions.

The fourth resource: the energy of contact and meeting. Any collision of a person with another person is accompanied by excitement or experiencing a small emotional shake-up. The effect of the presence of another person animates the subject. This effect has a specifically human character. The energy of the meeting and the experience of novelty and freshness of relationships that develops this process gives a unique increase in terms of psychic energy and the release of feelings. Summing up, we note that a small increase in energy, which gives any of the above forms of experiment, is quite valuable. But it must be remembered that these effects are significantly reduced if the client performs the experiment only following the recommendation (following the suggestion) of the therapist mechanistically, against his own will. In this case, the experiment is performed by the client as a "physical exercise", or a "remedial exercise" task. We will include those forms of activity that are called “acting out” or “acting out” to the area of little use. Although the client manifests itself quite violently and vividly, the absence of the effect of awareness reduces the subjective experience of energy, replacing it with a more primitive experience of arousal in structure. Of course, part of the arousal-enhancing effect still occurs even with the client's involuntary participation in the formal experiment. But such an increase in energy is not convenient for the client, who can either ignore it or even use this "increase in energy" to increase resistance to therapy. Therefore, as mentioned above, the therapist can be recommended the principle of voluntariness in situations where he offers the client an experiment. In this case, the addition of energy gives the client pleasure and creates the preconditions for focus and awareness. it is not filled

The principle of small steps in the experiment. It is important to follow the principle: one experiment, one figure. The increase in the number of figures that may emerge from the expansion of the experiment may appeal to the therapist for its depth and completeness, but from experience it is worth recommending limitations in the area of expansion of the field. The positive feature of the experiment is most often that the restriction (reduction of freedom and reduction of the variability of the situation) conditions creates the prerequisites for the mobilization of energy. In the experiment, the client has fewer figures to observe than in life, therefore, by increasing the time and relying on the framework of the experiment, he can use with great effect to focus the amount of energy that he actually has at his disposal. Increasing the number of components of the experiment or changing the figure to a deeper one often confuses the client, he loses the thread of the experiment, and some symbolic action (such as "acting out") takes the place of awareness (everenes).

The fact is that the experiment itself is started most often in a situation where the therapist is dealing with an interruption of contact, and the experiment itself, obviously, serves as a tool for confronting these interruptions, creating conditions for the return of freedom and awareness. Sliding from experience to experience for the client will not be so much an experience of "depth" but an experience of no boundaries and no focus. What should the therapist do if, during the course of the experiment, the original plan begins to "float?" Natural advice: if new figures appear, it is worth stopping the old experiment, discussing its results, and then start a new experiment with new figures! Some exception to the proposed rules can be research and diagnostic experiments, which can just be aimed at finding hidden or avoided figures. But in these experiments, the therapist also helps the client register new figures and then discuss them in a focused way. Responsibility of the therapist and the responsibility of the client. As a rule, the therapist himself begins the experiment. that is, the therapist himself proposes to do the experiment, and receives the consent of the client and his interest in the result of this experiment. That is, it establishes a partnership agreement regarding the upcoming action and equally distributes responsibility with the client. A common mistake the therapist makes is to start asking the client about the content of the future experiment in terms of thematic desire. That is, he asks if the client wants, wants to do an experiment, by analogy with how he asks the client about current desires, motives and needs. However, one must understand that the therapeutic experiment is a special tool of the therapist, it is a special form of research and it is aimed against the resistance of the client of therapy. therefore, such a naive proposal often causes bewilderment in the client. “I was first offered to talk with my great-grandmother, and then they are interested in what form I want to do it! But I didn’t want just this action before the therapist suggested it to me. I always avoided, on the contrary, remembering my relationship with my great-grandmother !". So the usual therapist's formula is "I suggest you do it!"

The therapist comes up with the composition of the experiment, this is his creative contribution to the session. And the client gets involved in it and finds the missing energy in the game. An important stage in the experiment is its completion. At this point in the session, the therapist and client end the experiment and enter into a dialogue. It often seems to the therapist that the client will “somehow” come out of the experiment when it gradually fades and loses energy. Often one can even observe situations when the therapist forgets that on his own initiative he offered the client (started) an experiment, and talks to one of the roles in the composition as to a whole person. Sometimes it seems to the therapist that it is possible to establish contact and relationships, hoping that the effect has persisted after the experiment is completed. this is not a very smart approach. as well as a simple suggestion to the person to "be with it." A common form of termination of an experiment is free discussion between therapist and client of the results of the experiment. I most often ask the client directly about "how he evaluates the results of the experiment, what he found interesting." This principle of "equal discussion" makes room for the EGO function of the client. It seems to me that there are several reasons why the therapist finds it difficult to clearly indicate the moment when the experiment ends and returns to a dialogue relationship, to a direct meeting with the client. Most often it is countertransference. For example, the therapist may like the state of the client's emotions and feelings during the experiment, and he kindly hopes that the client's state will now change and it is necessary to fix it so that the client does not lose it! ”Or the therapist was distracted and simply forgot the moment from which he started experiment.

By the way, I recommend that therapists, prior to the start of the experiment, roughly plan its composition, including the presumptive composition of the completion of the exit from the experiment. Although later, in the course of setting up the experiment, the therapist will improvise. And after the experiment, it is always worth discussing the results freely and on an equal footing, and thereby move on to a dialogue! Note that the question of an indefinite type "what was it for you?" rarely gives way to the beginning of such a partnership conversation, as it encourages the client to interpret himself, his actions, to make a self-report to the therapist. In such cases, sometimes clients become anxious and even ask the therapist for an interpretation. But the therapist's question to the client is like: "Now the experiment is over. How do you feel about the experiment, what did you find interesting and useful?" well promotes the idea of meeting and partnership. Why are therapists sometimes afraid to experiment and prefer talking? Here are some answers to the question “why are you avoiding the experiment?” received in the discussion of the presented material in study groups. “Because they are afraid of the unpredictability that the client will make changes without the participation of the therapist”, “That the relationship with the therapist will change, that the therapist will not keep up with the speed of the client’s feelings”, “Because the therapist has only a few decisions to start the experiment and choose the form seconds (5-10 seconds) and not have time to come up with", "Because it seems that the client still has little energy", "That the experiment may not work out and then the client will think badly about the therapist", "That the client will not obey or agree ".

In general, the experiment is a risk not only for the client, but also for the therapist. It can be predictable in form, in composition of roles or figures, but it simply must be, must be unpredictable in content!!! Otherwise, why is it needed? An experiment, by definition, contains novelty. that is why it is so insulting that many therapists, as an experiment, offer a semblance of didactic tasks or compositions hinting at the successful resolution of situations! Refusal of the experiment or failure of the experiment. An unsuccessful or too difficult experiment for the client is more harmful than useful, regardless of the energy of feeling. it is important that the client maintains an attitude of awareness and freedom while performing the experiments. if awareness is disturbed, the experiment should simply be completed! The abandonment of the experiment is simply an opportunity to have a free dialogue with the client about his motives, a good start to more direct contact. And there is no need to insist on bringing the experiment to an end. In addition, we will discuss the ways of conducting the experiment in the session and the position of the therapist. The experiment is usually proposed by the therapist on his own initiative. It is pointless to ask the client if he "wants" to do the experiment. nevertheless, it is always necessary to obtain consent to conduct an experiment, otherwise it will be just violence.

The suggestion of an experiment on the part of the therapist is in itself a form of confrontation with the interruption of the contact that the client demonstrates. Therefore, the therapist must offer the experiment unambiguously, clearly indicate the place, form, time of beginning and end of the experiment, in order to then proceed to discuss it. The motives of the client and the tactics of the therapist. How to avoid mistakes when setting up an experiment. Possible motive for the client to participate in the experiment: The therapist may arouse the client's active curiosity to conduct an experiment in which the client encounters a rejected process. Not to be confused with the fact that the client pays attention to his gestures and explains the functions of this gesture. The task is to draw the attention of the subject to his own secrets. At the same time, we remember that the therapist's proposal makes the proposal of the experiment in a completely directive way, therefore the client carries out exactly the therapist's order, made in an imperative form.

Example of work: the situation in the session. the client finds it difficult to speak freely, feels stiffness and tension. the therapist does not have the opportunity to directly discuss the feelings of the client, and pays attention to his hand. Therapist. "I suggest you speak on behalf of the hand." Client: "I'm a hand... I'm tense, I'm afraid to make an unnecessary movement..." Therapist: "You can notice that it's really difficult for you to express yourself right now.." Errors in this experiment may be due to the therapist's excessive activity. For example, the therapist may forget that there is a reason for stopping feeling. For example, shame. And if the therapist simply offers to expand these feelings is a risky action for the client. After all, if you look at the situation realistically, in the actual session, for the client, before the start of the experiment, there was not enough space or energy to place these feelings in the space of the relationship between the client and the therapist in a direct form. Therefore, the subject of the contract between therapist and client will be the very interest in "hidden feelings", the truth of the experiment, among which there will be a surprise for the client to be approached by the therapist, and the conditions for how these as yet unknown feelings will be accepted. The therapist may ask, "what do you think I can do, and what you can do, so that these feelings, which are found, can find a suitable form and place for themselves. Errors, therefore, can be caused by the therapist's haste and his excessive directiveness, that is, with a violation of contractual relations and a violation of the principle of equality and meeting. The fact is that the client can enter the execution of the experiment from different self functions. Can conduct either ID, or PERSONALITY, or EGO function. But we will be interested only in the EGO function.

It is to the ego function that the therapist will refer when discussing the experiment with the client. Violations in this case are an appeal from the therapist to the client such as "whether he would be interested in speaking on behalf of the hand." If you think about it, it's an "axiomoron". A person can hardly want (in the sense of need) to speak on behalf of a part of his body. The hand with its gesture has already satisfied this need. On the other hand, as we discussed earlier, a person may be interested in doing an experiment, motivated by their own interest in their own secrets, something that is outside the zone of contact. Be interested in something in yourself that is not currently available to him.

The function of the experiment during the start of the consultation. The experiment is appropriate not only in the framework of long-term therapy, but also during a short-term consultation. The experiment is proposed by the therapist, and this paradoxical action helps the client move from a long, ordinary and familiar conversation for the client to action. Such an experiment has a diagnostic and educational (demonstration) function, so it should not be very deep and serious. Its task is to focus attention, excite energy. The experiment creates saturation of figures with emotional energy, sharpens the composition of the conflict, if there is a conflict, reveals unfinished actions. at the same time, it should be superficial enough not to frighten or "overwhelm" the client. A provocative diagnostic experiment in the initial phase of the session creates a positive emotional mood in the client and then provides an opportunity to reveal emotions. the client understands that this is his own experience, and not a story about what could have been. Experiments are offered by the therapist, focusing on the state of the client and on the material communicated by him. An experiment at the beginning of the session, however, can be offered to the client if he easily comes into contact with the therapist and is himself in the phase of contact (dynamically expresses feelings, indicates a contradiction of opinions or conflict, shows interruptions of the type of retroflection or projection. According to the content in this experiment we join the client’s relevance and in the experiment we strengthen those tendencies that have already been identified by the client.It is not worth doing experiments at the beginning of the session that confront the client’s beliefs or require serious competence.In fact, we collect in the composition of the experiment those elements that have already been presented by the client at the start of the experiment.Due to the playful and expressive form offered by the experiment, the background elements become more active and the figure begins to form.It is easier for the client, thanks to such an organization of the background, to focus attention and easier to process such simplified material.The position of the therapist differs in that that the therapist tries to guess in advance what cues and movements the client might make during the experiment. This condition can help the therapist avoid excessive depth and complexity in the client's experience while maintaining the freshness of the feeling. it may seem like a paradox, but that too much complexity at the start of a session can drain the client's energy and make them less confident about what's going on. Therefore, in the experiment, it is worth choosing a piece of psychologically significant material that is feasible for the client.

The choice of place and method of conducting the experiment and the position of the therapist. The experiment during the session is usually proposed by the therapist, this step on the part of the therapist, that is, in itself, the proposal of the experiment on the part of the therapist, this is the introduction of a new figure into the contact situation. The experiment develops energy, supports the process of differentiation and focus, gives room for wholeness (unification of body, emotions, mind). These positive moments do not interfere with the understanding of the other side of the experiment, as an additional form of organizing contact, in comparison with the meeting between the client and the therapist. In this sense, often during the session, the experiment is a form of confrontation with the interruption of the contact that the client demonstrates. In this case, the experiment can be understood as a variant of "suppression tactics". The name of the suppression tactic was proposed by Perls to refer to the therapist's open confrontation tactics with interruptions of contact by the client. Therefore, the therapist must offer the experiment unambiguously, clearly indicate the place of the beginning and the place of completion.

Examples of experiments. Most popular experiments

1. Metaphorical work. Translation from one system to another using metaphor as an additional expressive "semantic decision machine". "Express this problem in a metaphorical form!" The game. Using the translation of an event of mental life from one modality to another. These are suggestions from the therapist's side such as: "speak for the hand!", "speak for the tension", "play the role of a character from a dream!", "express your state with sound." polarity effect. The introduction of a contrasting pair to the figures available to the client creates an effect of revival. Regardless of whether an alternative role or abstraction is chosen, in a situation of polarities, the appeal to polarity expands the field and saturates the background. Some risk of such techniques is that the client's attention is scattered, and he sometimes has to simply switch to a new figure. Experiments are popular in which polarities "meet" in a dispute as two people might meet in a dispute. Appeal to an imaginary figure (dialogue with an empty chair). This effect is based on a combination of movement and spoken text. A monologue delivered addressing and with an expression addressed to a figure designated in space by a symbol (pillow, object) encourages a person to coordinate their experiences and focus. Perhaps the development of the theme as a dialogue between the figures. group sculpture. A popular group experiment in which the client makes a story about his situation, and then creates a spatial sculptural portrait of the group members, reflecting the dynamic semantics of the internal connections of his situation. As a rule, in such an experiment, the client rearranges the participants and changes places many times, thereby increasing his awareness.

2. Dog on top and dog on the bottom. The name of the experiment was proposed by F. Perls, using an idiom popular in America and little understood in Russia. despite the strangeness of the name, this experiment miraculously takes place in a group when two chairs are placed, and one by one they go to these chairs. An important role is played by the example of previous participants. The participant "get sick" and give their emotions and warm up those who go to these "role" chairs. from one chair a person speaks on behalf of his inner position of the type "must be done", from the second chair a person speaks on behalf of his inner position of a "natural resisting" character. The benefits of working in a group with this experiment are clear. First, the participants get used to improvisation. In addition, some of the feelings and statements are legalized. Group members get used to noticing energy shifts from one of the figures to another. It is essential that the facilitator maintains the enthusiasm of each figure, and encourages them to say whatever they want!

3.Polarities. Much has been said and written about polarity. Not everyone likes experimenting with polarities. The number of options for pairs is endless, starting with "I'm kind -" I'm evil, "smart-stupid", "kindness-aggressiveness", and ending with perfect abstractions. There are opinions that working with polarities is effective, but confuses the client. Most often, the effect of confusion , however, arises in a situation where an inattentive therapist often starts as an experiment with the poles of one semantic axis, and the case ends unexpectedly for the therapist with a role conflict. In general, however, it is worth saying that the use of polarities spontaneously proposed during the session for experiment enlivens the situation and provides additional emotional material for work.

4 The "Empty Chair" The "Empty Chair" has long been a talk of the tongue. There is something odious about it. Of course, it is difficult to consider it the hallmark of modern Gestalt therapy, especially since it is essentially borrowed from psychodrama. And it is used in the framework of many different tasks in the practice of all modern therapy. But Gestalt therapists have their own motives for being friends with this experiment. No matter how the experiment with the arrangement of empty chairs reflects the spatial disposition. That is, it projects into the physical space those vectors that take place in the emotional space of a person. When is it needed? Of course, in moments when it is necessary to clarify relations with specific people, with a departed or deceased person. And in cases where the therapist's confrontation with the client's fusion is difficult, and the person experiences a complex conglomeration of feelings that are difficult for him to differentiate. The effect of talking to an empty chair from the point of view of Gestalt therapy is primarily that the composition of the completed text clarifies the message and makes the experience more harmonious. At the same time, you should not focus on this experiment as a topic of "behavior rehearsal". This play therapy work is not Gestalt specific. The authors believe that a meeting is necessary, a confrontation of two opposites, which will result in the development of figures and the beginning of contact. Classical for the analytic tradition, the idea that it is necessary to deploy in the external in the physical or fantasy space, the internal conflict is also naturally reflected in experiments with empty chairs. The literary analogue of this method can be easily found in the works of the famous science fiction writer Robert Sheckley ("The Alchemical Marriage of Alistair Crompton" and other stories)

Conclusion. Partner dialogue and built-in experiment. Using the popular experiment "speaking on behalf of a body part" as an example, let's consider an important problem that discusses the combination of two styles of establishing contact in one communication. One of them is the question of whether an episode of work with internal phenomenology is possible in the experiment within the framework of a partnership dialogue? And more broadly - how appropriate is the experiment in the course of a partnership dialogue. As an initial hypothesis, we propose the idea that within the framework of a clearly constructed dialogue, with a clear distribution of responsibility, any form of experiment can be placed. An experiment is a joint action of two people who understand each other, who are ready for cooperation and who are sincerely glad to make an effort to organize changes. It is an act of co-creation. Which has its own form, its own frame (beginning and end) and its own unique form of completion. Essentially, the therapist organizes the action with the experiment as a single figure project, and this project goes through all four phases of the contact cycle. Pre-contact - discussion and motivation of the client, selection of a topic for the experiment. Contacting is the arrangement of the composition of the experiment, the final contact is the action in the experiment, and finally the post-contact is a discussion between the therapist and the client of the experience gained in the experiment. (October 5, 2006 - January 30, 2008 St. Petersburg)

Taken from http://www.gestalttrening.ru/?groupMenu=221

1. The history of the emergence of Gestalt psychology

2. Basic concepts and principles of Gestalt psychology

3. The nature of the scientific revolution

4. The main provisions of the theory of F. Perls

5. References

The history of the emergence of Gestalt psychology

The first mention of Gestalt in literature appeared thanks to the Austrian philosopher and psychologist Christian von Ehrenfels, who in 1890 in his work “On Gestalt qualities” introduced the concept of “Gestalt quality” and posed the problem of the integrity of perception.

But the founder of Gestalt psychology as a separate direction in the history of psychological science is rightfully considered Max Wertheimer, who, since 1910, at the Psychological Institute in Frankfurt, together with his assistants Wolfgang Köhler and Kurt Koffka, was looking for an answer to the question of how the image of perception of visible movements is built. Moreover, Köhler and Koffka were not only subjects, but also participants in the discussion of the results of the experiments.

The scheme of Wertheimer's experiments was simple. Here is one of the options. Through two slots - vertical and deviated from it by 20-30 degrees - light was passed at different intervals. At an interval of more than 200 milliseconds, two stimuli were perceived separately, as following one after another, at an interval of less than 30 milliseconds - simultaneously; at an interval of about 60 milliseconds, movement was perceived. Wertheimer called this perception the "phi-phenomenon". He introduced a special term to highlight the uniqueness of this phenomenon, its irreducibility (contrary to the opinion generally accepted at that time) to the sum of sensations from stimulation first of some points of the retina, and then of others. In itself, the result of the experiments was trivial. Wertheimer used a stroboscope invented long ago, which, when rotating at a certain speed, creates the appearance of movement of individual discrete images - the principle that led to the creation of a movie projector. Wertheimer saw the meaning of his experiments in that they refuted the prevailing psychological doctrine: in the composition of consciousness, integral images were found that were indecomposable into sensory elements.

The results of the study of this integral "phi-phenomenon" were presented in the article "Experimental studies of visible motion" (1912). From this article it is customary to conduct a genealogy of Gestaltism. His main postulate was that the primary data of psychology are integral structures (gestalts), which in principle cannot be derived from the components that form them. Gestalts have their own characteristics and laws. The properties of parts are determined by the structure they are part of.

As can be seen from Köhler's memoirs, the reason for their dissatisfaction with the situation in psychology was that the higher mental processes remained outside the precise experimental analysis, which was limited to sensory elements and the principle of associations.

First of all, the fact of the simultaneous emergence of Gestaltism and behaviorism deserves attention. Wertheimer and Watson came up with the idea of reforming psychology at the same time in the face of growing dissatisfaction with the prevailing views on the subject, problems, and explanatory principles of psychology. There was an urgent need to update it. As is known, in the movement of scientific knowledge there are both evolutionary periods and periods of a sharp break in generally accepted ideas. Both behaviorism and gestaltism were the product of radical shifts in psychological cognition. Their simultaneous appearance is an indication that they arose as different responses to the demands of the logic of the development of psychological ideas. Indeed, both directions were a reaction to the prevailing scientific stereotypes and a protest against them.

Both the behaviorists and the Gestaltists hoped to create a new psychology along the lines of the natural sciences. But for the behaviorists, the model was rather biology, and for the Gestaltists, physics. The concept of gestalt was not considered, therefore, uniquely psychological, applicable only to the field of consciousness. It was a harbinger of a general systematic approach to all phenomena of being. A new view was born on the correlation of part and whole, external and internal, cause and purpose.

Many representatives of this trend paid considerable attention to the problem of the mental development of the child, since they saw evidence of the correctness of their theory in the study of the development of mental functions.

The leading mental process, which actually determines the level of development of the child's psyche, from the point of view of the Gestaltists, is perception. These scientists argued that it is on how a child perceives the world that his behavior and understanding of situations depend.

The concept of insight (from the English. Insight - discretion) as a restructuring of gestalt arose just from the study of children's perception and became a key in gestalt psychology. It was given a universal character. It became the basis of the Gestalt explanation of adaptive behaviors, which Thorndike and the behaviorists explained in terms of "trial, error, and chance success."

American psychologists received the first information about Gestaltism in 1922, but at first they met it with indifference. Soon American psychologists were able to get acquainted with the ideas of the new school directly from the lips of its leaders. In 1924, Kurt Koffka was invited to lecture at Cornell University, and in 1925, Wolfgang Köhler was invited to Harvard University.

The ideas of Gestaltism significantly influenced the transformation of the original behaviorist doctrine and paved the way for neobehaviorism, which began to take shape at the turn of the 30s. By this period, the main representatives of the Gestalt trend, fleeing Nazism, immigrated to the United States of America and settled in various universities and research centers.

Moscow City Psychological and Pedagogical University

Faculty of Educational Psychology

Course work

on the course: General psychology

Gestalt psychology: basic ideas and facts

Student group (POVV)-31

Bashkina I.N.

Lecturer: Doctor of Science

Professor

T. M. Maryutina

Moscow, 2008

Introduction

1. The emergence and development of Gestalt psychology

1.1 General characteristics of Gestalt psychology

1.2Main ideas of Gestalt psychology

2. Main ideas and facts of Gestalt psychology

2.1 Postulates of M. Wertheimer

2.2 Field Theory by Kurt Lewin

Conclusion

Introduction

The present content of this work is devoted to Gestalt psychology, as one of the most influential and interesting areas of the open crisis, which was a reaction against the atomism and mechanism of all varieties of associative psychology.

Gestalt psychology was the most productive solution to the problem of integrity in German and Austrian psychology, as well as the philosophy of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

German psychologists M. Wertheimer (1880-1943), W. Köhler (1887-1967) and K. Koffka (1886-1967) and K. Koffka (1886- 1941), K. Levin (1890-1947).

These scientists established the following ideas of Gestalt psychology:

1. The subject of psychology is consciousness, but its understanding should be based on the principle of integrity.

2. Consciousness is a dynamic whole, that is, a field, each point of which interacts with all the others.

3. The unit of analysis of this field (i.e., consciousness) is the gestalt - an integral figurative structure.

4. The method of studying gestalts is an objective and direct observation and description of the contents of one's perception.

5. Perception cannot come from sensations, since the latter does not really exist.

6. Visual perception is the leading mental process that determines the level of development of the psyche, and has its own patterns.

7. Thinking cannot be considered as a set of skills formed by trial and error, but is a process of solving a problem, carried out through structuring the field, that is, through insight in the present, in the “here and now” situation. Past experience is irrelevant to the task at hand.

K. Levin developed the field theory and applying this theory, he studied personality and its phenomena: needs, will. The Gestalt approach has penetrated all areas of psychology. K. Goldstein applied it to the problems of pathopsychology, F. Perls - to psychotherapy, E. Maslow - to personality theory. The Gestalt approach has also been successfully used in areas such as the psychology of learning, the psychology of perception, and social psychology.

1. The emergence and development of Gestalt psychology

For the first time, the concept of "Gestalt quality" was introduced by H. Ehrenfels in 1890 in the study of perceptions. He singled out a specific sign of gestalt - the property of transposition (transfer). However, Ehrenfels did not develop the Gestalt theory and remained on the positions of associationism.

A new approach towards holistic psychology was carried out by psychologists of the Leipzig school (Felix Krüger (1874-1948), Hans Volkelt (1886-1964), Friedrich Sander (1889-1971), who created a school of developmental psychology, where the concept of complex quality was introduced , as a holistic experience, permeated with feeling. This school has existed since the late 10s and early 30s.

1.1 History of Gestalt psychology

gestalt psychology psychology werthheimer levin

The history of Gestalt psychology begins in Germany in 1912 with the publication of the work of M. Wertheimer "Experimental Studies of Movement Perception" (1912), which questioned the usual idea of the presence of individual elements in the act of perception.

Immediately after this, around Wertheimer, and especially in the 1920s, the Berlin School of Gestalt Psychology was formed in Berlin: Max Wertheimer (1880-1943), Wolfgang Köhler (1887-1967), Kurt Koffka (1886-1941) and Kurt Lewin (1890 -1947). Research covered perception, thinking, needs, affects, will.

W. Keller in the book "Physical structures at rest and stationary state" (1920) holds the idea that the physical world, like the psychological one, is subject to the principle of gestalt. Gestaltists begin to go beyond psychology: all processes of reality are determined by the laws of gestalt. An assumption was introduced about the existence of electromagnetic fields in the brain, which, having arisen under the influence of a stimulus, are isomorphic in the structure of the image. Principle of isomorphism was considered by Gestalt psychologists as an expression of the structural unity of the world - physical, physiological, mental. The identification of common patterns for all spheres of reality made it possible, according to Koehler, to overcome vitalism. Vygotsky considered this attempt as "an excessive approximation of the problems of the psyche to the theoretical constructions of the data of the latest physics" (*). Further research strengthened the new current. Edgar Rubin (1881-1951) discovered figure and ground phenomenon(1915). David Katz showed the role of gestalt factors in the field of touch and color vision.

In 1921, Wertheimer, Köhler and Kofka, representatives of Gestalt psychology, founded the journal Psychological Research (PsychologischeForschung). The results of the study of this school are published here. Since that time, the influence of the school on world psychology begins. Generalizing articles of the 1920s were of great importance. M. Wertheimer: "On the doctrine of Gestalt" (1921), "On Gestal theory" (1925), K. Levin "Intentions, will and need." In 1929, Koehler lectured on Gestalt psychology in America, which was later published as the book Gestalt Psychology (Gestaltp-Psychology). This book is a systematic and perhaps the best exposition of this theory.

Fruitful research continued until the 1930s, when fascism came to Germany. Wertheimer and Koehler in 1933, Levin in 1935. emigrated to America. Here the development of Gestalt psychology in the field of theory has not received significant progress.

By the 1950s, interest in Gestalt psychology subsides. Subsequently, however, the attitude towards Gestalt psychology changes.

Gestalt psychology had a great influence on the psychological science of the United States, on E. Tolman, and American theories of learning. Recently, in a number of Western European countries, there has been an increase in interest in Gestalt theory and the history of the Berlin School of Psychology. In 1978, the International Psychological Society "Gestalt theory and its applications" was founded. The first issue of the journal Gestalt Theory, the official publication of this society, was published. Members of this society are psychologists from around the world, primarily Germany (Z. Ertel, M. Stadler, G. Portele, K. Huss), the USA (R. Arnheim, A. Lachins, son of M. Wertheimer Michael Wertheimer and others ., Italy, Austria, Finland, Switzerland.

1.2 General characteristics of Gestalt psychology

Gestalt psychology explored the integral structures that make up the mental field, developing new experimental methods. And unlike other psychological trends (psychoanalysis, behaviorism), representatives of Gestalt psychology still believed that the subject of psychological science is the study of the content of the psyche, the analysis of cognitive processes, as well as the structure and dynamics of personality development.

The main idea of this school was that the psyche is based not on individual elements of consciousness, but on integral figures - gestalts, whose properties are not the sum of the properties of their parts. Thus, the previous idea was refuted that the development of the psyche is based on the formation of ever new associative links that connect individual elements to each other into representations and concepts. As Wertheimer emphasized, "... Gestalt theory arose from specific studies ..." Instead, a new idea was put forward that cognition is associated with a process of change, transformation of integral gestalts, which determine the nature of the perception of the external world and behavior in it. Therefore, many representatives of this trend paid more attention to the problem of mental development, since development itself was identified by them with the growth and differentiation of gestalts. Proceeding from this, they saw evidence of the correctness of their postulates in the results of the study of the genesis of mental functions.

The ideas developed by Gestalt psychologists were based on an experimental study of cognitive processes. It was also the first (and for a long time practically the only) school that began a strictly experimental study of the structure and qualities of the personality, since the method of psychoanalysis used by depth psychology could not be considered either objective or experimental.

The methodological approach of Gestalt psychology was based on several foundations - the concept of a mental field, isomorphism and phenomenology. The concept of a field was borrowed by them from physics. The study in those years of the nature of the atom, magnetism, made it possible to reveal the laws of the physical field, in which the elements line up in integral systems. This idea became the leading one for Gestalt psychologists, who came to the conclusion that mental structures are located in the form of various schemes in the mental field. At the same time, the gestalts themselves can change, becoming more and more adequate to the objects of the external field. The field may also change, in which the old structures are located in a new way, due to which the subject comes to a fundamentally new solution to the problem (insight).

Mental gestalts are isomorphic (similar) to physical and psychophysical ones. That is, the processes that occur in the cerebral cortex are similar to those that occur in the outside world and are realized by us in our thoughts and experiences, like similar systems in physics and mathematics (so the circle is isomorphic to an oval, not a square). Therefore, the scheme of the problem, which is given in the external field, can help the subject solve it faster or slower, depending on whether it facilitates or hinders its restructuring.

A person can become aware of his experiences, choose a path to solve his problems, but for this he needs to renounce past experience, clear his mind of all layers associated with cultural and personal traditions. This phenomenological approach was borrowed by Gestalt psychologists from E. Husserl, whose philosophical concepts were extremely close to German psychologists. This was connected with their underestimation of personal experience, the assertion of the priority of the momentary situation, the principle of "here and now" in any intellectual processes. This is also the reason for the discrepancy in the results of their study by behaviorists and Gestalt psychologists, since the former proved the correctness of the “trial and error” method, that is, the influence of past experience, denied by the latter. The only exceptions were personality studies conducted by K. Levin, in which the concept of a time perspective was introduced, however, taking into account mainly the future, the purpose of the activity, and not past experience.

In the studies of scientists of this school, almost all currently known properties of perception were discovered, the significance of this process in the formation of thinking, imagination, and other cognitive functions was proved. For the first time, the figurative-schematic thinking described by them made it possible to present the whole process of forming ideas about the environment in a new way, proved the importance of images and schemes in the development of creativity, revealing important mechanisms of creative thinking. Thus, the cognitive psychology of the twentieth century is largely based on the discoveries made in this school, as well as in the school of J. Piaget.

Levin's works, which will be discussed in more detail below, are of no less importance for both personality psychology and social psychology. Suffice it to say that his ideas and programs outlined by him in the study of these areas of psychology are still relevant and have not exhausted themselves almost sixty years after his death.

2. Main ideas and facts of Gestalt psychology

2.1 Research of the process of cognition. Works by M. Wertheimer, W. Köhler, K. Koffka

One of the leading representatives of this trend was Max Wertheimer. After graduating from university, he studied philosophy in Prague and then in Berlin. Acquaintance with H. Ehrenfels, who first introduced the concept of Gestalt quality, influenced Wertheimer's studies. After moving to Würzburg, he worked in the laboratory of O. Külpe, under whose guidance he defended his dissertation in 1904. However, moving away from the explanatory principles of the Würzburg school, he departs from Külpe, starting research that led him to substantiate the provisions of the new psychological school.

In 1910, at the Psychological Institute in Frankfurt am Main, he met Wolfgang Köhler and Kurt Koffka, who first became subjects in Wertheimer's experiments on the study of perception, and then his friends and colleagues, in collaboration with whom the main provisions of a new psychological direction were developed. - Gestalt psychology. Moving to the University of Berlin, Wertheimer is engaged in teaching and research activities, devoting considerable attention to the study of thinking and substantiation of the basic principles of Gestalt psychology, which are set forth in the journal Psychological Research, which he founded (together with Koehler and Koffka). In 1933, he, like Levin, Koehler and Koffka, had to leave Nazi Germany. After emigrating to the United States, he worked at the New School for Social Research in New York, but he failed to create a new association of like-minded people.

The first works of Wertheimer are devoted to the experimental study of visual perception.

Let's take a closer look at this study. Using a tachistoscope, he exposed two stimuli (lines or curves) one after the other at different speeds. When the interval between presentations was relatively long, the subjects perceived the stimuli sequentially, while at a very short interval they were perceived as given simultaneously. When exposed at the optimal interval (about 60 milliseconds), the subjects had a perception of movement, that is, it seemed to them that one object was moving from one point to another, while they were presented with two objects placed at different points. At a certain point, the subjects began to perceive pure movement, that is, they were not aware that movement was taking place, but without moving the object. This phenomenon has been called phi phenomenon. This special term was introduced in order to highlight the uniqueness of this phenomenon, its irreducibility to the sum of sensations, and Wertheimer recognized the physiological basis of this phenomenon as a “short circuit” that occurs at an appropriate time interval between two brain areas. The results of this work were presented in the article "Experimental studies of visible motion", which was published in 1912.

The data obtained in these experiments stimulated criticism of associationism and laid the foundations for a new approach to perception (and then to other mental processes), which Wertheimer substantiated together with W. Keller, K. Koffka, K. Levin.

Thus, the principle of integrity was put forward as the main principle of the formation of the psyche, as opposed to the associative principle of elements, from which images and concepts are formed according to certain laws. Substantiating the leading principles of Gestalt psychology, Wertheimer wrote that “there are connections in which what happens as a whole is not derived from elements that supposedly exist in the form of separate pieces, then connected together, but, on the contrary, what appears in a separate part of this whole is determined by the internal structural law of this whole.”

Studies of perception and then thinking, conducted by Wertheimer, Koffka and other Gestalt psychologists, made it possible to discover the basic laws of perception, which eventually became the general laws of any gestalt. These laws explained the content of mental processes by the entire “field” of stimuli acting on the organism, by the structure of the entire situation as a whole, which makes it possible to correlate and structure individual images among themselves, while maintaining their basic form. At the same time, the ratio of images of objects in consciousness was not static, immobile, but was determined by dynamic, changing ratios that are established in the process of cognition.

In further research by Wertheimer and his colleagues, a large amount of experimental data was obtained, which made it possible to establish the basic postulates of Gestalt psychology, formulated in Wertheimer's program article "Research Relating to the Doctrine of Gestalt" (1923). The main one said that the primary data of psychology are integral structures (gestalts), which in principle cannot be derived from the components that form them. The elements of the field are combined into a structure depending on such relations as proximity, similarity, isolation, symmetry. There are a number of other factors on which the perfection and stability of a figure or structural unification depends - rhythm in the construction of rows, the commonality of light and color, etc. The action of all these factors obeys the basic law, called by Wertheimer the “law of pregnancy” (or the law of “good” form), which is interpreted as the desire (even at the level of the electrochemical processes of the cerebral cortex) to simple and clear forms and simple and stable states.

Considering perceptual processes to be innate, and explaining them by the peculiarities of the organization of the cerebral cortex, Wertheimer came to the conclusion about isomorphism (one-to-one correspondence) between physical, physiological and psychological systems, that is, external, physical gestalts correspond to neurophysiological, and with them, in turn, , correlate mental images. Thus, the necessary objectivity was introduced, which turned psychology into an explanatory science.

Studying on a large empirical material (experiments with children and adult subjects, conversations, including with A. Einstein) ways of transforming cognitive structures, Wertheimer comes to the conclusion that not only the associative, but also the formal logical approach to thinking is untenable. From both approaches, he emphasized, its productive, creative character, expressed in the “re-centering” of the source material, its reorganization into a new dynamic whole, is hidden. The terms "reorganization, grouping, centering" introduced by Wertheimer described the real moments of intellectual work, emphasizing its specifically psychological side, different from the logical one.

In his analysis of problem situations and ways to solve them, Wertheimer identifies several main stages of the thought process:

1. The emergence of the topic. At this stage, a sense of “directed tension” arises, which mobilizes the creative forces of a person.

2. Analysis of the situation, awareness of the problem. The main task of this stage is to create a holistic image of the situation.

3. Problem solving. This process of mental activity is largely unconscious, although preliminary conscious work is necessary.

4. The emergence of the idea of a solution - insight.

5. Performing stage.

The book also describes the processes of significant scientific discoveries (Gauss, Galileo) and provides unique conversations with Einstein on the problem of creativity in science and the analysis of the mechanisms of creative thinking. The result of this analysis is the conclusion made by Wertheimer about the fundamental structural commonality of the mechanisms of creativity among primitive peoples, among children and among great scientists.

He also argued that creative thinking depends on a drawing, a scheme in which the condition of a task or a problem situation is presented. The correctness of the solution depends on the adequacy of the scheme. This process of creating different gestalts from a set of permanent images is the process of creativity, and the more different meanings the objects included in these structures receive, the higher the level of creativity the child will demonstrate. Since such restructuring is easier to produce on figurative rather than verbal material, Wertheimer came to the conclusion that an early transition to logical thinking hinders the development of creativity in children. He also said that the exercise kills creative thinking, since when you repeat, the same image is fixed and the child gets used to viewing things in only one position.

The scientist also pays considerable attention to the problems of ethics and morality of the researcher's personality, emphasizing that the formation of these qualities should also be taken into account in training, and the training itself should be structured so that children receive joy from it, realizing the joy of discovering something new. These studies were aimed primarily at the study of "visual" thinking and were of a general nature.

The data obtained in Wertheimer's studies led Gestalt psychologists to the conclusion that the leading mental process, especially in the initial stages of ontogenesis, is perception.

The study of its development was mainly carried out by K. Koffka, who sought to combine genetic psychology and Gestalt psychology. He, like Wertheimer, graduated from the University of Berlin and then worked under Stumpf, writing his doctoral dissertation on the perception of musical rhythm (1909).

In his book Fundamentals of Mental Development (1921), and other works, Koffka argued that how a child perceives the world depends on his behavior and understanding of the situation. He came to this conclusion because he believed that the process of mental development is the growth and differentiation of gestalts. This view was shared by other Gestalt psychologists. Studying the process of perception, Gestalt psychologists argued that its main properties appear gradually, with the maturation of gestalts. This is how constancy and correctness of perception appear, as well as its meaningfulness.

Studies of the development of perception in children, which were conducted in Koffka's laboratory, showed that a child is born with a set of vague and not very adequate images of the outside world. Gradually, in the course of life, these images are differentiated and become more and more accurate. So at birth, children have a vague image of a person, the gestalt of which includes his voice, face, hair, and characteristic movements. Therefore, a small child (1-2 months old) may not even recognize a close adult if he abruptly changes his hairstyle or changes his usual clothes to a completely unfamiliar one. However, by the end of the first half of the year, this vague image breaks up, turning into a series of clear images: the image of a face, in which the eyes, mouth, hair stand out as separate gestalts, images of the voice and body also appear.

Koffka's research has shown that color perception also develops. At the beginning, children perceive the environment only as colored or uncolored, without distinguishing colors. In this case, the uncolored is perceived as a background, and the colored is perceived as a figure. Gradually, the colored is divided into warm and cold, and in the environment, children already distinguish several sets of figure-ground. This is uncolored - colored warm, uncolored - colored cold, which are perceived as several different images, for example: colored cold (background) - colored warm (figure) or colored warm (background) - colored cold (figure). Based on these experimental data, Koffka came to the conclusion that the combination of the figure and the background against which the given object is shown plays an important role in the development of perception.

He argued that the development of color vision is based on the perception of the figure-ground combination, on their contrast. Later this law, called transposition law, was also proved by Köhler. This law stated that people perceive not the colors themselves, but their relationships. So in Koffka's experiment, children were asked to find a candy that was in one of two cups covered with colored cardboard. The candy was always in a cup, which was closed with a dark gray cardboard, while there was never a black candy under it. In the control experiment, the children had to choose not between a black and dark gray lid, as they are accustomed to, but between dark gray and light gray. In the event that they perceived a pure color, they would choose the usual dark gray cover, but the children chose light gray, as they were guided not by the pure color, but by the ratio of colors, choosing a lighter shade. A similar experiment was carried out with animals (chickens), which also perceived only combinations of colors, and not the color itself.

Generalizing the results of his study of perception, Koffka outlined in the work "Principles of Gestalt Psychology" (1935). This book describes the properties and process of formation of perception, on the basis of which the scientist formulated the theory of perception, which has not lost its significance at the present time.

Another scientist (representative of the Leipzig group of Gestalt psychologists) G. Volkelt was engaged in the study of the development of perception in children. He paid special attention to the study of children's drawings. Of great interest are his experiments on the study of the drawing of geometric figures by children of different ages. So when drawing a cone, 4-5 year old children drew a circle and a triangle side by side. Volkelt explained this by the fact that they still do not have an adequate image for this figure, and therefore in the drawing they use two similar gestalts. Over time, their integration and refinement take place, thanks to which children begin to draw not only planar, but also three-dimensional figures. Volkelt also carried out a comparative analysis of the drawings of those objects that the children saw and those that they did not see, but only felt. At the same time, it turned out that in the case when the children felt, for example, a cactus covered with a scarf, they drew only thorns, conveying their general feeling from the object, and not its shape. That is, what happened, as the Gestalt psychologists proved, was the grasping of the integral image of the object, its form, and then its enlightenment and differentiation. These studies of Gestalt psychologists were of great importance for domestic work on the study of visual perception in the school of Zaporozhets, and led the psychologists of this school (Zaporozhets, Wenger) to the idea that in the process of perception there are certain images - sensory standards that underlie perception and object recognition.

The same transition from grasping the general situation to its differentiation occurs in intellectual development, argued W. Koehler. He began his scientific career at the University of Berlin, studying with the famous psychologist, one of the founders of European functionalism, K. Stumpf. Along with the psychological received a physical and mathematical education, his teacher was the creator of the theory of quantum Max Planck.

After meeting with Max Wertheimer, Koehler becomes one of his ardent supporters and associate in developing the foundations of a new psychological direction. A few months before the outbreak of the First World War, Koehler, at the suggestion of the Prussian Academy of Sciences, went to the Spanish island of Tenerife (in the Canary Islands) to study the behavior of chimpanzees. His research formed the basis of his famous book An Inquiry into the Intelligence of the Great Apes (1917). After the war, Koehler returned to the University of Berlin, where other members of the scientific community - Wertheimer, Koffka, Levin - also worked at that time, heading the department of psychology, which was previously occupied by his teacher K. Stumpf. Thus, the University of Berlin becomes the center of Gestalt psychology. In 1933, Koehler, like many other German scientists, emigrated to the United States, where he continued his scientific work.

Koehler's first work on the intelligence of chimpanzees led him to the most significant discovery - the discovery of "insight" (enlightenment). Based on the fact that intellectual behavior is aimed at solving a problem, Koehler created situations in which the experimental animal had to find workarounds in order to achieve the goal. The operations performed by the monkeys to solve the problem were called "two-phase" because they consisted of two parts. In the first part, the monkey had to use one tool to get another, which was necessary to solve the problem - for example, using a short stick that was in a cage, get a long one, located at some distance from the cage. In the second part, the resulting tool was used to achieve the desired goal - for example, to obtain a banana that is far from the monkey.

The question that the experiment answered was to find out how the problem is solved - whether there is a blind search for the right solution (by trial and error) or the monkey achieves the goal through spontaneous grasping of relationships, understanding. Koehler's experiments proved that the thought process follows the second path. Explaining the phenomenon of “insight”, he argued that at the moment when phenomena enter a different situation, they acquire a new function. The connection of objects in new combinations associated with their new functions leads to the formation of a new gestalt, the awareness of which is the essence of thinking. Koehler called this process "Gestalt restructuring" and believed that such a restructuring occurs instantly and does not depend on the subject's past experience, but only on the way objects are arranged in the field. It is this “restructuring” that occurs at the moment of “insight”.

Proving the universality of the process of solving problems discovered by him, Koehler, upon returning to Germany, conducted a series of experiments to study the process of thinking in children. He presented the children with a similar problem situation. For example, children were asked to get a typewriter, which was located high on a cabinet. In order to get it, the children had to use different objects - a ladder, a box or a chair. It turned out that if there was a ladder in the room, the children quickly solved the proposed problem. It was more difficult if you had to guess to use the box, but the most difficult was the option where the room had only a chair that had to be moved away from the table and used as a stand. Köhler explained these results by the fact that from the very beginning the ladder is perceived as an object that helps to get something high up. Therefore, its inclusion in the gestalt with the wardrobe does not present any difficulties for the child. The inclusion of the box already needs some rearrangement, since it can be recognized in several functions, as for the chair, it is recognized by the child already included in another gestalt - with a table, with which it appears to the child as a single whole. Therefore, in order to solve this problem, children must first break the previously holistic image - a table-chair into two, and then combine the chair with the wardrobe into a new image, realizing its new role. That is why this option is the most difficult to solve.

Thus, Koehler's experiments proved the instantaneous, and not extended in time, nature of thinking, which is based on "insight". Somewhat later, K. Buhler, who came to a similar conclusion, called this phenomenon "aha-experience", also emphasizing its suddenness and simultaneity.

The concept of "insight" became the key to Gestalt psychology, it became the basis for explaining all forms of mental activity, including productive thinking, as was shown in the works of Wertheimer, which were mentioned above.

Koehler's further research was related to the problem of isomorphism. Studying this issue, he came to the conclusion that it is necessary to analyze the physical and physico-chemical processes occurring in the cerebral cortex. Isomorphism, that is, the idea of correspondence between physical, physiological and psychological systems, made it possible to bring consciousness into line with the physical world without depriving it of its independent value. External, physical gestalts correspond to neurophysiological ones, which, in turn, are associated with psychological images and concepts.

The study of isomorphism led him to the discovery of new laws of perception - meaning ( objectivity of perception) and the relative perception of colors in a pair ( transposition law) outlined by him in the book Gestalt Psychology (1929). However, the theory of isomorphism remained the weakest and vulnerable point not only of his concept, but also of Gestalt psychology as a whole.

2.2 Dynamic theory of personality and group K. Levin

The theory of the German psychologist K. Levin (1890-1947) was formed under the influence of the successes of the exact sciences - physics, mathematics. The beginning of the century was marked by discoveries in field physics, atomic physics, and biology. Having become interested in psychology at the university, Levin tried to introduce the accuracy and rigor of the experiment into this science as well. In 1914, Levin received his doctorate. Having received an invitation to teach psychology at the Psychological Institute of the University of Berlin, he becomes close to Koffka, Koehler and Wertheimer, the founders of Gestalt psychology. However, unlike his colleagues, Levin focuses not on the study of cognitive processes, but on the study of a person's personality. After emigrating to the United States, Levin has taught at Stanford and Cornell Universities. During this period, he dealt mainly with the problems of social psychology and in 1945 headed the research center for group dynamics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Levin developed his theory of personality in line with Gestalt psychology, giving it the name " psychological field theory". He proceeded from the fact that a person lives and develops in the psychological field of the objects surrounding her, each of which has a certain charge (valency). Levin's experiments proved that for each person this valency has its own sign, although at the same time there are such objects that have the same attractive or repulsive power for everyone.Influencing a person, objects cause needs in him, which Levin considered as a kind of energy charges that cause a person’s tension.In this state, a person strives for discharge, i.e. satisfaction of needs.

Lewin distinguished two kinds of needs - biological and social (quasi-needs). The needs in the personality structure are not isolated, they are connected with each other, in a certain hierarchy. At the same time, those quasi-needs that are interconnected can exchange the energy contained in them. Levin called this process the communication of charged systems. The possibility of communication, from his point of view, is valuable in that it makes a person's behavior more flexible, allows him to resolve conflicts, overcome various barriers and find a satisfactory way out of difficult situations. This flexibility is achieved through a complex system of substitution activities that are formed on the basis of interconnected needs. Thus, a person is not tied to a specific action or method of solving a situation, but can change them, discharging the tension that has arisen in him. This expands its adaptive capabilities.

In one of Lewin's studies, children were asked to perform a specific task, such as helping an adult wash the dishes. As a reward, the child received some kind of prize that was significant to him. In the control experiment, the adult invited the child to help him, but at the moment when the child came, it turned out that someone had already washed everything according to the court. Children tended to get upset, especially if they were told that they were beaten by one of their peers. Aggressive manifestations were also frequent. At this point, the experimenter offered to perform another task, implying that it was also significant. Most children switched instantly. There was a discharge of resentment and aggression in another type of activity. But some children could not quickly form a new need and adapt to a new situation, and therefore their anxiety and aggressiveness grew.

Levin comes to the conclusion that not only neuroses, but also features of cognitive processes (phenomena such as retention, forgetting) are associated with a discharge or tension of needs.

Lewin's research proved that not only the current situation, but also its anticipation, objects that exist only in the mind of a person, can determine his activity. The presence of such ideal motives of behavior makes it possible for a person to overcome the direct influence of the field, surrounding objects, "to rise above the field," as Levin wrote. He called such behavior volitional, in contrast to the field behavior, which arises under the influence of the immediate momentary environment. Thus, Levin comes to the important for him concept of time perspective, which determines human behavior in the living space and is the basis for a holistic perception of oneself, one's past and future.

The appearance of a time perspective makes it possible to overcome the pressure of the surrounding field, which is important in cases where a person is in a situation of choice. Demonstrating the difficulty for a small child to overcome the strong pressure of the field, Levin conducted several experiments, and they were included in his film "Hana sits on a rock." This is a story about a girl who could not take her eyes off the object she liked, and this prevented her from getting it, because she had to turn her back on it.

Of great importance for the formation of the child's personality is the system of educational methods, in particular punishments and rewards. Levin believed that when punishing for not performing an act unpleasant for the child, children find themselves in a situation of frustration, as they are between two barriers (objects with a negative valence). The system of punishment, from Levin's point of view, does not contribute to the development of volitional behavior, but only increases the tension and aggressiveness of children. The system of rewards is more positive, since in this case the barrier (an object with a negative valence) is followed by an object that causes positive emotions. However, the optimal system is one in which children are given the opportunity to build a temporal perspective in order to remove the barriers of this field.

Levin created a series of interesting psychological techniques. The first of these was prompted by the observation in one of the Berlin restaurants of the behavior of a waiter who remembered well the amount due from visitors, but immediately forgot it after the bill was paid. Believing that in this case the numbers are retained in memory due to the "tension system" and disappear with its discharge, Levin suggested to his student B.V. Zeigarnik to experimentally investigate the differences in memorizing unfinished and completed actions. Experiments confirmed his prediction. The former were remembered approximately twice as well. A number of other phenomena have also been studied. All of them were explained on the basis of the general postulate about the dynamics of tension in the psychological field.

The principle of discharging motivational tension underlay both the behaviorist concept and Freud's psychoanalysis.

K. Levy's approach was distinguished by two points.

First, he moved away from the notion that the energy of the motive is closed within the body, to the notion of the "organism-environment" system. The individual and his environment appeared as an indivisible dynamic whole.

Secondly, Lewin believed that motivational tension can be created both by the individual himself and by other people (for example, the experimenter). Thus, the motivation itself was recognized as a psychological status, and it was not limited to the satisfaction of one's biological needs.

This opened the way to new methods for studying motivation, in particular, the level of aspirations of an individual, determined by the degree of difficulty of the goal to which she aspires. Levin showed the need for not only a holistic, but also an adequate understanding of oneself as a person. His discovery of such concepts as the level of claims and the "affect of inadequacy", which manifests itself when trying to prove to a person the incorrectness of his ideas about himself, played a huge role in the psychology of the individual, in understanding the causes of deviant behavior. Levin emphasized that both an overestimated and an underestimated level of claims have a negative impact on behavior, since in both cases the possibility of establishing a stable equilibrium with the environment is violated.

Conclusion

Finally, in conclusion, let us dwell on a general assessment of Gestalt psychology.

Gestalt psychology is a psychological trend that arose in Germany in the early 10s and lasted until the mid 30s. 20th century (before the Nazis came to power, when most of its representatives emigrated) and continued to develop the problem of integrity posed by the Austrian school. First of all, M. Wertheimer, W. Koehler, K. Koffka, K. Levin belong to this direction. The methodological basis of Gestalt psychology was the philosophical ideas of "critical realism" and the provisions developed by E. Hering, E. Mach, E. Husserl, I. Müller, according to which the physiological reality of processes in the brain and the mental, or phenomenal, are connected with each other by isomorphism relations.

By analogy with electromagnetic fields in physics, consciousness in Gestalt psychology was understood as a dynamic whole, a "field" in which each point interacts with all the others.

Vygotsky assessed the structural principle introduced by Gestalt psychology in the sense of the new approach as "a great unshakable achievement of theoretical thought." This is the essence and historical meaning of Gestalt theory.

Among other achievements of Gestalt psychologists, it should be noted: the concept of "psychophysical isomorphism" (the identity of the structures of mental and nervous processes); the idea of "learning through insight" (insight - a sudden understanding of the situation as a whole); a new concept of thinking (a new object is perceived not in its absolute value, but in its connection and comparison with other objects); the idea of "productive thinking" (i.e. creative thinking as the antipode of reproductive, patterned memorization); revealing the phenomenon of "pregnancy" (a good form in itself becomes a motivating factor).

In the 20s. 20th century K. Levin expanded the scope of Gestalt psychology by introducing a "personal dimension".

The Gestalt approach has penetrated all areas of psychology. K. Goldstein applied it to the problems of pathopsychology, E. Maslow - to the theory of personality. The Gestalt approach has also been successfully used in areas such as the psychology of learning, the psychology of perception, and social psychology.

Gestalt psychology has had a significant impact on neobehaviorism, cognitive psychology,

The theory of Gestalt psychology, mainly the interpretation of the intellect in it, was the subject of special consideration in the works of J. Piaget.

Gestalt psychology has been applied in the field of psychotherapeutic practice. One of the most widespread areas of modern psychotherapy is based on its general principles - Gestalt therapy, the founder of which is F. Perls (1893-1970).

From this it is clear what a huge contribution Gestalt psychology made to the further development of world science.

List of used literature

1. Antsiferova L. I., Yaroshevsky M. G. Development and current state of foreign psychology. M., 1994.

2. Wertheimer M. Productive thinking. M., 1987.

3. Vygotsky L.S. Collected works in 6 volumes, M, 1982.

4. Zhdan A.N. History of psychology: from antiquity to the present. M., 1999.

5. Koehler V. Study of the intelligence of anthropoid apes. M., 1999.

6. Levin K, Dembo, Festfinger L, Sire P. Level of claims. Psychology of Personality. Texts. M., 1982.

7. Levin K. Field theory in the social sciences. SPb., 2000.

8. Martsinkovskaya T.D. History of psychology., M. Academy, 2004.

9. Petrovsky A. V., Yaroshevsky M. G. History and theory of psychology. In 2 volumes. Rostov-on-Don, 1996.

10. Rubinstein S.L. Fundamentals of General Psychology. M. Peter. 2008.

11. Yaroshevsky M. G. History of psychology. M., 2000.

12. Shultz D, Shultz S.E. History of modern psychology. St. Petersburg, 1998

Here's how it sounds:

"Gestalt psychology, some theory, interesting facts, myths and misconceptions"

The topic is quite specific, let's try to convey it to the maximum in simple language without a lot of special details.

Gestalt psychology is a direction in Western psychology that arose in Germany in the first third of the 20th century. and put forward a program for studying the psyche from the point of view of integral structures (gestalts), primary in relation to their components.

The term "Gestalt" (German Gestalt - a holistic form, image, structure).

A new approach in the direction of holistic psychology was carried out by psychologists of the Leipzig school (Felix Krüger (1874-1948), Hans Volkelt (1886-1964), Friedrich Sander (1889-1971), who created a school of developmental psychology, where the concept of a complex quality was introduced as a holistic experience permeated with feeling.This school has existed since the late 1910s and early 1930s.

According to the theory of Gestalt psychology, the integrity of perception and its orderliness are achieved due to the following principles gestalt psychology:

Proximity. Stimuli located side by side tend to be perceived together.

Similarity. Stimuli that are similar in size, shape, color, or shape tend to be perceived together.

Integrity. Perception tends towards simplification and integrity.

Closure. Reflects the tendency to complete the figure so that it takes on a full shape.

Adjacency. Proximity of stimuli in time and space. Adjacency can predetermine the perception that one event triggers another.

Common area. Gestalt principles shape our everyday perceptions, as well as learning and past experiences. Anticipatory thoughts and expectations also actively guide our interpretation of sensations.

M. Wertheimer

W. Keller in the book "Physical structures at rest and stationary state" (1920) holds the idea that the physical world, like the psychological one, is subject to the principle of gestalt. Gestaltists begin to go beyond psychology: all processes of reality are determined by the laws of gestalt. An assumption was introduced about the existence of electromagnetic fields in the brain, which, having arisen under the influence of a stimulus, are isomorphic in the structure of the image. The principle of isomorphism was considered by Gestalt psychologists as an expression of the structural unity of the world - physical, physiological, mental. The identification of common patterns for all spheres of reality made it possible, according to Koehler, to overcome vitalism. Vygotsky considered this attempt as "an excessive approximation of the problems of the psyche to the theoretical constructions of the data of the latest physics" (*). Further research strengthened the new current. Edgar Rubin (1881-1951) discovered the phenomenon of figure and ground (1915). David Katz showed the role of gestalt factors in the field of touch and color vision.

In 1921, Wertheimer, Köhler and Kofka, representatives of Gestalt psychology, founded the journal Psychological Research (Psychologische Forschung). The results of the study of this school are published here. Since that time, the influence of the school on world psychology begins. Generalizing articles of the 1920s were of great importance. M. Wertheimer: "On the doctrine of Gestalt" (1921), "On Gestal theory" (1925), K. Levin "Intentions, will and need." In 1929, Koehler lectured on Gestalt psychology in America, which was later published as the book Gestalt Psychology (Gestaltp-Psychology). This book is a systematic and perhaps the best exposition of this theory.
Fruitful research continued until the 1930s, when fascism came to Germany. Wertheimer and Koehler in 1933, Levin in 1935. emigrated to America. Here the development of Gestalt psychology in the field of theory has not received significant progress.

By the 1950s, interest in Gestalt psychology subsides. Subsequently, however, the attitude towards Gestalt psychology changes.
Gestalt psychology had a great influence on the psychological science of the United States, on E. Tolman, and American theories of learning. Recently, in a number of Western European countries, there has been an increase in interest in Gestalt theory and the history of the Berlin School of Psychology. In 1978, the International Psychological Society "Gestalt theory and its applications" was founded. The first issue of the journal Gestalt Theory, the official publication of this society, was published. Members of this society are psychologists from around the world, primarily Germany (Z. Ertel, M. Stadler, G. Portele, K. Huss), the USA (R. Arnheim, A. Lachins, son of M. Wertheimer Michael Wertheimer and others ., Italy, Austria, Finland, Switzerland.

Gestalt psychology opposed the principle of dismemberment of consciousness into elements put forward by structural psychology and the construction of complex mental phenomena from them according to the laws of association or creative synthesis.

Representatives of Gestalt psychology suggested that all the various manifestations of the psyche obey the laws of Gestalt. Parts tend to form a symmetrical whole, parts are grouped in the direction of maximum simplicity, closeness, balance. The tendency of every psychic phenomenon is to assume a definite, complete form.

Starting with the study of perception processes, Gestalt psychology quickly expanded its scope, including the problems of mental development, analysis of the intellectual behavior of higher primates, consideration of memory, creative thinking, and the dynamics of the needs of the individual.

The psyche of man and animal was understood by Gestalt psychologists as an integral "phenomenal field", which has certain properties and structure. The main components of the phenomenal field are figures and ground. In other words, some of what we perceive is clear and meaningful, while the rest is only dimly present in our consciousness. Figure and background can be interchanged. A number of representatives of Gestalt psychology believed that the phenomenal field is isomorphic (like) to the processes occurring inside the brain substrate.

For the experimental study of this field, a unit of analysis was introduced, which began to act as a gestalt. Gestalts were discovered in the perception of form, apparent movement, optical-geometric illusions. As the basic law of the grouping of individual elements, the law of pregnancy was postulated as the desire of the psychological field to form the most stable, simple and "economical" configuration. At the same time, factors contributing to the grouping of elements into integral gestalts were identified, such as the "proximity factor", "similarity factor", "good continuation factor", "common fate factor".

The most important law obtained by Gestalt psychologists is the law of perceptual constancy, fixing the fact that the integral image does not change when its sensory elements change (you see the world as stable, despite the fact that your position in space, illumination, etc. is constantly changing) the principle of a holistic analysis of the psyche made possible the scientific knowledge of the most complex problems of mental life, which until then were considered inaccessible to experimental research.

Image “grasping”: our consciousness is able to recreate the image of the entire object from individual elements of the image of an object known to us. The third drawing already has enough detail to recognize the object.

Let's give an example of one of the studies to make it more clear.

In the mid-twenties, Wertheimer moved from the study of perception to the study of thinking. The result of these experiments is the book "Productive Thinking", which was published after the scientist's death in 1945 and is one of his most significant achievements.
Studying on a large empirical material (experiments with children and adult subjects, conversations, including with A. Einstein) ways of transforming cognitive structures, Wertheimer comes to the conclusion that not only the associative, but also the formal logical approach to thinking is untenable. From both approaches, he emphasized, its productive, creative character, expressed in the “re-centering” of the source material, its reorganization into a new dynamic whole, is hidden. The terms "reorganization, grouping, centering" introduced by Wertheimer described the real moments of intellectual work, emphasizing its specifically psychological side, different from the logical one.

In his analysis of problem situations and ways to solve them, Wertheimer identifies several main stages of the thought process:

1. The emergence of the topic. At this stage, a sense of “directed tension” arises, which mobilizes the creative forces of a person.
2. Analysis of the situation, awareness of the problem. The main task of this stage is to create a holistic image of the situation.
3. Problem solving. This process of mental activity is largely unconscious, although preliminary conscious work is necessary.
4. The emergence of the idea of a solution - insight.
5. Performing stage.

Wertheimer's experiments revealed the negative influence of the habitual way of perceiving structural relationships between the components of a problem on its productive solution. He emphasized that it is incomparably more difficult for children who have been taught geometry in school on the basis of a purely formal method to develop a productive approach to problems than for those who have not been taught at all.
The book also describes the processes of significant scientific discoveries (Gauss, Galileo) and provides unique conversations with Einstein on the problem of creativity in science and the analysis of the mechanisms of creative thinking. The result of this analysis is the conclusion made by Wertheimer about the fundamental structural commonality of the mechanisms of creativity among primitive peoples, among children and among great scientists.
He also argued that creative thinking depends on a drawing, a scheme in which the condition of a task or a problem situation is presented. The correctness of the solution depends on the adequacy of the scheme. This process of creating different gestalts from a set of permanent images is the process of creativity, and the more different meanings the objects included in these structures receive, the higher the level of creativity the child will demonstrate. Since such restructuring is easier to produce on figurative rather than verbal material, Wertheimer came to the conclusion that an early transition to logical thinking hinders the development of creativity in children. He also said that the exercise kills creative thinking, since when you repeat, the same image is fixed and the child gets used to viewing things in only one position.
The scientist also pays considerable attention to the problems of ethics and morality of the researcher's personality, emphasizing that the formation of these qualities should also be taken into account in training, and the training itself should be structured so that children receive joy from it, realizing the joy of discovering something new. These studies were aimed primarily at the study of "visual" thinking and were of a general nature.
The data obtained in Wertheimer's studies led Gestalt psychologists to the conclusion that the leading mental process, especially in the initial stages of ontogenesis, is perception.

As a holistic psychological concept, Gestalt psychology has not stood the test of time. What is the reason that Gestaltism has ceased to meet the new scientific demands?

Most likely, the main reason is that mental and physical phenomena in Gestalt psychology were considered according to the principle of parallelism, without a causal relationship. Gestaltism claimed to be a general theory of psychology, but in fact its achievements concerned the study of one of the aspects of the mental, which was indicated by the category of the image. When explaining phenomena that could not be represented in the category of an image, enormous difficulties arose.

Gestalt psychology was not supposed to separate the image and action; the Gestaltists' image acted as a special kind of entity, subject to its own laws. A methodology based on the phenomenological concept of consciousness has become an obstacle to a truly scientific synthesis of these two categories.

The Gestaltists questioned the principle of association in psychology, but their mistake was that they broke analysis and synthesis, i.e. separated the simple from the complex. Some Gestalt psychologists have even denied sensation as a phenomenon altogether.

But Gestalt psychology drew attention to the issues of perception, memory and productive, creative thinking, the study of which is the main task of psychology.

And what about a fairly grown-up baby, safely forgotten by us? What happened to him while we were trying to figure out such complex intricacies of Gestalt psychology? At first, he learned to distinguish images and express his feelings, to receive pleasant and unpleasant sensations. It grew and developed, now in line with Gestalt psychology.

He memorized images faster and better not as a result of associations, but as a result of his still small mental abilities, “insights”, i.e. insight. But while he was still far from perfection, a lot of time will pass before he learns creative thinking. Everything takes time and awareness.

Gestalt psychology failed because in its theoretical constructions it separated image and action. After all, the image of the Gestaltists acted as a special kind of entity, subject to its own laws. Its connection with the real objective action remained enigmatic. The inability to combine these two most important categories, to develop a unified scheme for the analysis of mental reality, was the logical-historical prerequisite for the collapse of the Gestalt psychology school in the prewar years. A false methodology based on the phenomenological concept of consciousness has become an insurmountable obstacle to a truly scientific synthesis of these two categories.

Its weak points turned out to be a non-historical understanding of the psyche, an exaggeration of the role of form in mental activity, and the associated elements of idealism in philosophical foundations. However, major advances both in the study of perception, thought, and personality, as well as in the general anti-mechanistic orientation of psychology, were taken up in the subsequent development of psychology.

Gestaltism left a noticeable mark in modern psychology and influenced attitudes towards the problems of perception, learning, thinking, the study of personality, the motivation of behavior, as well as the development of social psychology. Recent work, which is a continuation of the research of the Gestaltists, suggests that their movement is still able to contribute to the development of science.

Gestalt psychology, in contrast to its main rival scientific movement, behaviorism, has retained much of its original originality, due to which its main principles have not completely dissolved into the mainstream of psychological thought. Gestaltism continued to encourage interest in conscious experience even during the years when behavioral ideas dominated psychology.

The interest of the Gestaltists in conscious experience was not the same as that of Wundt and Titchener, it was built on the basis of the latest phenomenological views. Modern adherents of gestaltism are convinced that the experience of consciousness must still be studied. However, they acknowledge that it cannot be examined with the same precision and objectivity as ordinary behavior.

The phenomenological approach to psychology is now more widespread in Europe than in the United States, but its influence on American psychology can be traced back to its humanist movement. Many aspects of modern cognitive psychology owe their origins to the work of Wertheimer, Koffka, and Koehler and to the scientific movement they founded about 90 years ago.

sources

http://studuck.ru/documents/geshtaltpsikhologiya-0

http://www.syntone.ru/library/psychology_schools/gjeshtaltpsihologija.php

http://www.bibliofond.ru/view.aspx?id=473736#1

http://psi.webzone.ru/st/126400.htm

http://www.psychologos.ru/articles/view/geshtalt-psihologiya

http://www.textfighter.org/raznoe/Psihol/shulc/kritika_geshtalt_psihologiikritiki_geshtalt_psihologii_utverjdali_problemy_printsipy.php

By the way, a few months ago we already had a topic on the subject of psychology in the order table: The original article is on the website InfoGlaz.rf Link to the article from which this copy is made -

“Tell me and I will forget. Show me and I will remember. Call me with you, and I will understand. Confucius (ancient thinker and philosopher of China).

Perhaps everyone knows psychology as a system of life phenomena, but few know it as a system of proven knowledge, and only those who specifically deal with it, solving all kinds of scientific and practical problems. The term "psychology" first appeared in scientific use in the 16th century, and denoted a special science that was engaged in the study of mental and mental phenomena. In the 17th - 19th centuries, the scope of research by psychologists expanded significantly and covered unconscious mental processes (the unconscious) and the detail of a person. And since the 19th century psychology is an independent (experimental) field of scientific knowledge. Studying the psychology and behavior of people, scientists continue to look for their explanations, both in the biological nature of man and in his individual experience.

What is Gestalt psychology?

Gestalt psychology(German gestalt - image, form; gestalten - configuration) is one of the most interesting and popular trends in Western psychology that arose during the open crisis of psychological science in the early 1920s. in Germany. The founder is a German psychologist Max Wertheimer. This trend was developed not only in the works of Max Wertheimer, but also in the works of Kurt Lewin, Wolfgang Keller, Kurt Koffka and others. Gestalt psychology is a kind of protest against Wundt's molecular program for psychology. Based on studies of visual perception, the configurations " gestalts”(Gestalt - a holistic form), the essence of which is that a person tends to perceive the world around him in the form of ordered holistic configurations, and not separate fragments of the world.

Gestalt psychology opposed the principle of dismembering consciousness (structural psychology) into elements, and constructing from them, according to the laws of creative synthesis, complex mental phenomena. Even a peculiar law was formulated, which sounded as follows: "the whole is always greater than the sum of its parts." Initially subject Gestalt psychology was a phenomenal field, in the future there was a rather rapid expansion of this topic, and it began to include questions studying the problems of the development of the psyche, the founders of this direction were also concerned about the dynamics of the needs of the individual, memory and creative thinking of a person.

School of Gestalt Psychology

The school of Gestalt psychology traces its origin (pedigree) from the important experiment of the German psychologist Max Wertheimer - "fi - phenomena", the essence of which is as follows: M. Wertheimer, using special devices - a stroboscope and a tachiostoscope, studied two stimuli in test people (two straight lines) by transmitting them different speeds. And found out the following:

If the interval is large, the subject perceives the lines sequentially
Very short interval - lines are perceived simultaneously
Optimal interval (about 60 milliseconds) - the perception of movement is created (the subject's eyes observed the movement of the line "right" and "left", and not two data lines sequentially or simultaneously)
With the optimal time interval - the subject perceived only pure movement (he realized that there was movement, but without moving the line itself) - this phenomenon was called "phi-phenomenon".

Max Wertheimer stated his observation in the article "Experimental Studies of the Perception of Motion" - 1912.

Max Wertheimer - famous German psychologist, founder of Gestalt psychology, became widely known for his experimental work in the field of thinking and perception. M. Wertheimer (1880 -1943) - was born in Prague, where he received his primary education, studied at the universities - in Prague, in Berlin with K. Stumpf; O. Kulpe - in Würzburg (received in 1904 the degree of Doctor of Philosophy). In the summer of 1910 he moved to Frankfurt am Main, where he became interested in the perception of movement, thanks to which new principles of psychological explanation were subsequently discovered.

His work attracted the attention of many prominent scientists of the time, among them was Kurt Koffka, who participated in Wertheimer's experiments as a test subject. Together, based on the results, on the method of experimental research, they formulated a completely new approach to explaining the perception of movement.

And so Gestalt psychology was born. Gestalt psychology becomes popular in Berlin, where Werheimer returns in 1922. And in 1929 he was appointed professor at Frankfurt. 1933 - emigration to the USA (New York) - work at the New School for Social Research, here in October 1943 he dies. And in 1945 it comes out Book: "Productive Thinking", in which he experimentally explores the process of solving problems from the standpoint of Gestalt psychology (the process of finding out the functional significance of individual parts in the structure of a problem situation is described).

Kurt Koffka (1886-1941) is considered to be the founder of Gestalt psychology. K. Koffka was born and raised in Berlin, where he was educated at the local university. He was always especially interested in the natural sciences and philosophy, K. Koffka was always very inventive. In 1909 he received his doctorate. In 1910 he fruitfully collaborated with Max Wertheimer at the University of Frankfurt. In his article: "Perception: an introduction to Gestalt theory" he outlined the basics of Gestalt psychology, as well as the results of many studies.

In 1921 Koffka published book "Fundamentals of mental development" devoted to the formation of child psychology. The book was very popular not only in Germany, but also in the United States. He was invited to America to lecture at the Universities of Cornell and Wisconsin. In 1927, he received a professorship at Smith College in Northamptop, Massachusetts, where he worked until his death (until 1941). In 1933 Koffka publishes Book "Principles of Gestalt Psychology", which turned out to be too difficult to read, and therefore did not become the main and most complete guide to the study of the new theory, as its author expected.

His research on the development of perception in children revealed the following: the child, as it turned out, actually has a set of not very adequate, vague images of the outside world. This led him to the idea that the combination of the figure and the background against which the given object is shown plays an important role in the development of perception. He formulated one of the laws of perception, which was called "transduction". This law proved that children do not perceive the colors themselves, but their relationships.

Ideas, laws, principles

Key Ideas of Gestalt Psychology

The main thing that Gestalt psychology works with is consciousness. Consciousness is a dynamic whole where all elements interact with each other. A vivid analogue: the harmony of the whole organism - the human body works flawlessly and regularly for many years, consisting of a large number of organs and systems.

Gestalt is a unit of consciousness, an integral figurative structure.
Subject Gestalt psychology is consciousness, the understanding of which should be based on the principle of integrity.
Method Gestalt cognitions are observation and description of the contents of one's perception. Our perception does not come from sensations, since they do not exist in reality, but is a reflection of fluctuations in air pressure - the sensation of hearing.
visual perception - the leading mental process that determines the level of development of the psyche. And an example of this: a huge amount of information obtained by people through the organs of vision.
Thinking is not a set of skills formed through mistakes and trials, but the process of solving a problem, carried out through the structuring of the field, that is, through insight in the present.

Laws of Gestalt psychology

The law of figure and background: figures are perceived by a person as a closed whole, but the background, already as something continuously extending behind the figure.

Transposition law: the psyche does not react to individual stimuli, but to their ratio. The meaning here is this: elements can be combined if there are at least some similar features, such as proximity or symmetry.

law of pregnancy: there is a tendency to perceive the simplest and most stable figure of all possible perceptual alternatives.

The law of constancy: everything strives for permanence.

Law of Proximity: the tendency to combine into a holistic image of elements adjacent in time and space. We all, as we know, find it easiest to combine similar items.

Closure law(filling in the gaps in the perceived figure): when we observe something completely incomprehensible to us, our brain tries with all its might to transform, to translate what we see into an understanding that is accessible to us. Sometimes it even carries a danger, because we begin to see what is not in reality.

Gestalt principles

All the above properties of perception, whether it be a figure, a background, or constants, certainly interact with each other, thereby carrying new properties. This is the gestalt, the quality of the form. Integrity of perception, orderliness are achieved due to the following principles:

Proximity(everything that is nearby is perceived together);
Similarity ( anything that is similar in size, color, or shape tends to be perceived together);
Integrity(perception tends to simplify and integrity);
Closure(acquisition of a shape by a figure);
Adjacency ( proximity of stimuli in time and space. Adjacency can predetermine the perception when one event triggers another);
General area(Gestalt principles shape our daily perception along with learning and past experience).

Gestalt - quality

The term "Gestalt-quality" (German. Gestalt qualification) introduced into psychological science X. Ehrenfels to denote the integral "gestalt" properties of some formations of consciousness. The quality of "transpositivity": the image of the whole remains, even if all parts change in their material, and examples of this:

different tonalities of the same melody,
paintings by Picasso (for example, Picasso's drawing "Cat").

Perception constants

Size Constancy: the perceived size of an object remains constant, regardless of the size of its image on the retina.

Form constancy: the perceived shape of an object is constant, even as the shape changes on the retina. It is enough to look at the page you are reading, first directly, and then at an angle. Despite the change in the "picture" of the page, the perception of its form remains unchanged.

Brightness Constancy: The brightness of an object is constant, even under changing lighting conditions. Naturally, subject to the same illumination of the object and the background.

Figure and background

The simplest perception is formed by dividing visual sensations into an object - figure located on background. Brain cells, having received visual information (looking at the figure), give a more active reaction than when looking at the background. This happens for the reason that the figure is always pushed forward, and the background, on the contrary, is pushed back, and the figure is also richer and brighter than the background in content.

Gestalt therapy

Gestalt therapy - the direction of psychotherapy, which was formed in the middle of the last century. The term "gestalt" is a holistic image of a certain situation. The meaning of therapy: a person and everything around him is a single whole. The founder of Gestalt therapy is a psychologist Friedrich Perls. Contact and border are the two main concepts of this direction.

Contact - the process of interaction of human needs with the possibilities of his environment. This means that the needs of a person will be satisfied only in the case of his contact with the outside world. For example: to satisfy the feeling of hunger - we need food.

The life of absolutely any person is an endless gestalt, whether it be small or big events. A quarrel with a dear and close person, relationships with dad and mom, children, relatives, friendship, falling in love, talking with work colleagues - all these are gestalts. Gestalt can arise suddenly, at any time, whether we like it or not, but it arises as a result of the appearance of a need that requires immediate satisfaction. Gestalt tends to have a beginning and an end. It ends when satisfaction is reached.

Gestalt Therapy Technique

The techniques used in Gestalt therapy are principles and games.

The most famous are the three below presented games for understanding yourself and the people around you. Games are built on an internal dialogue, the dialogue is conducted between parts of one's own personality (with one's own emotions - with fear, anxiety). To understand this, remember yourself when you experienced a feeling of fear or doubt - what happened to you.

Game technique:

To play, you will need two chairs, they must be positioned opposite each other. One chair is for an imaginary “participant” (your interlocutor), and the other chair is for you, that is, a specific participant in the game. Task: to change chairs and at the same time play the internal dialogue - try to identify yourself as much as possible with different parts of your personality.
Making circles. A direct participant in the game, while walking in a circle, should turn to fictional characters with questions that excite his soul: how the participants in the game evaluate him and what he himself feels for an imaginary group of people, for each person individually.
Unfinished business. An unfinished gestalt, always needs completion. And how to achieve this, you can learn from the following sections of our article.

All Gestalt therapy is about finishing unfinished business. Most people have a lot of unresolved tasks, plans related to their relatives, parents or friends.

Unfinished Gestalt

It is a pity, of course, that not always the desires of a person are embodied in reality, but speaking in the language of philosophy: the completion of the cycle can take almost a lifetime. The Gestalt cycle ideally looks like this:

The emergence of a need;
Search for the possibility of its satisfaction;
Satisfaction;
Exit contact.

But there are always some internal or external factors that impede the ideal process. As a result, the cycle remains unfinished. In the case of the complete completion of the process, the gestalt is deposited in consciousness. If the process remains incomplete, it continues to exhaust a person throughout his life, while also delaying the fulfillment of all other desires. Often, incomplete gestalts cause malfunctions in the mechanisms that protect the human psyche from unnecessary overloads.

To complete unfinished gestalts, you can use the advice given to the world a hundred years ago by the wonderful poet, playwright and writer Oscar Wilde:

"To overcome temptation, you need to ... give in to it."

A completed gestalt will certainly bear fruit - a person becomes pleasant, easy to communicate with and begins to be easy for other people. People with incomplete gestalts are always trying to complete them in other situations and with other people - forcibly imposing roles on them in their incomplete gestalt scripts!

A small, simple, effective rule: start by completing the simplest and most surface gestalt . Fulfill your cherished (preferably not serious) dream. Learn to dance the tango. Draw nature outside the window. Take a parachute jump.

Gestalt exercises

Gestalt therapy is a general therapeutic principles that helps to help "himself" learn to understand the mysterious labyrinths of his soul and recognize the sources of the causes of internal contradiction.

The following exercises are aimed: at the simultaneous awareness of oneself and the existence of another. In general, they urge us to step beyond the bounds of the possible. While doing the exercises, try to analyze what you are doing, why and how you are doing it. The main task of these exercises is to develop the ability to find your own estimates.

1. Exercise - "Presence"

Goal: Focus on the sense of presence.

close your eyes
Focus on bodily sensations. Correct posture if necessary
Be natural every moment
Open your eyes, relax them, remaining a frozen body and thoughts
Let your body relax
Concentrate on the feeling of "existence" (feel "I'm here")

After concentrating for some time on the feeling of I, relaxed at the same time and with your mind silent, bring your breath into awareness and shift your attention from “I” to “here”, and mentally repeat “I am here” simultaneously with inhalation, pause, exhalation .

2. Exercise - Feeling "You"

The purpose of the exercise: to be able to experience the state of presence "in another person", that is, to be able to feel the state of "You" in return - the state of "Ego". The exercise is performed in pairs.

Face each other
Close your eyes, take the most comfortable postures.
Wait for a state of complete peace.
open your eyes
Start a wordless dialogue with your partner
Forget about yourself, focus only on the person looking at you.

H. Exercise "I / You"

The exercise is also performed in pairs, you need to sit opposite each other.

Concentrate;
The eyes must be open;
Maintain mental silence, physical relaxation;
Concentrate on both the senses of "I" and "You";
Try to feel the "cosmic depth", infinity.

The purpose of the exercise is to reach the state: "I" - "YOU" - "Infinity".

Gestalt Pictures

Changeling drawings (visual illusions): What do you see? What emotions are conveyed on each side of the pictures? It is not recommended to allow preschool children to view such pictures, as they can cause mental disorders. Below are the famous "dual" images: people, animals, nature. What can you see in each of the pictures?

In addition, the idea of Gestalt psychology underlies such pictures, which are called "drudles". Read more about drudles on.

With this article, we wanted to awaken in each of you the desire to start taking care of yourself - to open up to the world. Gestalt, of course, cannot make you richer, but happier - no doubt.

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Cheat sheet: Gestalt psychology: basic ideas and facts. Basic theoretical provisions and experimental studies of Gestalt psychology

Moscow, 2008

Introduction

The present content of this work is devoted to Gestalt psychology, as one of the most influential and interesting areas of the open crisis, which was a reaction against the atomism and mechanism of all varieties of associative psychology.

gestalt psychology psychology werthheimer levin

Conclusion

List of used literature

What is Gestalt psychology?

School of Gestalt Psychology

Ideas, laws, principles

Key Ideas of Gestalt Psychology

Laws of Gestalt psychology

Gestalt principles

Gestalt - quality

Perception constants

Figure and background

Gestalt therapy

Gestalt Therapy Technique

Unfinished Gestalt

Gestalt exercises

1. Exercise - "Presence"

2. Exercise - Feeling "You"

H. Exercise "I / You"

Gestalt Pictures