Glossary / Lexicon

Gestalt refers to the German word which means configuration, pattern, or whole.

In psychology, Gestalt refers to a school of psychology that focuses on understanding the organization of mental processes and perception. The term Gestalt is German for "configuration" or "whole," and the Gestalt approach emphasizes the holistic nature of perception and experience.

The Gestalt approach was developed in Germany in the early 20th century and has had a significant influence on the field of psychology. Some of the key principles of the Gestalt approach include:

• Holism: The idea that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, and that perception and experience cannot be fully understood by analyzing individual components in isolation.

• Emergence: The idea that new properties or patterns can emerge from the relationship between elements, and that these emergent properties are not reducible to the properties of the individual elements.

• Self-organization: The idea that perception and behavior are self-organizing, and that the mind actively organizes and structures experience.

Here are some examples of how the Gestalt approach might be applied in psychology:

• A researcher studies the way in which people perceive and organize visual stimuli, such as shapes and colors, in order to understand how the mind processes visual information.

• A therapist uses Gestalt techniques, such as focusing on the present moment and the person's immediate experience, to help a person understand their thoughts and feelings and to facilitate personal growth and change.

• A researcher investigates the role of context and background information in perception and memory, in order to understand how the mind organizes and structures experience.