Born April 15, 1880 in Prague. His father was the director of a business college, his mother was well versed in art. Wertheimer was educated in private schools in Prague and then entered Charles University. After graduation, Wertheimer went to Germany, where he studied philosophy and psychology under the guidance of Karl Stumpf. Special role The work in the laboratory of O. Külpe played a role for him, because It was there that many of the most interesting experimental data in the field of human thinking were obtained. In 1904 he received his Ph.D. The topic of his dissertation was the detection of a criminal’s guilt during an investigation using the method of associative connection of words. Over the next few years, Wertheimer worked on various problems in psychology: he continued to develop control of eyewitness testimony, and also studied patients suffering from aphasia (speech impairment). From 1912, he began working on problems of the psychology of thinking, and later on creating the concept of problem solving and creative thought. In 1923 he married his student Anna Karo. In 1929, Wertheimer left Berlin for Frankfurt, where he worked at the department of philosophy and psychology at the University of Frankfurt. At the beginning of 1933, the political situation in Germany became very complicated; Wertheimer left for Czechoslovakia, and in September of the same year - to the United States of America, where he taught at New school social research in New York. In America, Wertheimer continued his research, their results formed the basis for the creation of the book “ Productive thinking" By that time, Wertheimer had finally formed his theory. In 1943, Max Wertheimer died.
Basic principles of Max Wertheimer's theory
Wertheimer's first works were devoted to environmental research visual perception. Using a tachistoscope, he exposed at different speeds one after another two stimuli (lines or curves). When the interval between presentations was relatively long, subjects perceived the stimuli sequentially, but when the interval was very short, the stimuli were perceived as appearing simultaneously. When exposed at an optimal interval (about 60 milliseconds), the subjects experienced a perception of movement, i.e. it seemed to them that one object was moving between two points, while they were presented with two objects placed at different points. At a certain moment, the subjects began to perceive pure movement, i.e. realized that movement was occurring, but without moving the object. This phenomenon was called the phi phenomenon. A special term was introduced in order to emphasize the uniqueness of this phenomenon, its irreducibility to the sum of sensations, since physiological basis Wertheimer recognized this phenomenon " short circuit”, which occurs with an appropriate time interval between two brain areas. The results of this work were presented in the article “Experimental studies visible movement", published in 1912.
Max Wertheimer identified several methods for determining the authenticity of witness testimony.
1. Method of associations: to each word presented, the subject reacts with any other word that comes to his mind.
2. Reproduction method. The subject is offered a text to memorize, which contains some elements similar to the content of the hidden content, others similar to it, as well as elements that have nothing to do with the hidden content. After some time, errors may occur when playing text.
The next three methods were not developed in the same detail by Wertheimer. These are the method of associative questions, the method of perception and the method of distraction.
The basis of Wertheimer's theory is Gestalt - a pronounced whole, a system within which its elements are in relationship with each other and with a single whole, where each part or subpart has own place, the role and function assigned to it by the nature of the whole. The structure of the gestalt is such that a change in one part of it entails a change in all other parts and in the whole, since the parts of the gestalt are not isolated from each other.
Based on this theory, Wertheimer developed the concept of the learning process. In his opinion, the nature of the processes and events occurring cannot be understood with the help of associative connections. The basis of true learning is understanding, insight, according to Wertheimer - insight. As the scientist explained, the learning process consists of a transition from a state where something seems completely meaningless to a situation where something previously meaningless becomes clear and understandable. If learning has taken place, then transferring it to another situation to which it is also applicable is not difficult. Thus, in order to check whether learning has actually taken place, it is necessary to see whether what has been learned can be generalized and transferred to another situation to which it also applies.
Wertheimer paid special attention to the problem of analysis and synthesis, and the first was given higher value. In his opinion, analysis should not proceed from the bottom up, but from the top down, i.e. from the whole to the part, since only the study of the primary whole can give an idea and definition of its parts. Wertheimer believed that one must begin analysis at the level of the whole, then moving on to its elements, and not try to rise to the level of Gestalt, starting from its components.
04/15/1880, Prague - 10/12/1943, New York) - German psychologist, founder of Gestalt psychology. In 1912, he conducted an experimental study of the phenomenon of apparent movement, which laid the foundation for Gestalt psychology. He explained it using the principle of physiological and mental isomorphism: apparent movement is subjective evidence that a physiological “short circuit” has occurred in the brain. Since the 20s began, using the method of “reasoning out loud” (in dialogue with the experimenter), to study the stages of thinking. He also worked on problems of musical perception, the psychology of “primitive peoples,” and parapsychology. His development of a “lie detector” is well known.
WERTHEIMER MAX
Max Wertheimer was born on April 15, 1880 in Prague. His father was the director of a business college, his mother was well versed in art. Wertheimer was educated in private schools in Prague and then entered Charles University. After graduation, Wertheimer went to Germany, where he studied philosophy and psychology under the guidance of Karl Stumpf. Work in the laboratory of O. Külpe played a special role for him, because It was there that many of the most interesting experimental data in the field of human thinking were obtained. In 1904 he received his Ph.D. The topic of his dissertation was the detection of a criminal’s guilt during an investigation using the method of associative connection of words. Over the next few years, Wertheimer worked on various problems in psychology, continued to develop the control of testimony, and also studied patients suffering from aphasia (speech impairment). As a result of these studies, he identified several methods for determining the authenticity of witness testimony: 1. Method of associations. Its essence lies in the fact that the subject must respond to every word presented to him with any other word that comes to his mind. Thus, using words that carry a certain semantic load, it is possible to determine the quality of the testimony. 2. Reproduction method. When using this method, the subject is offered a text to memorize, which contains some elements similar to the content being hidden, others similar to it, as well as elements that have nothing to do with the hidden content. After some time, errors may occur when playing text. The next three methods were not developed in the same detail by Wertheimer. These are the method of associative questions, the method of perception and the method of distraction. In 1910, he became interested in the phenomenon of apparent motion, and M. Wertheimer conducted a series of experiments. The subject of these experiments were the simplest cases of apparent motion, which is observed when observing one object in different positions. The fact that in this case in perception there is, in addition to objects, also movement, M. Wertheimer called the phi-phenomenon. He also explored some of the patterns that arise in this case. In particular, the phi phenomenon is observed only when there is a certain length of time between the presentation of two objects. If this interval is less than the optimal value, both stimuli are perceived simultaneously and motionless; if it is longer, they are visible sequentially, but also motionless. Wertheimer determined what different conditions the value of this optimal gap, and determined its dependence on the distance between objects. The result of these studies was a paper given in 1912, the main idea of which was that perceived visual motion cannot be obtained by simple summation of sensations or perceptions. The quality of an experience cannot be inferred from the properties of its constituent elements. Over time, Max Wertheimer, as well as Kurt Koffka and Wolfgang Köhler, who also took part in the experiments, came to the conclusion that this principle applies not only to the phenomenon of visual movement, but to all psychological science as a whole. Thus, in his report, Wertheimer laid the foundation future theory Gestalt psychology. Its essence lies in the fact that integrated holistic systems (gestalts) are not a simple sum of their component parts. Rather, on the contrary, the characteristics of gestalts determine the nature, role and functions of their components. From 1912, he began working on problems in the psychology of thinking, and later on creating concepts for problem solving and creative thought. This work was interrupted by the war. The scientist was involved in the work of discovering submarines. In 1923 he married his student Anna Karo. In 1929, Wertheimer left Berlin for Frankfurt, where he worked at the department of philosophy and psychology at the University of Frankfurt. At the beginning of 1933, when the political situation in Germany became much more complicated, Wertheimer went to Czechoslovakia, and in September of the same year to the United States of America, where he taught at the New School for Social Research in New York. In America, Wertheimer continued his research, the results of which formed the basis for the creation of the book “Productive Thinking.” According to the then existing theories, understanding of any human behavioral characteristics can be achieved experimental work upon receipt simple associations or stimulus-response connections. Wertheimer proved that such theories cannot explain productive thinking. He argued that to fully understand the processes of cognition and the process of problem solving it is necessary to consider integral structures, having organized components, the functions and roles of which depend on their position in the gestalt. In the process of developing these particular problems, Wertheimer's theory was finally formalized. Its basis is Gestalt - a clearly defined whole, a system within which its elements are in relationship with each other and with a single whole, where each part or subpart has its own place, role and function assigned to it by the nature of the whole. The structure of the gestalt is such that a change in one part of it entails a change in all other parts and in the whole, since the parts of the gestalt are not isolated from each other. Based on this theory, Wertheimer developed the concept of the learning process. In his opinion, the nature of the processes and events occurring cannot be understood with the help of associative connections. The basis of true learning is understanding, insight, according to Wertheimer - insight. As the scientist explained, the learning process consists of a transition from a state where something seems completely meaningless to a situation where something previously meaningless becomes clear and understandable. If learning has taken place, then transferring it to another situation to which it is also applicable is not difficult. Thus, in order to check whether learning has actually taken place, it is necessary to see whether what has been learned can be generalized and transferred to another situation to which it also applies. The concept of problem solving was also discussed in detail by Wertheimer in his book Productive Thinking. In his opinion, in order to solve a problem, it is necessary to develop the appropriate field of the problem. This may be a transition from a chaotic perception of the information offered to receiving an organized concept of this information. Or, for example, developing a task field may consist in reorganizing an erroneous idea about this task into another, more effective one. An important element Learning is the process of understanding that a particular strategy will “work” in a given situation. This phenomenon was called the Hoeffding stage by M. Wertheimer, named after the Danish philosopher and psychologist Harald Hoeffding, who formulated this phenomenon in late XIX V. He proposed that resemblance, or likeness, is a critical determinant of recognition. Awareness of this similarity makes transference possible. While working in New York, Wertheimer did not stop developing the theory of Gestalts in more detail. Special attention he paid attention to the problem of analysis and synthesis, with the former being given greater importance. In his opinion, analysis should not proceed from the bottom up, but from the top down, i.e. from the whole to the part, since only the study of the primary whole can give an idea and definition of its parts. Wertheimer believed that one should begin analysis at the level of the whole, then moving on to its elements, rather than trying to rise to the level of gestalt, starting with its constituent parts. In 1943, Max Wertheimer died. He did not complete his research, but nevertheless remained in the history of psychology as the founder of Gestalt theory, originally called Wertheimer's theory. His followers - Kurt Lewin, Kurt Koffka and Wolfgang Köhler - developed this theory in more detail in various directions. Huge value for practical, applied psychology had his developments in the field of verifying the truth of witness testimony.
Gestalt psychology
is a direction in psychology of the twentieth century, which is based on attempts to explain the principle of perception from the position of the integrity of the structure.
Representatives of Gestalt psychology:
W. Keller, M. Wertheimer, K. Koffka, K. Levin, K. Duncker.
Subject
Gestalt psychology
is consciousness, the understanding of which must be built on the principle of integrity.
Your name this direction psychology received from German the words "gestalt", which means “form”, “structure”, “integral configuration”, i.e. an organized whole whose properties cannot be derived from the properties of its parts.
The development of Gestalt psychology is associated with the revolution in physics that occurred at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. It arose as an alternative to the popular ones of that period and associative psychology. Her founder consider the German psychologist Max Wertheimer, but such people also participated in its development famous psychologists like Kurt Koffka, Wolfgang Keller, Kurt Lewin.
Gestalt psychology denied the principles of separation of consciousness. Its representatives believed that it is not a set of feelings, and the features of the image are not recreated using the signs of its components. Instead of searching for individual elements of consciousness, Gestalt psychologists focused on its integrity. Human consciousness they viewed it as a wholeness embraced by dynamics. Consciousness connects all components into a single whole, forming gestalt.
Gestalt
- This integral, irreducible to the sum of their parts, formations of consciousness.
Imagine that you come to a gallery to admire your favorite painting by Vincent Van Gogh. Looking at it, you do not see and evaluate every stroke of the artist. You see the big picture general combination colors, shapes, composition. Those. there is a holistic perception of the picture, which is not reduced to the sum of its constituent elements. This holistic perception came to be called “gestalt.”
Formed gestalts are always holistic. They are complete structures. The main quality of Gestalt psychology is desire for completeness, which manifests itself in (unfinished processes are remembered better).
Gestalt psychology has found its continuation in the modern direction of psychotherapy - gestalt therapy, the founder of which is a psychologist Friedrich Perls.
Gestalt therapy suggests that a person's whole life consists of infinite number Gestalts. Gestalt therapists help patients see and understand how unfinished gestalts affect their lives in the present. During this therapy, a person learns to close and complete these gestalts, because incomplete gestalts can cause some problems.
Principles of Gestalt psychology
The research allowed Gestalt psychologists to discover, and subsequently the laws of Gestalt.
1. The principle of proximity- elements that are close to each other in space and time and that seem to us to be united in groups, we perceive together.
2. The principle of continuity- there is a tendency to follow a direction that allows observed elements to be linked into a continuous sequence or a specific orientation.
3. Principle of similarity— similar elements are perceived by us together, forming closed groups.
4. Closing principle- There is a tendency to complete unfinished items and fill empty spaces.
5. The principle of simplicity (law of pregnancy) - perception and interpretation of composite or complex objects as simplest form or a union of the simplest forms.
6. The “figure-ground” principle- organization of perception in such a way as to see the object (figure) and the background against which it appears.
7. The principle of isomorphism- expression of the structural unity of the world (physical, physiological and mental).
8. The principle of the common area- Gestalt principles shape our everyday perception along with learning and past experience. Anticipatory thoughts and expectations also actively guide our interpretation of sensations.
9. The principle of contiguity— proximity of stimuli in time and space; Contiguity can determine perception when one event causes another.
Max Wertheimer as the founder of Gestalt psychology
Max Wertheimer - German psychologist, founder of Gestalt psychology.
Gestalt psychology originates from the experiment of M. Wertheimer, which was outlined in the article “Experimental studies of the perception of movement” in 1912.
Using special instruments, he studied two stimuli from subjects (two straight lines) by transmitting them at different speeds.
When the interval was relatively large, subjects perceived the lines sequentially. At a very short interval, the lines were perceived as data simultaneously, and at an optimal interval, the perception of movement arose, i.e. subjects saw a line moving to the right or left, rather than two lines given sequentially or simultaneously.
This phenomenon is called phi phenomenon.
M. Wertheimer also studied human perception and thinking. He attempted to apply Gestalt principles of learning to creative thinking people, based on the assumption that thinking is carried out in terms of a holistic awareness of the problem. He considers thinking as an alternating change of gestalts, i.e. the ability to see the same problem under different angles, in accordance with the task.
He criticized the traditional practice of education, considering it based on drilling and rote learning. Wertheimer believed that simple repetition was rarely productive, and cited examples of students being unable to cope with a slightly modified problem if its solution was obtained not through insight (inner illumination), but on the basis of simple rote memorization.
Wertheimer argued that individual details should be considered in direct connection with general situation and that the solution to a problem should move from the general to the specific, and not vice versa. If a teacher organizes class exercise material into whole system, then his students will develop insight more easily, they will be able to grasp the essence of the problem and find its solution.
Kurt Koffka and andPerceptual studies in children
Kurt Koffka- German and American psychologist, together with Wertheimer and Keller, is considered one of the founders of Gestalt psychology.
In his article "Perception: An Introduction to Gestalt Theory" he outlined the foundations of Gestalt psychology, as well as the results of many studies.
In 1921, Koffka published a book "Basics mental development»
dedicated to the formation of child psychology
Koffka conducted research development of perception in children, which showed that the child has a set of inaccurate and not very adequate images outside world. Over the course of life, these images are separated and become more accurate.
For example, newborns have a vague image of a person, the gestalt of which includes a voice, a face, hair, and characteristic movements. That's why small child one or two months may not even recognize loved one, if he changes his hairstyle or changes his usual clothes to completely unfamiliar ones. But by the end of the first half of the year, this vague image is divided, turning into a series of clear images: a face, in which the eyes, mouth, hair stand out as separate gestalts, and images of the voice and body appear.
Koffka studied and children's color perception.
At first, children perceive their surroundings only as colored or uncolored, while the uncolored is perceived as a background, and the colored as a figure. Gradually, colored is divided into warm and cold, and in the environment children already distinguish several “figure-ground” sets (for example, uncolored-colored warm, uncolored-colored cold, etc.). Thus, the formerly single gestalt turns into several, more accurately reflecting the color.
These images also become fragmented over time: yellow and red colors stand out in warm ones, and green and blue in cold ones. This process occurs over a long period of time until, finally, the child begins to correctly perceive all colors.
Koffka came to the conclusion that the combination of figure and background against which a given object is demonstrated 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 colors themselves, but their relationships.
Research by Wolfgang Keller
Wolfgang Keller- German and American psychologist, one of the founders of Gestalt psychology, dealt with problems of general, comparative, experimental psychology. Introduced the principle of isomorphism (equality of forms in the physical, physiological and phenomenal fields).
V. Keller studied problem solving great apes. Experiments with chimpanzees allowed him to understand that the task assigned to the animal is solved either (blind search the right decision) , or thanks sudden realization.
Köhler's experiments proved that the thought process follows the second path, i.e. there is an instant grasp of the situation and right decision assigned task.
Köhler came to the conclusion that objects and objects that are in the field of perception and are in no way connected with each other, in the process of solving a problem, begin to unite into a single structure, the vision of which helps to solve the problem. This process happens instantly. V. Koehler called this phenomenon insight.
Insight - this is an internal insight, a sudden understanding and finding a solution.
Explaining the phenomenon of insight, he believed that at the moment when phenomena enter another situation, they acquire new feature. The combination of objects in new combinations associated with their new functions leads to the formation of a new gestalt, the awareness of which is essence of thinking.
Köhler conducted a series of experiments with children to study thinking to prove that humans solve certain problems in a similar way. He offered the children problematic situation, similar to the one that was placed in front of the monkeys (for example, get a typewriter that was located on the cabinet). To get the car, the children included in the gestalt with the closet various items(ladder or other objects: drawers, table with chair).
Theory psychological field Kurt Lewin
Kurt Lewin- German and American psychologist, whose views are based on the concept of Gestalt, but he also studied the problems of personality, its needs and influence public relations on her behavior.
Influenced by success exact sciences, K. Levin created original theory in explaining humanbehavior called"psychological field theory".
Field theory - This psychological system Kurt Lewin using the concept force field to explain individual behavior in terms of the influence of the field of social influence on it.
Lewin conducted research in the field of needs, will, and affects. He proceeded from the fact that the basis of human activity in all its forms (action, thinking, etc.) is intention - need.
Kurt Lewin believed that personality lives and develops in psychological field objects surrounding it, each of which has a certain charge (valency). For each person this valence has its own sign, although there are also objects that have the same attractive or repulsive force for everyone. By influencing a person, objects evoke in him needs, which Levin considered as a kind of energy charges that cause human tension.
When the balance between the subject and the situation is disturbed, a state of tension arises in a person, which the subject tries to remove by taking certain actions. Lewin called this tension quasi-need.
Quasi-need
is the intention to perform some purposeful action.
When such a need exists, a person strives for discharge, i.e. satisfying one's own needs. Discharge is carried out in a certain situation. This situation was called Levin psychological field.
Kurt Lewin developed conflict theory.
He identified and described three types of conflicts:
1) "Aspiration - Aspiration": a person is between two positive valences approximately equal size(this is the case of Buridan's donkey dying of hunger between two haystacks);
2)"Avoidance - Avoidance": a person is between two approximately equal negative valences (punishment situation);
3) "Striving - Avoidance": one of the two “field” vectors comes from a positive, and the other from a negative valence (the child wants to pet the dog, but is afraid).
Gestalt psychology arose at the beginning of this century in Germany. Its founders were M. Wertheimer (1880-1943), K. Koffka (1886-1967), W. Köhler (1887-1967). The name of this direction comes from the word “gestalt” (German). Gestalt- form, image, structure). The psyche, representatives of this direction believed, should be studied from the point of view of holistic structures (gestalts).
Central to them was the idea that the basic properties of Gestalt cannot be understood by summing up the properties of its individual parts. The whole is fundamentally not reducible to the sum of its individual parts; moreover, the whole is completely different than the sum of its parts. It is the properties of the whole that determine the properties of its individual parts. Thus, a musical melody cannot be reduced to a sequence of different musical sounds.
In relation to personality psychology, the ideas of Gestalt psychology were developed by a German and then an American psychologist K. Levin (1890-1947).
Let us dwell in more detail on the characteristics of Gestalt psychology. Gestalt psychology explored the integral structures that make up the psychic field, developing new experimental methods. And unlike other psychological trends (psychoanalysis, behaviorism), representatives of Gestalt psychology still believed that the subject psychological science is a study of the content of the psyche, analysis cognitive processes, as well as the structure and dynamics of personality development.
Main idea this school was that the basis of the psyche is not individual elements consciousness, but integral figures - gestalts, the properties of which are not the sum of the properties of their parts. Thus, the previous idea that the development of the psyche is based on the formation of ever new associative connections that connect individual elements to each other into ideas and concepts was refuted.
The ideas developed by Gestalt psychologists were based on experimental research into cognitive processes. This was both the first (and for a long time practically the only) school that began a strictly experimental study of the structure and qualities of personality, since the method of psychoanalysis used depth psychology, could not be considered either objective or experimental.
In the research of scientists of this school, almost all currently known properties of perception were discovered, and the importance of this process in the formation of thinking, imagination, and other cognitive functions was proven.
One of the leading representatives of this direction 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. Having moved to Würzburg, he worked in the laboratory of O. Külpe, under whose guidance he defended his dissertation in 1904. However, moving away from explanatory principles Wurzburg school, he leaves Kulpe, 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 with Wolfgang Köhler and Kurt Koffka, who first became subjects in Wertheimer’s experiments in the study of perception, and then his friends and colleagues, in collaboration with whom the main provisions of the new psychological direction– Gestalt psychology.
Wertheimer's first works were devoted to experimental research visual perception.
In further studies by Wertheimer and his colleagues, it was obtained large number experimental data that allowed us to establish the basic postulates of Gestalt psychology. 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.
In the mid-twenties, Wertheimer moved from the study of perception to the study of thinking.
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 during training, and the training itself should be structured in such a way that children receive joy from it, realizing the joy of discovering something new.
Data obtained from Wertheimer's research led Gestalt psychologists to the conclusion that the leading mental process, especially on initial stages ontogeny is perception.
The study of its development was mainly carried out by K. Koffka, who sought to connect genetic psychology and Gestalt psychology.
In his works, Koffka argued that his behavior and understanding of the situation depend on how a child perceives the world. He came to this conclusion because he believed that the process of mental development is the growth and differentiation of gestalts. This opinion was shared by other Gestalt psychologists. Studying the process of perception, Gestalt psychologists argued that its basic properties appear gradually, with the maturation of Gestalts. This is how constancy and correctness of perception appear, as well as its meaningfulness.
After meeting Max Wertheimer, Köhler becomes one of his ardent supporters and associate in developing the foundations of a new psychological direction.
Köhler's first works on the intelligence of chimpanzees led him to the most significant discovery- opening " insight"(insight). Based on the fact that intellectual behavior is aimed at solving a problem, Köhler created situations in which the experimental animal had to find workarounds to achieve the goal. The operations that the monkeys performed to solve the problem were called “two-phase”, since 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 located 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 correct solution (like trial and error) or the monkey achieves the goal thanks to a spontaneous grasp of relationships and understanding. Köhler'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 another situation, they acquire a new function. The combination 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. Köhler called this process “gestalt restructuring” and believed that such restructuring occurs instantly and does not depend on the past experience of the subject, but only on the way objects are arranged in the field. It is this “restructuring” that occurs at the moment of “insight.”
The concept of “insight” has become key to Gestalt psychology; it has become the basis for explaining all forms mental activity, including productive thinking.
German psychologist's theory K. Levin (1890-1947) 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, biology. Having become interested in psychology at the university, Levin tried to introduce accuracy and rigor of experiment into this science. In 1914 Levin received doctorate. Having received an invitation to teach psychology at the Psychological Institute University of Berlin, he becomes close to Koffka, Köhler and Wertheimer, the founders of Gestalt psychology. However, unlike his colleagues, Lewin focuses not on the study of cognitive processes, but on the study of human personality. After emigrating to the United States, Levin taught at Stanford and Cornell universities. During this period he deals mainly with problems social psychology and in 1945 heads research center group dynamics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Lewin developed his personality theory 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 objects surrounding him, each of which has a certain charge (valence). Lewin's experiments proved that for each person this valence has its own sign, although at the same time there are objects that have the same attractive or repulsive force for everyone. By influencing a person, objects evoke needs in him, which Lewin considered as a kind of energy charges that cause human tension. In this state, a person strives for relaxation, i.e. satisfying the need.
Lewin distinguished two types of needs - biological and social (quasi-needs). The needs in the personality structure are not isolated, they are in connection with each other, in a certain hierarchy. At the same time, those quasi-needs that are interconnected can exchange the energy found in them. Lewin called this process communication of charged systems. The ability to communicate, from his point of view, is valuable because it makes a person’s behavior more flexible, allows him to resolve conflicts, overcome various barriers and find a satisfactory way out. difficult situations. This flexibility is achieved thanks to complex system substitute actions that are formed on the basis of interconnected needs. Thus, a person is not tied to a specific action or way of solving a situation, but can change them, relieving the tension that has arisen in him. This expands its adaptive capabilities.
In one of Lewin's studies, children were asked to complete 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 control experiment the adult invited the child to help him, but at the moment when the child arrived, it turned out that someone had already washed everything in court. Children tended to get upset, especially if they were told that one of their peers was ahead of them. There were also frequent aggressive manifestations. At this point, the experimenter offered to perform another task, implying that it was also important. 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 new situation, and therefore their anxiety and aggressiveness grew.
Lewin comes to the conclusion that not only neuroses, but also features of cognitive processes (phenomena such as preservation, forgetting) are associated with the release or tension of needs.
Levin's research proved that not only existing in at the moment situation, but also its anticipation, objects that exist only in a person’s mind 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 and surrounding objects, to “stand above the field,” as Levin wrote. He called this behavior volitional, in contrast to field behavior, which arises under the influence of the immediate immediate environment. Thus, Levin comes to the important concept of time perspective, which determines human behavior in life space and is the basis for a holistic perception of oneself, one’s past and future.
Great value To form a child’s personality, there is a system of educational techniques, in particular punishments and rewards. Lewin believed that when punished for failure to perform an action that is unpleasant for a child, children find themselves in a situation of frustration, since they are between two barriers (objects with negative valence). The punishment system, 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 reward system 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 time perspective in order to remove the barriers of this field.
Levin created a series of interesting psychological techniques. The first of them was suggested by observation in one of the Berlin restaurants of the behavior of a waiter who clearly remembered the amount due from visitors, but immediately forgot it after the bill was paid. Believing that in in this case numbers are retained in memory thanks to the “tension system” and disappear with its discharge, Levin invited his student B.V. Zeigarnik to experimentally study the differences in memorizing unfinished and completed actions. Experiments confirmed his prediction. The first ones were remembered approximately twice as well. A number of other phenomena have also been studied. All of them were explained based on the general postulate about the dynamics of tension in the psychological field.
Brief biography
Note 1
Max Wertheimer was born in Prague on April 15, 1880. Max's father served as the director of a business college, and his mother was excellent at art. Wertheimer received his education in private schools in Prague, after which he entered Charles University. After graduating, Wertheimer moved to Germany and began studying philosophy and psychology under the guidance of Stumpf. Activities in Külpe’s laboratory played a special role in the development of a scientist. In it, scientists obtained a lot of interesting experimental data in the field of human thinking.
In $1904, Wertheimer received academic degree Ph.D. The theme of it doctoral dissertation detection of the criminal’s guilt during the investigation process using the method of associative connection of words became.
After the defense, Wertheimer studied different problems psychology, in particular, developed the control of witness testimony, studied patients suffering from speech disorders. Since 1912, Max Wertheimer has been actively involved in the problems of the psychology of thinking and the creation of the concept of creative thought and problem solving.
In 1921, Wertheimer, together with the German psychologists Koffka and Köhler, founded the journal Psychologische Forschungen, which published the works of famous Gestalt psychologists of the time.
In $1923, the scientist married student Anna Karo. Wertheimer left for Frankfurt from Berlin in 1929. There he worked at the department of psychology and philosophy at the University of Frankfurt. Political situation in Germany during this period became more complex, and Wertheimer went to Czechoslovakia in 1933, and then to the United States of America, where he taught social research in New York at the New School.
Max Wertheim's theory
A complete exposition of his theory is contained in the book Productive Thinking, published by him in 1943 just a few weeks before his death.
Wertheimer's very first works were devoted to the study of visual perception through experiments. Using a tachistoscope, the scientist exposed at different speeds two stimuli in succession. When the interval between presentations was large, the subjects perceived the stimuli sequentially; when the interval was short, the stimuli were already perceived as if they had appeared simultaneously. At a certain moment, the subjects began to perceive the movement as pure, i.e. without moving the object. This phenomenon called the phi phenomenon.
Max Wertheimer as a result of his scientific activity identified several methods for determining the truth of witness testimony:
- the association method, when the subject reacts to each word presented with another that comes to his mind;
- reproduction method;
- method of associative questions;
- method of perception;
- distraction method.
The basis of Wertheimer's theory was Gestalt. The structure of the gestalt is such that a change in one part entails a change in all other parts, as well as in general, since the parts of the gestalt are not isolated from each other.
Based on Gestalt, Wertheimer developed his concept of learning. He believed that the nature of the processes and events occurring during learning cannot be understood through associative connections. The basis of learning is understanding and insight, that is, insight. The learning process, according to Wertheimer, consists of a transition from a state in which something seems meaningless to a situation in which this something becomes clear and understandable.
Note 2
Wertheimer is also known for his work in the field of musical perception, the development of the “lie detector” and his works on the psychology of “primitive peoples”.
