View Product website:

https://selldocx.com/docx/gestalt-movement-ch13-test-bank-6th-edition-1369

Chapter 13

The Gestalt Movement

Chapter Objectives:

• Review of German intellectual context for psychology after Wundt.
• Survey of Gestalt psychology as empirical, but not analytic or reductionistic, in the tradition of Psychology as a Human Science.
• The fate of Gestalt psychology in American; Lewin's application.

Chapter Summary

Gestalt psychology originated as a German intellectual movement heavily influenced by the precedents of the Würzburg school and phenomenological approaches to science. The early Gestaltists directly challenged Wundt's structural psychology and were largely successful in pursuing the traditions of Brentano and Stumpf. Originating in Wertheimer's research on apparent movement, or the phi phenomenon, the Gestalt principles were founded on the assumption of the inherent organization of person-environment interactions. The writings of Köhler and Koffka expanded the perceptual basis to formulate a comprehensive system of psychology especially amenable to higher thought processes of insight, understanding, and productive thinking. When the movement was threatened with destruction by the intellectual sterility of Nazi tyranny, the leaders fled to America. Unfortunately, the Gestalt movement was out of tune with the prevailing behavioristic character of American psychology. However, the Gestaltists did assume an important role in broadening the basis of behaviorism to foster a complete view of learning processes. One application of Gestalt views, contained in Lewin's field theory, met with success in providing an empirical model of personality and social activities. The Gestalt movement, although it did not retain a separate identity, contributed greatly to the reformulation of psychology.

Suggested topics and issues for class discussion and/or short essay examination questions:

1. Describe the meaning of the word gestalt and what is implied for the study of psychology.

2. What was the relationship between Gestalt psychology and structural psychology in terms of both the general approach to psychological questions as well as their relative positions in the German tradition of mental activity?

3. What was the fate of the Gestalt movement after gaining prominence in Germany during the early 1930s?

4. How was Gestalt theory an act psychology in the tradition of Brentano and Stumpf?

5. How did the research of Külpe's Würzburg School pave the way for Gestalt psychology?

6. What is the general meaning of phenomenology, and how are Gestalt views phenomenological?

7. What is the phi phenomenon, and how did Wertheimer explain it? Why was this explanation in contrast to the basic views of structural psychology?

8. Describe Köhler's research on the mentality of apes. Why were his findings important for the study of learning in psychology?

9. What were the principles of the organization of perceptual processes according to Gestalt theory?

10. Describe the Gestalt view on the relations of parts to whole in perceptual figures.

11. What was the Gestalt principle of isomorphism, and how was this explanation generally accepted?

12. Describe the methods of psychological inquiry acceptable to Gestalt psychology.

13. After its introduction in the U.S., what was the major influence of Gestalt theory?

14. What was the general purpose of field theory as outline by Lewin? What are the motivational factors operating in the individual within the field?

15. What are the essential dynamics of the perceptual field according to Lewin? How is field theory useful in considering personality and social variables?

Objective Questions:

1. The term gestalt expresses the basic view of psychological events as

A. elements reducible to causal parts.

B. analyzed into physiological components.

C. metaphysical abstractions.

D. organized, unified, and coherent phenomena.

E. atomistic systems of consciousness.

2. As a movement within psychology, Gestalt theory was initially

A. a reaction against structural psychology.

B. a reaction against act psychology.

C. a reaction against functional psychology.

D. an attempt to extend empiricism.

E. an attempt to salvage introspection.

3. When introduced to American psychology, the Gestalt movement

A. became the dominant system of psychology.

B. was largely irrelevant.

C. was out of synchrony with the zeitgeist of American psychology.

D. seriously challenged functional psychology.

E. seriously challenged structural psychology.

4. Külpe's Würzburg School

A. supported the findings of structural psychology.

B. advocated the view of sensory consciousness.

C. advocated the view of nonsensory consciousness.

D. objected to the early writings of the Gestalt psychologists.

E. suggested the existence of innate ideas.

5. A phenomenological approach in psychology

A. recognizes the unity of experience perceived by the individual

B. views mental activity in terms of the elements of consciousness.

C. views mental activity as devoid of environmental influences.

D. analyzes consciousness into causal parts.

E. reinforces the validity of the experimental method.

6. The modern expression of phenomenology was proposed by

A. Brentano. B. Stumpf. C. Husserl.

D. Wertheimer. E. Köhler.

7. Husserl's phenomenology and Gestalt theory

A. were in agreement on the substance of psychology.

B. were in opposition on the substance of psychology.

C. reached the same conclusions from different directions.

D. were the products of the same intellectual forces.

E. were both opposed to empiricism.

8. Wertheimer was led to the early expression of Gestalt principles from his work on

A. the transposition of tonal melodies.

B. apparent movement. C. depth perception.

D. color vision. E. isomorphism.

9. Wertheimer's later research on thought processes led him to

A. believe in sensory elements.

B. support the principles of conditioning.

C. support innate ideas.

D. support creative strategies in problem solving.

E. develop a theory of higher consciousness devoid of sensory experience.

10. Köhler's early work in Gestalt psychology focused on

A. the phi phenomenon. B. depth perception.

C. problem solving in apes. D. trial-and-error learning.

E. conditioned reflexes.

11. Among Koffka's writings was

A. a paper on the phi phenomenon.

B. a book on the mentality of apes.

C. an introduction to Gestalt psychology for Americans.

D. an introduction to phenomenology for Germans.

E. a paper on personality and field theory.

12. According to Gestalt principles, individual psychology is the product of

A. person-environment interactions.

B. innate ideas.

C. physiological mechanisms.

D. immediate experience.

E. mental reactions to environmental stimuli.

14. The tendency to complete incomplete figures was termed

A. assimilation. B. convergence. C. closure.

D. object constancy. E. proximity.

15. The tendency to retain the stability of figures despite changes in stimulus characteristics was termed

A. assimilation. B. convergence. C. closure.

D. object constancy. E. proximity.

16. The critical dimension in comparisons of environmental objects was the

A. characteristics of parts. B. relations between the parts.

C. addition of the parts. D. elements of the parts.

E. analysis of the parts.

17. The correspondence between the perceptual field and brain field was termed

A. transposition. B. transference.

C. isomorphism. D. cortical excitation.

E. electrochemical mediation.

18. Gestalt psychology succeeded in replacing

A. structural psychology in Germany.

B. structural psychology in America.

C. act psychology in Germany.

D. empiricism with introspection.

E. empiricism with phenomenology.

19. In America, Gestalt psychology

A. was absorbed into functional psychology.

B. was absorbed into structural psychology.

C. was absorbed into behavioral psychology.

D. accepted the basis of psychology in introspection.

E. accepted the basis of psychology in reflexology.

20. The Gestalt movement influence the view of behavior as

A. elements of stimulus-response associations.

B. a sensory process.

C. organized fields.

D. a collection of isomorphic traces.

E. trial-and-error learning.

21. Lewin

A. founded Gestalt psychology.

B. applied Gestalt principles.

C. relied on sensory determination.

D. proposed that group dynamics were isomorphic.

E. focused on statistical predictions of group dynamics.

22. For Lewin, the interactive field of a person is called the

A. isomorphic space. B. perceptual space.

C. dynamic field. D. transpositional space.

E. hodological space.

23. In Lewin's theory, the directional action of a person in the environmental space was termed a

A. valence. B. vector. C. barrier.

D. drive. E. tension.

24. According to Lewin, internal conflict may be resolve by

A. two opposing vectors.

B. transpositional learning.

C. mental barriers.

D. changing of valences.

E. selective repressions.

25. Lewin's views were attractive because he

A. relied on Gestalt theory.

B. studied complex activities not accommodated elsewhere.

C. viewed social dynamics in terms of sensory elements.

D. believed personality is a self-contained energy system.

E. explained the complexities of discrimination learning.