Gestalt Theories Of Psychology

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Of the different approaches to the diverse science of psychology, behavioural psychology focuses on observable and measurable behaviour, as opposed to the internal mental state, emotions and thoughts that cannot be seen. The behavioural approach was most popular in the first half of the 20th century, from 1920 to the mid-1950s. According to famous behavioural psychologists like John B. Watson, Ivan Pavlov, B.F. Skinner etc., the environment affects and shapes behaviour, and reactions are ‘responses’ to ‘stimuli’ from the environment. Perception can be defined as the processes of ‘selection, organization, and interpretation’ of sensory input. According to Gestalt psychology, there are two methods used in perception forming: top-down and bottom-up…show more content…
There are six major Gestalt principles that can be used to demonstrate that ‘the whole is greater than the sum of its parts’. The Figure and Ground principle, where images are divided into a foreground and background can often be seen in art, where the figure and ground together form a whole, whereas separately they are two images, for example the black and white panda World Wide Fund (WWF) logo. In the ‘Proximity’ principle, objects closer to each other are grouped together, forming patterns that aren’t necessarily there. The ‘Closure’ principle demonstrates that people fill in missing parts to view them as complete shapes. In the ‘Similarity’ principle, similar stimuli, for example colours, are grouped together. A common example is in colour-blindness tests, where different coloured dots are grouped together and perceived as a number, rather than a bunch of dots. The principle of ‘Simplicity’, or the law of Pragnanz, states that people often break…show more content…
Neurons are made up of different parts, all of which have various functions. Information is first received at the dendrites and pass through the cell body of the neuron, called the soma, which holds the nucleus. Axons, which transmit impulses to other neurons, end in axon terminal buttons, which secrete neurotransmitters at a junction where two neurons connect, called a synapse. Operant or instrumental conditioning is when responses and behaviours are reinforced by the consequences that follow them. The use of operant conditioning, particularly positive and negative reinforcement is very effective in behavioural training. Positive reinforcement is defined as the addition of a positive stimulus to reinforce desirable behaviours or responses. Negative reinforcement occurs when an undesirable stimulus is removed after an appropriate behaviour is elicited, to increase the response. For Amy to train her dog to sit after listening to her command, she can use reinforcement as follows. For positive reinforcement, Amy can use a concrete rewarding stimulus such as a treat or toy after her dog displays the desirable response of listening to her commands. The rewarding stimulus can also be in the form of privileges, such as a walk or time to roam around, attention or time spent with
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