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Some Gestalt history Johan Wagemans University of Leuven, Belgium 17/02/2011 (internal lab presentation) precursors • Ernst Mach (1838-1916) – mathematics, physics, philosophy – 1886: “Beiträge zur Analyse der Empfindungen” • Carl Stumpf (1848-1936) – student of Franz Brentano and Hermann Lotze – founded the LEP at Berlin (1893) – his students in Berlin: Wertheimer, Koffka, Köhler, Lewin • Christian von Ehrenfels (1859-1932) – studied with Brentano in Vienna – originator of the term Gestalt – 1890: “Über Gestaltqualitäten” • Friedrich Schumann (1863-1940) – student of Georg Elias Müller at Göttingen – assistant of Carl Stumpf in Berlin – 1900a, 1900b, 1904: “Beiträge zur Analyse der Gesichtswahrnehmungen: Einige Beobachtungen über die Zusammenfassung von Gesichtseindrücken zu Einheiten” Carl Stumpf (1848-1936) • started university studies in Würzburg in 1865, where he became a disciple of Franz Brentano (intentionality as immanent objectivity); after a year Brentano sent Stumpf to Göttingen, where he received training in epistemology, physiology, and physics • 1873: first major book on the psychological origins of space • 1879: first volume of his most important scientific work “Tonpsychologie” • chairs in Würzburg (1873), Prague (1879), Halle (1884), Münich (1889), and Berlin (1893), where he was asked to build a psychological institute that could compete with Leipzig • in Berlin he had many excellent coworkers like Max Wertheimer, Kurt Koffka, Wolfgang Köhler, Adhemar Gelb, Johannes von Allesch, and Kurt Lewin (all but Wertheimer got their PhD with him) • all of these scholars also studied at other universities but Stumpf was the master under whom the Gestalt theorists learned their trade as experimenters Graz – Berlin schools Graz school Berlin school Meinong, Ehrenfels, Benussi Wertheimer, Köhler, Koffka Gestalten as emergent qualities Gestalt as a sui generis whole dependent upon objects, rise above them as a content not founded on any more elementary objects the mind produces a percept the percept organizes itself by mutual interaction constructivism objectivism Max Wertheimer (1880-1943) ° April 15, 1880, Prague † October 12, 1943, New Rochelle • • • • • • entered Prague’s Charles University in 1898 in the legal faculty but taking many courses in philosophy, physiology, music, and art history; after 5 sem, switched to philosophical faculty (many classes from Christian von Ehrenfels) studied philosophy in Berlin from 1902 to 1904 (classes from Carl Stumpf, lab exercises with Friedrich Schumann) got his doctoral degree from Oswald Külpe (Würzburg, 1904) became interested in motion perception after an experience on a train (1910) at the Psychological Institute in Frankfurt he got a tachistoscope (from Schumann) to study the phenomenon his first subjects were two younger assistants there, Wolfgang Köhler and Kurt Koffka Max Wertheimer (ctd.) 1912: seminal paper, lectureship in Frankfurt 1916: Berlin 1922: assistant professor Berlin 1925: professor in Frankfurt 1933: escape to U.S. 1934: position at New School for Social Research (N.Y. City) • 1945: “Productive Thinking” • • • • • • Kurt Koffka (1886-1941) ° March 18, 1886, Berlin † November 22, 1941, Northampton • 1903: enrolled at the University of Berlin, in philosophy (classes from Stumpf) • 1909: PhD Berlin on rhythm • assistant in Freiburg (von Kries), Würzburg (Külpe; working on similarity and imagery), and Frankfurt (Schumann) • 1911-1927: Giessen • 1922: Psych Bulletin paper (Gestalt program introduced in the U.S.) • 1927: emigrated to the U.S. • teaching position at Smith College • 1935: “Principles of Gestalt Psychology” Wolfgang Köhler (1887-1967) ° January 21, 1887, Reval (Estonia) † June 11, 1967, New Hampshire • • • • • • • • • background in natural science thanks to a remarkable teacher (Geitel, in contact with Planck, Becquerel, Rutherford) studying philosophy, history, and physics in Tübingen, then experimental psychology in Bonn, moving to Berlin to work with Stumpf 1908: PhD Berlin (on acoustics) assistant in Frankfurt 1913-1920: Tenerife (“mentality of apes”) 1922: chair and director Berlin 1929: “Gestalt psychology” 1935: escape to U.S. position at Swarthmore College 2nd generation • Kurt Lewin (1890-1947) – – – – – – PhD Berlin (Stumpf) worked with Wertheimer, Koffka, Köhler went to U.S. (guest lecturer at Stanford and Cornell) 1935: took position at Iowa 1944: created Research Center for Group Dynamics at M.I.T. influenced Solomon Asch, Leon Festinger • Kurt Goldstein (1878-1965) – 1903: MD at Breslau – teaching position at the Neurological Institute at Frankfurt where he met Wertheimer, Koffka, Köhler – plasticity of brain functions (recovery after trauma) – influenced Gordon Allport, Carl Rogers, Abraham Maslow 2nd generation (ctd.) • Wolfgang Metzger (1899-1979) – studied with Wertheimer, Koffka, Köhler in Berlin – became assistant and successor of Wertheimer in Frankfurt – most famous for his “Gesetze des Sehens” • 3 editions: 1936, 1954, 1975 • a collection of phenomena from everyday perception and the fine arts, compelling illustrations for the Gestalt point of view • a nontechnical masterpiece in which he moves the reader toward a deeper experience, and sometimes an altered conception, of the visual world • Rudolf Arnheim (1904-2007) – studied with Wertheimer, Köhler, Lewin in Berlin – emigrated to Italy (1933), England (1939), US (1940) – got a position at New School for Social Research – introduced Gestalt thinking in art and art theory 2nd generation (ctd.) • Fritz Heider (1896-1988) – worked with Wertheimer in Berlin and with Koffka in the U.S. – translated Kurt Lewin’s “Grundzüge der topologischen Psychologie” (1936) – best known for attribution theory “The Psychology of Interpersonal Relations” (1958) • Hans Wallach (1905-1998) – 1934: PhD in Berlin with Wertheimer “on the visually perceived direction of motion” – 1936: escaped to U.S. – long career at Swarthmore College – famous students: Ulric Neisser, Irving Rock Italian Gestalt psychology Vittorio Benussi (1878-1927) • an ethnic Italian, born in Austro-Hungarian Trieste (now part of Italy) • the most important researcher of Alexius Meinong’s Graz school of Gegenstandstheorie • after the First World War, he decided to emigrate to Italy (speaking German with an Italian accent and coming from a family with strong anti-Austrian sentiments, he had felt alienated in Austria) • this way, the impetus for Gestalt psychology entered Italy more or less by accident • unfortunately, he suffered the same fate among academics in Italy, for his reputation had been won in the German language in German periodicals • in 1927 he committed suicide in Padova Cesare Musatti (1897-1989) • born in Mira, in the Veneto region of Italy • student of mathematics and philosophy at the University of Padua and turned to psychology under the influence of Benussi • he became Benussi’s assistant and, with his premature death, replaced him in the chair of psychology • during the fascist period, Musatti, an ethnic Jew, was forced to leave Padua, but after the end of the war he became director of the Psychological Institute at the University of Milan • he is best known as the most important Italian psychoanalytic writer of his generation and the editor of the Italian edition of the works of Sigmund Freud • he was also one of the premier perceptual researchers of Italy – responsible for introducing the Berlin gestalt theory to Italy – training important students in this tradition (Fabio Metelli, Gaetano Kanizsa) Fabio Metelli (1907–1987) • born in Trieste (10 July 1908) • graduated from the University of Padua in 1929 with a thesis on the esthetics of Plato • from 1929 to 1940, he was voluntary assistant to Musatti • not being Jewish, he was not barred from professional positions • from 1940 to 1942, he worked for the National Council of Research (Consiglio Nazionale di Ricerche) and was granted the title docent in 1942 • in 1943, he directed the Psychological Institute in Padua • after spending some time in Catania and Trieste, he was named professor there in 1951 Gaetano Kanizsa (1913–1993) • born in Trieste (18 August 1913) son of a Hungarian father and a Slovenian mother • graduated at the University of Padua, with a thesis on Jaensch’s theory of eidetic imagery, under Musatti’s supervision in 1938 • it was during this time that he came to know Musatti’s assistant, Metelli, thus beginning a lifelong friendship • being an ethnic Jew, Kanizsa entered the academic world exactly when ethnic laws prohibited his obtaining any position • after the war, as Metelli was installed in Padua, Kanizsa followed Musatti to Milan and became his assistant • in 1954, he was given the title of professor of psychology at Trieste • his most famous work began to appear in the 1950s, when he published his works on subjective contours, modes of color appearance, and phenomenal transparency Padua-Trieste school • it was at this time that Koffka’s Principles of Gestalt psychology was elevated to the level of ‘scripture’ • Wolfgang Metzger became the consistent, if predictable, psychological ally of the Italians • his orthodoxy was the standard against which the efforts of the Italians could be judged • Musatti and Metzger were said to tour the laboratories together once a year in Padua and Trieste during the late 1950s and early 1960s • in Italy the chairmanship of the department or directorship laboratory was a prestigious and powerful position • Metelli oversaw Padua, and Kanizsa oversaw Trieste, each with a great deal of power Sources • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Ash, M. (1995). Gestalt psychology in German culture, 1890–1967: Holism and the quest for objectivity. New York: Cambridge University Press. Boudewijnse, G. (1999). The rise and fall of the Graz school. Gestalt Theory, 21, 140-158. Carini, L. (1970). A reassessment of Max Wertheimer’s contribution to psychological theory. Acta Psychologica, 32, 377-385. Epstein, W. (1988). Has the time come to rehabilitate Gestalt theory? Philosophical Psychology, 50(1), 2-6. Gibson, J. J. (1971). The legacies of Koffka’s principles. Journal of the History of Behavioral Sciences, 7(1), 3-9. Kanizsa, G. (1979). Organization in vision: Essays on Gestalt perception. New York: Praeger. Koffka, K. (1915). Zur grundlegung der Wahrnehmungspsychologie. Eine Auseinandersetzung mit V. Benussi. Zeitschrift für Psychologie, 73, 11-90. Koffka, K. (1935). Principles of Gestalt psychology. New York: Harcourt- Brace. Köhler, W. (1929). Gestalt psychology. New York: Liveright. Luccio, R. (2003). The emergence of Prägnanz: Gaetano Kanizsa’s legacies. Axiomathes, 13, 365-387. Metzger, W. (1975). Gesetze des Sehens (3rd ed.). Frankfurt, Germany: Verlag Waldemar Kramer. (An English translation of the 1936 edition has been published as „Laws of seeing“ by MIT Press in 2006.) Smith, B. (Ed.). (1988). Foundations of Gestalt theory. München: Philosophia Verlag. Verstegen, I. (2000). Gestalt psychology in Italy. Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, 36, 31-42. von Ehrenfels, C. (1890). Über Gestaltqualitäten. Vierteljahrsschrift für wissenschafliche Philosophie, 14, 249-292. Wertheimer, M. (1912). Experimentelle Studien über das Sehen von Bewegung. Zeitschrift für Psychologie, 61, 161-265. Wertheimer, M. (1923). Untersuchungen zur Lehre der Gestalt, II. Psychologische Forschung, 4, 301-350. Wikipedia