Gestalt psychology

American  

noun

1. (sometimes lowercase) the theory or doctrine that physiological or psychological phenomena do not occur through the summation of individual elements, as reflexes or sensations, but through gestalts functioning separately or interrelatedly.

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Gestalt psychology British  

noun

1. a system of thought, derived from experiments carried out by German psychologists, that regards all mental phenomena as being arranged in Gestalts

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gestalt psychology Cultural  

1. A type of psychology based on the study of a subject's responses to integrated wholes, rather than to separate experiences. Gestalt (a German word meaning “form”) also refers to any structure or pattern in which the whole has properties different from those of its parts; for example, the beauty of a musical melody does not depend on individual notes as such, but rather on the whole continuous tune.

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Etymology

Origin of Gestalt psychology

First recorded in 1920–25

Example Sentences

Spending most of his youth in Camberwell, London, Lutz returned to Munich in 1954, where he studied Philosophy, taking a particular interest in Gestalt psychology and Psychodrama.

From Slate • Aug. 23, 2018

This test was invented by German psychologist Wolfgang Köhler, one of the founders of Gestalt psychology, in 1929.

From Slate • Sep. 21, 2014

One of DeSisto's basic ideas is not unique to Gestalt psychology: that all youngsters, not just troubled ones, need structure and responsibility to get through adolescence.

From Time Magazine Archive