Gestalt psychology

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.

Gestalt psychology

noun

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

gestalt psychology

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.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Gestalt psychology¹

First recorded in 1920–25

Example Sentences

Extending their finding to principles of Gestalt psychology, the authors cite our common inherent “need” to finish a task once it is started. 

From Scientific American