1. Max Wertheimer By Rachel Smith

2. Background Born April 15, 1880 to Wilhelm and Rosa Wertheimer in Prague. Wilhelm was a Teacher and a Director at a commercial school. Rosa was an amateur pianist and dramatist. Max participated in discussions of activities at school and invented computational devices and a bookkeeping machine Wrote poetry and preformed music. Died October 12, 1943

3. Accomplishments Published paper 1912: Experimental Studies of the Perception of Movement” Escaped a troubled Germany and came to the USA in 1933 because Hitler became the Dictator and proclaimed the Third Reich and opened the first concentration camp. His best known book Productive Thinking was published by his son Michael Wertheimer before Max’s death His Doctorial research involved the invention of a lie detector (1904)

4. Colleges 1900 Studied law at Charles University 1901 University of Berlin 1903 University of Wurzburg 1910 University of Frankfurt

5. Gestalt Theory What is Gestalt mean? an organized whole that is perceived as more than the sum of its parts  What is the Gestalt Theory?  Theory that emphasizes higher order cognitive processes in the midst of behaviorism and is concerned with problem solving and the idea of grouping  Has 4 basic principles and 6 laws

6. Gestalt Theory Basic Points Principal 1. Figure Ground There is only one image here, and yet, by changing nothing but our attitude, we can see two different things. This has to do with background and foreground. Looking at the black as foreground you see a vase. If you look at the black as a background you can see two faces.

7. Gestalt Theory Basic Points Principle 2 Memory: If you experience something that doesn’t quite make sense to you, you will tend to remember it as having meaning that may not have been there. A good example is dreams: Watch yourself the next time you tell someone a dream and see if you don’t notice yourself modifying the dream a little to force it to make sense.

8. Gestalt Theory Basic Points Principle 3 Relations We often learn not by literal things in front of us but by the relations that we see between things. Chickens can be made to peck at the lighter of two gray swatches. When they are then presented with another two swatches, one of which is the lighter of the two preceding swatches, and the other a swatch that is even lighter, they will peck not at the one they pecked at before, but at the lighter one. So even Chickens understands the idea of relative lightness and darkness. Chickens can be made to peck at the lighter of two gray swatches. When they are then presented with another two swatches, one of which is the lighter of the two preceding swatches, and the other a swatch that is even lighter, they will peck not at the one they pecked at before, but at the lighter one. So even Chickens understands the idea of relative lightness and darkness.

9. Gestalt Theory Basic Points Principle 4 Insight Learning. Insight learning is solving a problem by means of the recognition of a gestalt or organizing principle. A similar example involved a five year old girl, presented with a geometry problem way over her head: How do you figure the area of a parallelogram? She considered, then excitedly asked for a pair of scissors. She cut off a triangle from one end, and moved it around to the other side, turning the parallelogram into a simple rectangle. Wertheimer called this productive thinking. The idea behind both of these examples, and much of the gestalt explanation of things, is that the world of our experiencing is meaningfully organized, to one degree or another. When we learn or solve problems, we are essentially recognizing meaning that is there, in the experience, for the “dis-covering.”

10. Gestalt Theory Basic Points 5 Laws 1. Law of Pragnanz. We are innately driven to experience things in as good a gestalt as possible. “Good” can mean many things here, such a regular, orderly, simplicity, symmetry, and so on, which then refer to specific gestalt laws. For example, a set of dots outlining the shape of a star is likely to be perceived as a star, not as a set of dots. We tend to complete the figure, make it the way it “should” be, finish it. Like we somehow manage to see this as a "B"...

11. Gestalt Theory Basic Points 2. Law of Closure. If something is missing in an otherwise complete figure, we will tend to add it. A triangle with a small part missing, will still be seen as a triangle. We will “close” the gap.

12. Gestalt Theory Basic Points 3. Law of Similarity. We will tend to group similar items together, to see them as forming a gestalt, within a larger form. Here is a simple typographic example: OXXXXXXXXXX XOXXXXXXXXX XXOXXXXXXXX XXXOXXXXXXX XXXXOXXXXXX XXXXXOXXXXX XXXXXXOXXXX XXXXXXXOXXX XXXXXXXXOXX XXXXXXXXXOX XXXXXXXXXXO It is natural for us to see the o’s as a line within a field of x’s.

13. Gestalt Theory Basic Points 4. Law of Proximity. Things that are close together as seen as belonging together. For example... ****************************************** You are much more likely to see three lines of close-together *’s than 14 vertical collections of 3 *’s each.

14. Gestalt Theory Basic Points 5. Law of Symmetry. [ ][ ][ ] Despite the pressure of proximity to group the brackets nearest each other together, symmetry overwhelms our perception and makes us see them as pairs of symmetrical brackets

15. Gestalt Theory Basic Points 6. Law of Continuity When we can see a line, for example, as continuing through another line, rather than stopping and starting, we will do so, as in this example, which we see as composed of two lines, not as a combination of two angles..

16. How It Works How this would work in a classroom is you would use the Insight Learning. Have the students look for patterns or ways to regroup the problem to have it make sense to them. Like in the little girls case with the parallelogram.

17. How It Works Marlena: I think Max would recognize her thought of the pattern of using multiples of four to subtract from 156. Although I think he would tell her that there is a simpler way. Darrell: I think Max would do backflips over his work. He would see the relations Darrell made of the groupings of 20, 5, 10 and 1 for each person. I think he would love it.

18. Works Cited "Gestalt Psychology." Gestalt Psychology. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Sept. 2014. "Gestalt Theory (Wertheimer)." Gestalt Theory. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Sept. 2014. "Wertheimer, Max." International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. 1968, "Max Wertheimer." Encyclopedia of World Biography. 2004, "Wertheimer, Max." Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology. 2001, "Wertheimer, Max." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th Ed.. 2014, and "Wertheimer, Max." World Encyclopedia. 2005. "Wertheimer, Max." Encyclopedia.com. HighBeam Research, 01 Jan. 1968. Web. 23 Sept. 2014.

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