Gestalt Psychology Paper
I am publishing here my paper on Gestalt psychology. This paper was written for the first module of my Biblical Counseling Training Enjoy.
In deciding what to do for my course paper I was searching the web for methodologies of psychology and ran across a list of options. Of course, being on brand for me, I notice the oddest name on the list which was Gestalt. After reading through the descriptions I realized that this could be a very interesting field to study and write my paper on. I think what interested me the most was that it seemed to be unique in the fields of study I looked at, and how it ties into modern graphic design, it felt like the right fit for me. Hopefully, as I conclude this paper I can sit back and enjoy the journey of writing this and bring you along with me.
What is Gestalt Psychology?
To understand Gestalt Psychology it’s important to understand what came before. The first real school of thought in Psychology was Structuralism.
Structuralism was the first school of psychology and focused on breaking down mental processes into the most basic components. Researchers tried to understand the basic elements of consciousness using a method known as introspection.
This school of thought led to many of the ideologies we have today, but where structuralism broke down things into its basic parts Gestalt did the opposite, it encourages the idea of looking at the greater rather than the lesser parts.
In a loose translation, the German word ‘Gestalt’ (pronounced “ge-shtalt”) means ‘configuration’, or ‘structure’. It makes a reference to the way individual components are structured by our perception as a psychical whole (Wulf, 1996).
The origin of Gestalt Psychology is credited to Max Wertheimer. Wertheimer’s observation of the phi phenomenon while watching alternating lights on a railway signal led him to conclude that we see things as a whole rather than in parts. The phi phenomenon is an optical illusion that is caused by two or more objects that create a sense of motion using alternating lights. We see this effect used in Christmas lights that appear to “chase”.
Other notable Psychologists that helped to popularize the field were Wolfgang Köhler who connected Gestalt psychology to the natural sciences. A part of his study included hearing and problem-solving in chimpanzees. Also credited with bringing Gestalt psychology to the United States after fleeing Germany during the rise of Nazism was Kurt Koffka. Koffka is considered the founder of the field and applied it to child psychology claiming that infants first understood the world holistically before learning to divide it into its parts. In his article Principles of Gestalt Psychology, published in 1935, he showed how the Gestalt Laws applied to motor action, learning and memory, personality and society.
Gestalt Laws of Perception
These principles are grounded in the idea that as humans we tend to try to bring order from chaos perceptually. Have you ever looked at a tile on the floor of a public bathroom and seen a face? It seems we are wired to notice patterns in the randomness of the patternless. This concept is what so many paranormal sightings end up being credited to. Evolutionists will claim that this is a survival trait that we developed to notice the minutest change in our environment that could lead to a threat. Of course, as believers in Christ, whether for survival or otherwise, we believe we have been designed in a way that allows us to perceive these things.
The Six Principles of Gestalt
There are six main principles of Gestalt psychology:
Prägnanz: This is often called the law of simplicity, which states that we will see a complicated image and our brain will simplify it into the most easily understood idea.
Similarity: This principle suggests that we group shapes or objects that share similarities.
Proximity: As the name would suggest, this principle says we group objects that are close together.
Common Region: This principle states that we group objects located in the same closed region.
Continuity: This principle shows shapes and objects that are positioned in a way that suggests lines, curves or planes.
Closure: This principle states that the human brain has a tendency to visually close gaps when seeing familiar images.
If you are reading this thinking that I’m writing a graphic design tutorial instead of a psychology paper I feel the same way. These concepts are used heavily in graphic and logo design today. Have you ever seen the arrow in the FedEx logo?
This is a great example of the principle of closure and maybe a little continuity.
So, how does this relate to psychology? I think that Koffka’s idea was that we tend to start with a broad view of the world and as we learn more and more we focus on simpler concepts. A focusing of perception in a way. I think that this is incorrect. In my experience, especially in the church, we tend to take simple ideas and make them more complex. Why? Because we are trying to justify our sins. An example of this would be that I like to have a drink occasionally. I like how it relaxes me and I enjoy the taste of beer and some mixed drinks, but there comes a point sometimes where I may want to have more than I should and I may say that the Bible says that we shouldn’t get drunk and so I rationalize that having a buzz isn’t being drunk yet how does God see this. I think it is valid for some to say that all drinking should be avoided. It keeps it simple and puts a hard line in the sand. Is that what the Bible teaches? I don’t think so, but if you are going to have a drink you must limit yourself. My conviction is that if I don’t think it is safe to drive, I’ve had too much. What the Bible teaches is simple, drunkenness is a sin. We have a clear line, but we as Christians with the flesh, want to justify our sinful behavior. This complicates the issue. It makes the lines vague and leads to more sin.
Gestalt Therapy
In the 1940s Fitz Perl and his wife Laura, who was trained in traditional psychoanalysis, became dissatisfied with certain Freudian theories and methods. So along with Paul Goodman developed a form of psychotherapy that was humanistic, and focused on the person and the uniqueness of their experience.
Perls applied Gestalt to human experience suggesting that a healthy person organizes their field of experience into needs to which they respond appropriately.
Gestalt therapy is said to help people suffering from anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, relationship difficulties, and physical difficulties such as migraine headaches, ulcerative colitis and back spasms.
Concepts of Gestalt Therapy
Self-Awareness - Perl claimed that people who are struggling with the things listed above are not aware of their senses, emotions, don’t have good recognition of their bodily sensations and had poor awareness of their environment. Perl stated that “awareness in itself is healing”.
‘Here and Now’ - The focus of Gestalt therapy is the present. The past has already happened and the future can only cause anxiety. If you are to overcome the current problem the past is only relevant as much as it affects the problem and the future has little to no effect on current issues.
Context is important - Gestalt therapists are taught that we are the sum of our experiences so we and they must accept that their experiences are valid.
Experience can influence perception - the therapist is to take a holistic view and understand that the patient’s experience is intricately linked to their perception.
Dealing with painful experiences - Painful experiences will come up during therapy and must be dealt with, but once dealt with should no longer be an issue.
The goals of Gestalt therapy are to have the patient concentrate on being present, increase self-awareness, take personal responsibility and increase self-regulation.
Critique of Gestalt Psychology
First I want to state that I chose this school of thought for the reasons listed above but I also love Gestalt design and after studying the concepts I was excited to see how the actual therapy faired, and it doesn’t fair well.
The evidence doesn’t show that this was ever a successful field of psychology. The treatments that they used as far as role-playing, confrontation, exaggeration or locating emotions all seem silly and pointless.
In the mirror of scripture, it’s easy to see the failures of focusing on self and focusing on the present. The Bible draws us to abandon self in exchange for being filled with the Holy Spirit. Gestalt also leaned into the ideas of relativism, where the individual’s experiences inform their needs, this is counter to Scripture as well. The fact that Gestalt puts so much focus on perception is also damning. There is one need and that is Christ and He can be approached from whatever your background or position in life is. That fact is that your position in Christ is all that matters.
The idea that the past and the future mean little in the face of the present doesn’t track with Scripture either. We look at the past to a degree to understand how far we’ve come but more importantly look to the future to know that we have hope in Christ and a future in the Kingdom.
Another point against Gestalt is that a painful experience once dealt with should no longer be an issue. I would wonder how successful therapists were with this approach. I have dealt with a lot of issues in my past and the enemy loves to remind me of my past. So things come back up and we need to be clothed with the armor of God to fight off the advances of the evil one.
This is yet another handful of spaghetti that the world has thrown against the wall to try and find solutions to life problems without turning to their creator.
In conclusion, I think it’s clear that Gestalt runs counter to the Bible. I did end up enjoying this study and in the end, I still love Gestalt design and the simplicity inside of the complex, and perhaps it makes for great comedy to watch an individual practicing the two-chair therapy, but there is no truth and no actual help for the patient.
The only true help anyone can receive comes from the one who so carefully molded and shaped us in our mother’s womb and put purpose to our lives. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.