Examines the role Gestalt Psychology has played in the years leading up to the cognitive revolution. The text discusses the historical relationships connecting behaviourism, Gestalt Psychology and the development of cognitive psychology, and outlines the principles of Gestalt Psychology.

The ideas of Max Wertheimer (1880-1943), a founder of Gestalt theory, are discussed in almost all general books on the history of psychology and in most introductory textbooks on psychology. This intellectual biography of Wertheimer is the first book-length treatment of a scholar whose ideas are recognized as of central importance to fields as varied as social psychology, cognitive neuroscience, problem solving, art, and visual neuroscience. King and Wertheimer trace the origins of Gestalt thought, demonstrating its continuing importance in fifteen chapters and several supplements to these chapters. They begin by reviewing Wertheimer's ancestry, family, childhood in central Europe, and his formal education. They elaborate on his activities during the period in which he developed the ideas that were later to become central to Gestalt psychology, documenting the formal emergence of this school of thought and tracing its development during World War I. The maturation of the Gestalt school at the University of Berlin during 1922-1929 is discussed in detail. Wertheimer's everyday life in America during his last decade is well documented, based in part on his son's recollections. The early reception of Gestalt theory in the United States is examined, with extensive references to articles in professional journals and periodicals. Wertheimer's relationships and interaction with three prominent psychologists of the time, Edwin Boring, Clark Hull, and Alexander Luria, are discussed based on previously unpublished correspondence. The final chapters discuss Wertheimer's essays on democracy, freedom, ethics, and truth, and detail personal challenges Wertheimer faced during his last years. His major work, published after his death, is Productive Thinking. Its reception is examined, and a concluding chapter considers recent responses to Max Wertheimer and Gestalt theory. This intellectual biography will be of interest to psychologists and readers inte

XVI Psychologists have, however, shown that what we are primarily aware of is not a succession of sense-data but figures-ground phenomena: Wittgenstein's ambiguous duck-rabbit is merely one such example. They have also drawn our attention to the existence of tertiary qualities in perception, such as 'symmetry' and 'elegance' which are just as directly given as are the perceived colours red, green or yellow. It is interesting to note that Merleau-Ponty has made considerable use of Gestalt ideas in his Phenomenology of Perception. One of the commonest reasons given by linguistic philosophers for not making direct use of the results of psychological research (although philosophers are usually willing to accept the first-hand results of physical science) is that philosophical accounts of perception and thinking are concerned with analysing the language in which these reports are made; that is to say, they are second-order enquiries. Often this approach is still more restricted and ordinary linguistic usage is taken as the yardstick against which questions relating to thought and perception are to be measured. The task of the philosopher is then con fined to the analysis of ordinary language. If he is more adventurous, as some writers on philosophical psychology are, he might go on to show how far the language used by psychological researchers falls short of the paradigms of common sense.

This collection of essays demonstrates the usefulness of looking at cinema with the analytical methods provided by art theory. "The Visual Turn" is a dialogue between art historians and film theorists from the silent period to the aftermath of World War II.

The basic idea of the particular way of understanding mental phenomena that has inspired the "cognitive revolution" is that, as a result of certain relatively recent intellectual and technological innovations, informed theorists now possess a more powerfully insightful comparison or model for mind than was available to any thinkers in the past. The model in question is that of software, or the list of rules for input, output, and internal transformations by which we determine and control the workings of a computing machine's hardware. Although this comparison and its many implications have dominated work in the philosophy, psychology, and neurobiology of mind since the end of the Second World War, it now shows increasing signs of losing its once virtually unquestioned preeminence. Thus we now face the question of whether it is possible to repair and save this model by means of relatively inessential "tinkering", or whether we must reconceive it fundamentally and replace it with something different. In this book, twenty-eight leading scholars from diverse fields of "cognitive science"-linguistics, psychology, neurophysiology, and philosophy- present their latest, carefully considered judgements about what they think will be the future course of this intellectual movement, that in many respects has been a watershed in our contemporary struggles to comprehend that which is crucially significant about human beings. Jerome Bruner, Noam Chomsky, Margaret Boden, Ulric Neisser, Rom Harre, Merlin Donald, among others, have all written chapters in a non-technical style that can be enjoyed and understood by an inter-disciplinary audience of psychologists, philosophers, anthropologists, linguists, and cognitive scientists alike.

Arnheim, Gestalt and Art is the first book-length discussion of the powerful thinking of the psychologist of art, Rudolf Arnheim. Written as a complete overview of Arnheim’s thinking, it covers fundamental issues of the importance of psychological discussion of the arts, the status of gestalt psychology, the various sense modalities and media, and developmental issues. By proceeding in a direction from general to specific and then proceeding through dynamic processes as they unfold in time (creativity, development, etc.), the book discovers an unappreciated unity to Arnheim’s thinking. Not content to simply summarize Arnheim’s theory, however, Arnheim, Art, and Gestalt goes on to enrich (and occasionally question) Arnheim’s findings with the contemporary results of gestalt-theoretical research from around the world, but especially in Italy and Germany. The result is a workable overview of the psychology of art with bridges built to contemporary research, making Arnheim’s approach living and sustainable.

Cognitive science has been dominated by a model of mental phenomena based on software--or the rules for input, output, organization, and functioning employed by a computer--which is now showing signs of losing its preeminence. In this book 28 leading scholars from diverse fields carefully consider what that think will be the future course for this intellectual movement.

Goldststein, Koffka, Khler, Lewin and Wertheimer were scientists who, at the turn of the 20th century, founded the gestalt approach in psychology. Fritz Perls (1944) recognized the potential of the gestalt approach in psychotherapy and founded what is now the widespread system of gestalt therapy. Perls understanding of gestalt theory was broadened by Zinker with recognition of stages of development of each gestalt so that what is now termed the Cleveland cycle of experience was recognized. Ray Edwards has proposed two innovations. First, it is shown that completion and grounding of the gestalt cycle of events facilitates re-energization of depressed people. Second, attention to Gendlins felt-senses, aided by use of David Groves clean subset of language, facilitates freeing post-trauma patients from the effect of recurrent nightmares and/or fl ash-backs. The relevant felt-senses are termed proto-fi gures and are usually phenomena like butterfl ies in the stomach, lumps in the stomach or throat and/or clouds are hanging over me. This present book sets these innovations in full historical context and reveals the gestalt system to be scientific in character. Malcolm Parlett, Ph,D. First Editor of the British Gestalt Journal commented on an earlier version of this book This is a thought-provoking read, a quirky and vividly argued alternative version of gestalt therapy that challenges most of the assumptions of contemporary Gestalt psychotherapy and will send many a reader fl ying to a computer to type a rebuttal. But Ray Edwards book is defi nitely worth a look at, not least for its acerbic criticisms and references to our past traditions. I recommend the self-published manuscript by an impressive maverick octagenarian gestalt thinker with strong opinions, complete with its copious spelling errors and other forgiveable selfi ndulgences.

An essential reference work for any student studying psychology for the first time, A Student's Dictionary of Psychology and Neuroscience (Seventh Edition) provides over 2,500 definitions of complex concepts in clear and accessible language alongside helpful diagrams. The dictionary offers comprehensive coverage of the main contemporary terms in psychology and neuroscience. This new edition features updated references which will be particularly relevant to the key areas of neuroscience and neuropsychology and also to recent concepts of psychological significance, such as expanded coverage of research methods, internet psychology, cognitive psychology and social psychology. The dictionary also features end material with useful notes for constructing student essays as well as key references and a list of common abbreviations. Extensive cross-referencing allows students to follow up and identify further details of a given topic, and mini-biographies of key psychologists help to provide relevant context. A Student's Dictionary of Psychology and Neuroscience is the perfect accompaniment for any student newly encountering this fascinating subject, those taking related disciplines in the health or social sciences, or professionals wanting to familiarise themselves with key terms and ideas.