Gestalt Theory of Learning
Table of Contents
Introduction
Psychologists have examined the learning process of the child thoroughly and have developed some theories on the basis of these examinations.
According to Thorndike, children learns through ‘Trial and Error’. Behaviourists described ‘Conditioning’ as the only way of learning. It is with the help of ‘Conditioning’ the child learns the basic habits like learning the Language, taking food and studying at a particular time etc. For example, by uttering the word ‘Ma’ or ‘Mom’, the child gets response from his mother. By getting repeated response from mother, the word ‘Ma’ or ‘Mom’ becomes conditioned with the image of his/her mother. In the same way, some activities which depend on the movements of different parts of the body like swimming, riding bicycle etc can be learned through ‘Trial and Error’. That means, by ‘Trial and Error’, the child learns correct way of doing that activity. Thus, it can be concluded that through “Trail and Error’ and ‘Conditioning’, the child learns something mechanically.
But his mental ability also helps the child to learn something new.
‘INSIGHT’ is one way of such learning. Insight is an intelligent search for problem-solving. Gestalt psychologists are of the opinion that it is ‘Insight’ which helps the children to learn.
Gestalt
Gestalt is a German noun for which there is no English equivalent. The nearest English translation of Gestalt is ‘Configuration’ or ‘Organised Whole’.
German Psychologists are popularly known as Gestalt Psychologists.
Gestalt psychologists are of the opinion that it is ‘Insight’ which helps the children to learn.
Gestaltist’s View on Learning
Gestaltists considers the process of learning to be ‘gestalt’ – ‘an Organised Whole’. The basic idea is that a thing cannot be understood by study of its constituent parts but only by the study of it as a totality or whole.
Gestalt psychologists are of the opinion that it is ‘Insight’ which helps the child to learn.
Insight
Insight is an intelligent search for problem solving. In this type of learning, when the child faces a problematic situation, he goes through the process of discrimination and generalisation and suddenly gets ‘Insight’ or ‘clue’ to solve the problem.
Experiments done by Kohler
Kohler (1925), the first one to use the word “insight’, had conducted many experiments on Chimpanzees, which demonstrated learning by ‘Insight’.
Experiment 1
In one experiment, Kohler put the chimpanzee, Sultan, inside a cage and a banana was hung from the roof of the cage. A box was placed inside the cage. The chimpanzee tried to reach the banana by jumping but could not succeed. Suddenly, he got an idea and used the box as a jumping platform by placing it just below the hanging banana.
Experiment 2
In another experiment, Kohler made this problem more difficult and two or three boxes were required to reach the banana. Moreover, the placing of one box on the other required different specific arrangements.
Experiment 3
In a more complicated experiment, a banana was placed outside the cage of the chimpanzee. Two sticks, one longer than the other, were placed inside the cage. One was hollow at one end so that the other stick could be thrust into it to form a longer stick. The banana was so kept that it could not be picked up by any one of the stick. The chimpanzee first tried to reach out to the banana with these sticks one after the other but failed. Suddenly, the animal had bright idea and he joined the two sides together and reached the banana.
Sultan, the chimpanzee solved all the problems. In the same experiment other chimpanzees solved the problems only when they saw Sultan solving them.
Outcome of the Experiments
These experiments demonstrated the role of intelligence and cognitive abilities in higher learning such as problem solving.
The learner (here, chimpanzee) reacts intelligently by –
- identifying the problem ( as a whole),
- organising their perceptual field,
- using ‘Insight’ (for solution)
Thus, once the situation is perceived as a whole and the perceptual field is properly organised, a problem becomes solvable through flashes of Insight.
Theory of Insightful Learning
Gestalt psychologists interpreted learning as a purposive, exploratory and creative enterprise. A learner, while learning, always perceives the situation as a whole (idea of grouping) and after seeing and evaluating the different relationships, takes the proper decision – intelligently through Insight.
[A] Primary factors that determine the ‘Idea of Grouping’ are –
- Proximity – Elements tend to be grouped together according to their nearness.
- Similarity – Items similar in some respect to be grouped together.
- Closure – Items are grouped together if they tend to complete some entity.
- Simplicity – Items tend to be organised into simple figures according to symmetry, regularity and smoothness.
[B] Factors that help in Evaluating the different relationships and get an Insight depends upon –
- Experience – Past experience help in the insightful solution of the problem.
- Intelligence – Insightful solution depends upon the basic intelligence of the learner. The more intelligent the individual, the greater will his Insight.
- Initial Efforts – The initial efforts in the form of simple trial and error mechanism opens way for the Insightful learning.
- Repeatition and Generalisation – After obtaining an insightful solution of a particular type of problem, the individual tries to implement it in another situation, demanding similar type of solution. The solution found in one situation helps him to react insightfully in other identical situations.
Summing Up
It can be said that the greatest contribution of Gestalt psychology is its emphasis on understanding, on the perception of relationships and on showing concern for the ‘whole’. It condemns the role of spoon feeding and rote memorisation.
