Gestalt Theory
Affective theories rest on the concepts of self-awareness and experiencing feelings. For example, Gestalt theory approaches the role of the counselor as if a director of a play. The psychology writers at Paper Masters can explain Gestalt theory in a research paper that covers many of the items you see listed below. Have your project custom written too to ensure you receive just what you need.
Gestalt theory lends itself to today's practice of a systems approach to teaching and learning. A fundamental characteristic of a systems approach is to bring together many complex ideas systematically to form a whole idea. He notes that, "many circumstances in many disciplines ranging from business to education use this holistic approach in studying problems because it orients thinking in a way conducive to problem solving". Thus Gestalt theory assists in taking in the whole experience of an individual and applying new ways of working out problems.
Overview of Gestalt Theory and its Relation to Psychology and Counseling
Gestalt counseling theory suggests that individuals are self-regulating and inclined toward growth. Gestalt theory can augment family systems theory by suggesting that families as a whole are also self-regulating and growth inclined. In relation to Gestalt therapy, family systems also takes a comprehensive approach to considering the family-much like Gestalt's consideration of the human being as a whole. By looking at the family system as a distinct and complete organism, family systems theory shares Gestalt's attitude toward the individual and takes it to a different level.
While Gestalt therapy encourages self-awareness within the individual, family systems therapy encourages that same type of awareness to be fostered within and applied to the family as a whole. By viewing the family as a distinct and whole mechanism, family systems therapy helps to identify those areas in which the system is failing to thrive or causing outright system failure.
Perceptual constancies refer to a quality of wholeness or completeness in perceptual experiences that does not vary even when the actual sensory elements change. In other words, if we look at an apple we see a round red fruit. If you take the apple away, blindfold the same person and let them smell the apple they will still see the same apple; despite the fact that the sensory data has changed.
According to Gestalt theory, the primary brain process in perception is not a collection of separate activities; rather, the brain is a dynamic system in which all elements activate at a given time and interact.Experiments in perceptual constancies have noted several elements that are associated with the Gestalt theory: proximity, continuity, similarity, closure, simplicity, figure/ground. All of these activities activate to give a person an image of an object no matter what sense is employed.
How to Write a Gestalt Theory Research Paper
To successfully write a research project on Gestalt Theory, you will be expected to:
- Familiarize and increase knowledge of concepts, principles, assumptions, and theories of counseling by reviewing Gestalt Theory and identifying major concepts through application.
- Critique research and evaluation methods applicable to Gestalt Theory in light of methods of practice of psychotherapy.
- Examine multicultural perspectives in relation to Gestalt Theory in counseling.
- Facilitate the process of developing a personal philosophy and theory of counseling using the concepts of Gestalt Theory.
Overview of Gestalt Theory:
Many learning theorists believed that organisms add organization. Gestalt Theory maintain that humans' perception is constructed into organized wholes, or Gestalten, and that these wholes should be the building blocks of the field of psychology. The popular slogan, "the whole is more than the sum of it's parts," is criticized by an author who argues that this statement misinterprets the meaning of Gestalt theory. He states that Gestalt, in German, means organized structure, global configuration, and organism. Gestalt theory by nature does not allow for the study of elements, but rather takes into account the whole that consists of elements. At the time that Gestalt theory was devised, the founders distanced themselves from other whole psychology theories, which were being considered in Germany. They made an effort to remain anti-atomism. This can only be understood by considering the state of psychology at the time.