the school of psychology that emphasized the organization of perceptual
Gestalt psychology Gestalt psychology or gestaltism (German: Gestalt [ɡəˈʃtalt] "shape, form") is a philosophy of mind of the Berlin School of experimental psychology. Gestalt psychology is an attempt to understand the laws behind the ability to acquire and maintain meaningful perceptions in an apparently chaotic world. The central principle of gestalt psychology is that the mind forms a global whole with self-organizing tendencies. The assumed physiological mechanisms on which Gestalt theory rests are poorly defined and support for their existence is lacking.[1][2] The Gestalt theory of perception has been criticized as being descriptive of the end products of perception without providing much insight into the processes that lead to perception.[2] In the introduction to a 2016 special issue of the journal Vision Research on Gestalt perception, the authors concluded that "even though they study the same phenomena as earlier Gestaltists, there is little theoretical coherence. What happened to the Gestalt school that always aspired to provide a unified vision of psychology? Perhaps there is, in fact, little that holds the classic phenomena of Gestalt psychology together."[3]
Operant conditioning B.F. Skinner (1904â€“1990) is often referred to as the father of operant conditioning, and his work is frequently cited in connection with this topic. His book "The Behavior of Organisms",[5] published in 1938, initiated his lifelong study of operant conditioning and its application to human and animal behavior. Following the ideas of Ernst Mach, Skinner rejected Thorndike's reference to unobservable mental states such as satisfaction, building his analysis on observable behavior and its equally observable consequences.[6]