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]
Psychology The word psychology derives from Greek roots meaning study of the psyche, or soul (ψυχή psukhē, "breath, spirit, soul" and -λογία -logia, "study of" or "research").[8] The Latin word psychologia was first used by the Croatian humanist and Latinist Marko Marulić in his book, Psichiologia de ratione animae humanae in the late 15th century or early 16th century.[9] The earliest known reference to the word psychology in English was by Steven Blankaart in 1694 in The Physical Dictionary which refers to "Anatomy, which treats the Body, and Psychology, which treats of the Soul."[10]