Gestalt
[guh-shtahlt, -shtawlt, -stahlt, -stawlt] /gəˈʃtɑlt, -ˈʃtɔlt, -ˈstɑlt, -ˈstɔlt/
noun, plural gestalts, gestalten
[guh-shtahl-tn, -shtawl-, -stahl-, -stawl-] /gəˈʃtɑl tn, -ˈʃtɔl-, -ˈstɑl-, -ˈstɔl-/ (Show IPA). (sometimes initial capital letter) Psychology.
1.
a configuration, pattern, or organized field having specific properties that cannot be derived from the summation of its component parts; a unified whole.
2.
an instance or example of such a unified whole.
/ɡəˈʃtælt/
noun (pl) -stalts, -stalten (-ˈʃtæltən)
1.
(sometimes not capital) a perceptual pattern or structure possessing qualities as a whole that cannot be described merely as a sum of its parts See also Gestalt psychology
1922, from German Gestaltqualität (1890, introduced by German philosopher Christian von Ehrenfels, 1859-1932), from German gestalt “shape, form, figure, configuration, appearance,” abstracted from ungestalt “deformity,” noun use of adj. ungestalt “misshapen,” from gestalt, obsolete past participle of stellen “to place, arrange” (see stall (n.1)). As a school of psychology, it was founded c.1912 by M Wertheimer, K. Koffka, W. Köhler.
gestalt ge·stalt or Ge·stalt (gə-shtält’, -shtôlt’, -stält’, -stôlt’)
n. pl. ge·stalts or ge·stalt·en (-shtält’n, -shtôlt’n, -stält’n, -stôlt’n)
A physical, biological, psychological, or symbolic configuration or pattern of elements so unified as a whole that its properties cannot be derived from a simple summation of its parts. Also called gestalt phenomenon.
Read Also:
- Gestalten
[guh-shtahlt, -shtawlt, -stahlt, -stawlt] /gəˈʃtɑlt, -ˈʃtɔlt, -ˈstɑlt, -ˈstɔlt/ noun, plural gestalts, gestalten [guh-shtahl-tn, -shtawl-, -stahl-, -stawl-] /gəˈʃtɑl tn, -ˈʃtɔl-, -ˈstɑl-, -ˈstɔl-/ (Show IPA). (sometimes initial capital letter) Psychology. 1. a configuration, pattern, or organized field having specific properties that cannot be derived from the summation of its component parts; a unified whole. 2. an instance […]
- Gestaltism
gestaltism ge·stalt·ism (gə-shtäl’tĭz’əm, -shtôl’-, -stäl’-, -stôl’-) n. The school or theory of psychology that emphasizes the wholeness and organized structure of every psychological, physiological, and behavioral experience, maintaining that experiences are not reducible and thus cannot be derived from a simple summation of perceptual elements such as sensation and response. Also called Gestalt psychology.
- Gestalt phenomenon
gestalt phenomenon n. See gestalt.
- Gestalt-psychology
noun 1. (sometimes lowercase) the theory or doctrine that physiological or psychological phenomena do not occur through the summation of individual elements, as reflexes or sensations, but through gestalts functioning separately or interrelatedly. noun 1. a system of thought, derived from experiments carried out by German psychologists, that regards all mental phenomena as being arranged […]
- Gestalt psychotherapy
noun 1. a therapy devised in the US in the 1960s in which patients are encouraged to concentrate on the immediate present and to express their true feelings