Principles of Gestalt Psychology

733 Pages·1936·39.181 MB·English

by  Kurt Koffka

Principles of
Gestalt Psychology
BY K. KOFFKA
PROFESSOR OF P‘YCIIOLOGY
SMITH COLLLGE
LOVDOV
KEUAN PAUL. TRI‘N’FH. TRUB‘N‘FR 5: (30..LTD
New York:I Hanourt, Brace and Company
1936
PRINTED IV T111: UNITED STATES 01 AM]RICA
To
KBHLER
WOLFGANG
AND
MAX wan-mum
INGRATITUDE
INSPIRATEOI
FOR THEIR FRIENDSHIP AND

CONTENTS
I. WHY PSYCHOLOGY? 3
u. BEHAVIOUR AND ITS FIELD: THE TASK 0F PSYCHOLOGY 24
’III. THE ENVIRONMENTAL FIELD: THE PROBLEM. REFUTATION
0F FALSE SOLUTIONS. GENERAL FORMULATION OF THE
69
TRUE SOLUTION
IV. THE ENVIRONMENTAL FIELD: VISUAL ORGANIZATION AND
106
ITS LAWS
"V’.
THE ENVIRONMENTAL FIELD: I-IGURE AND GROUND. THE
FRAMEWORK I77
VI. THE ENVIRONMENTAL FIELD: THE CONSTANCIES 211
VII. THEENVIRONMENTAL IIELD: TRI-DIMENSIONAL SPACEAND
265
MOTION
VIII. ACTION: REFLEXES; THEEGO; TI-IF EXECUTIVE
IX. ACTION: ADJUSTEDBEHAVIOUR, A'I'I‘ITUDESI, EMOTIONS,AND
368
THI‘. WILL
X. MEMORY: FOUNDATION OF A TRACE THEORY. THEORETICAL
SECTION 423
XI. MEMORY: FOUNDATION OF A TRACE THEORY. EXPERI-
MENTAL SECTION AND COMPLETION OF THE THEORY
XII. LEARNING AND OTHER MEMORY FUNCTIONS—I 529
_
x111. LEARNING AND OTHER MEMORY FUNCTIONS-II 59I
PERSOI‘fiLITY
XIV. SOCIETY AND 648
XV. CONCLUSION
687
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX 703

PREFACE
Thepurpose of thisbook hasbeen stated in the introductory and
the final chapters. Therefore this preface can be brief. I conceived
the plan of writing a book on gestalt psychology when after five
years of pure research work I had to resume the work of teaching.
Itseemedtome tobethebest way of systematizingmy own knowl-
edge if I presented it in book form. The final result has not been
quite the book I had in my mind when I began to write the first
pages. I hoped that I could produce a work which would appeal to
a wider circle of readers than that of the trained psychologists, and
which would at the sametime contain enough concrete material to
interest the more technical reader. To myself, and to some of my
friends, I formulated this idea by saying that I planned a book
which Would have a position intermediate between KOhler’s “Ge-
stalt Psychology” and an ordinary text—book. I am afraid that all
that has survived of this conception is that the book is neither the
onenor the other.
In my original plan I intended to give as systematic a presenta-
tion of psychology asI wascapableof doing.And to this part of my
programme I have clung with a determination which to some
readers may at times appear pedantic.By this’I mean not complete-
ness but consistency.I wanted to bring order into the great mass of
facts discovered by modern psychology, by formulating clear-cut
problems, showing their interrelationships, offering possible Solu—
tions, and exposing the gaps which these solutions leave unfilled.
If I wanted to present a system of psychology, it was not a dead
or finished system,but a sy5tem in themaking, a system in the state
of growth.From this point of view I divided the field and selected
my material. My treatment, long as it has become, leaves out a
great number of facts, many of them surely of great significance.
But some selection there had to be, and although every selection is
toSomeextent arbitraryanddependingupon theperson whoselects,
I have tried to choose my material with regard to the contribution
it could make tomy general plan. That I have drawn largely from
gestalt literature isjustified by the title which indicates my concept
found
of systematization.1In rereading thebook I someparts much
1The greater part of this literature is in German and for this reason not easily
accessible to English and American readers. In order to lift this barrierdo their
becoming famlII-II’ with the original literature Dr. W. D. Ellis is preparing a book
in which he hag assembled the condensed translations of some forty German books
ix
X PREFACE
more difficult than others.Thisis especially true of the treatment of
the perceptual constancies contained in the sixth chapter. These
constancies contain some of the major problems of today’s experi-
mental research and reveal in my opinion the power of the leading
essential
conceptsof this book. But their discussion is not absolutely
to the development of thesystem asa whole.Thereader who is not
sufficiently interested in them may therefore skip the sixth chapter
without losing the thread of the general argument.
After saying what I intended the book to be I may add a few
words in explanation of what it is not meant tobe.In the first place
it has no wish to be dogmatic.It lays before the reader a theory in
agreat number of applications,but it is for the reader tojudge how
effectivethis theory is. It would alsobe wrong to look at this book
as the “authentic presentation of gestalt theory.” for there is no
such thing. I have done nothing that any psychologist could not
have done equally well or better. had he wished to do so.The gen-
eral theoretical equipment and all the factswere available to every-
body. There exists no “secret of the guild” which would giveme or
other members of the so-called “gestalt school” a special standing.
And therefore thebook has to be judged not only as a “gestalt psy-
chology,”but also as a psychology.
Furthermore, the book does not want to be polemical except in
an entirely impersonal way which should appear throughout its
pages and is explicitly mentioned in the concluding chapter. Nat-
urally, in order to establish a certain explanation of phenomena
other explanationshad tobe ruled out.In many places such explana-
tions have been presented in a form made up by myself in sueh a
way as to give them the greatest plausibility. At times, however, it
was expedient to quote from individual authors.2 In these cases per-
sonal polemics were as far from my mind as in the others. I have
chosen my opponents because of the value of their contributions; it
would have seemed unfair to me to disregard their arguments, and
often enough the criticism of their Opinions has helped me in the
development of my own hypotheses.
In conclusionit ismeet to expressmy obligation to those without
whose direct orindirect help this book could not have been written.
Everybody knows, and my text reveals it in every chapter, what I
owe to thetwo friends to whom I have dedicated it.Ever sincethe
winter semester of 1910—11, when we three worked together at
and articles on gestalt pswhology covering the period from 1915-1929:This col-
lection, to be published In the near future, Will be of great help t.o the student of
gestalt psychology.
2All references In the text refer to the bibliography appended at the end.
PREFACE Xi
Frankfort on theMain, I have been guided by their creative ideas.
I was sorely tempted to add to my dedication the quotation from
Faust which Hermann Ebbinghaus inscribed on the page on which
he dedicated his Grundziige to Gustav Theodor Fechner, and only
myreluctancetoplagiarizinghasprevented mefrom doingso.Iowe
a great debt of gratitude to President W. A. Neilson and to Smith
College,first for appointing me Research Professor and thus grant—
ing me five full years in which supported by president and faculty
I could devote all my effortsto pure research, and then making my
load of teaching so easy that I could within little over two years
write this book, thus utilizing the result of my five years' experi-
menting and thinking. I thank my students who patiently listened
to these chapters as they were composed, and contributed by a
number of well chosen criticisms, and my colleagues with whom
some of the problems were discussed in seminar talks. Another
colleague of mine, though not a psychologist, Professor W. A.
Orton, has read a good third of the book, suggesting several valu—
able changes; he has also been of inestimable help in revising the
final galleys. Dr.Julian Blackburn of the University of Cambridge,
who spent six months with me as a Rockefeller Fellow, read the
whole typescript and drew my attention to many places where the
argument was not clear or lacked consistency. To my colleague
at the Massachusetts State Collcge, Dr. W. D. Ellis, I am indebted
for his painstaking work in revising the prtofs. But of all I have
received the most active help from my former student, Dr. M. R.
Harrower.Toher not onlythe author,but alsothereader, isgreatly
indebted. In scanning every line of the typescript and the proofs
with the greatest care she thought constantly both of the content
and of the reader. In many hours of discussion she made me re-
formulate a number of passages so that they carried meaning not
only to myself but also to those who might take the trouble of
studyingthe back. It isalso due to her skill that the English of the
text is as correct as it is.
I believethat psychology has entered aperiod of rapid and healthy
progress so that this work will soon be antiquated in many parts.
If it contributes even a small share'to such progress, I shall feel
rewarded for the labour it cost me to write it.
K. KOFFKA
Smith College
Northampton, Mass.
February, 1935
CHAPTER I
WHY PSYCHOLOGY?
An Introductory Question.Facts and Theories. Seiencc andthe Sciences.Seicnccand
Conduct.The Dangtr of SLICIICC. SLILnCt. as Discipline. Function of Science. Special
Function of Psychology. Nature, Life, Mind. Integration of Quantity, Order, and
Meaning. The Common Principle in the Preceding Discussion. Generality of the
Gestalt Category.Why Psycholog)P
AN INTRODUCTORY QUESTION
When I first conceived the plan of writing this book I guessed,
though I did not know, how much elIort it would cost to carry
it out,and what demands it would put on a potential reader. And I
doubted, not rhetorically but very honestly and Sincerely, whether
such labour on the part of the author and the reader was justified.
I was not somuch troubled by the idea of writing anotherbook on
psychology in addition to the many books which have appeared
during the last ten years, as by the idea of writing a book on
psychology. Writing a book for publication is a social act. Is one
justified in demanding co-operation of sociuy for such an enter-
prise? What good cansociety,or a smallfractionof it,at best derive
from it? I tried to give an answer to this question, and when now,
afterhaving completed thebook,I return to this first chapter,I find
that the answer which then gave me sufficient courage to start on
my long journey, has stayed With me to the end. I believed I had
found a reason why a book on psychology might do some good.
Psychology has split up into so many branches and schools, either
ignoringor fighting each other,that even an outsider may have the
impression—surely strengthened by the publications “Psychologies
of 1925” and “Psychologies of 1930”—thatthe plural “psychologies”
shouldbe substituted for the Singularb
Psychology has been pampered in the United States, where for
many years it has enjoyed great popularity, though it seems to me
that itsfortuneshave somewhat ebbcd and may be ebbingmore; in
England, the land of conservative change, it found for a long time
as cold a welcome as any other loud and startling innovation, but
has gradually gained ground and is, in my belief, still gaining; in
Germany, where experimental psychology was born and had at
3