Gestalt
Gestalt is an approach that emphasizes that humans perceive phenomena as wholes, not merely the sum of separate parts.
Definition
Gestalt psychology arose as a reaction to breaking down experience into isolated elements. Its central intuition is that perception organizes stimuli into meaningful arrangements, patterns and figures. In development work, gestalt thinking helps to ask not only "what is an element", but also "what arrangement the elements create together".
Key ideas
Missing key ideas.
Practice and life
For a problem, list the elements and then draw them as a system of dependencies. Ask what changes when you look at the big picture.
Common misunderstanding
It is a mistake to use the word Gestalt as a blanket label for anything "holistic". This is a specific psychological tradition, particularly important in the study of perception.
Questions for self-reflection
No questions for self-reflection.
Sources
No sources.