Wertheimer

||<  || Productive Thinking ||<   || ||<  || ||<   || Gestalt theory has a cental idea of "grouping", or aspects of visual and other stimuli which cause the subject to interpret a problem or perceptual event in a certain way. Grouping included (1) proximity, elements that are close in space tend to be grouped together and perceived as one or few objects, (2) similarity, items that have some similar characteristic to be grouped, (3) closure, elements which appear to complete some shape or object tend to be grouped, and (4) simplicity, the tendency to organiza objects into simple figures, e.g. "Laws of Organization". Productive thinking process: (1) Grouping and reorganizing componenets of a situation. (2) Functioning in relation to characterstics of the whole rather than piecemeal. (3) Avoids summing successions of parts or chance occurences. (4) Structural truth leads to sensible expectations and assumptions. In Wertheimer's model, genuine thinking starts wtih a problem. The structural features and requirements of the problem cause tension, the strain of which produces vectors that cause the individual to modify the situation in an improved direction. The process of resolving a problem is to proceed from a bad gestalt to a better one. ||<  || ||<   ||
 * Theorist: Max Wertheimer - 1880-1943 ||<  ||
 * [[image:Wertheimer.jpg width="56" height="80"]]
 * Theory: Gestalt Learning Theory, Cognitivist
 * Timeline: Worked with Wolfgang Kohler and Kurt Koffka from 1910-1914 developing the fundamental concepts of Gestalt theory. Served as professor of psychology at the University of Frankfurt from 1919-1933. Migrated to the United States in 1933. In 1943, finished work on "productive thinking". ||<  ||
 * Description: Wertheimer's ideas featured the view that thinking proceeds from the whole to the parts, viewing a problem as a whole, and permitting the whole to command or dominate over the parts. His was a synthesis approach (e.g. chunking up to more inclusive concepts), rather than an analytical approach (chunking down to details). Wertheimer thought reductionism was a fundamental problem of his time and he was particularly interested in the nature of problem-solving.
 * Major Works: Gestalt Theory and Productive Thinking Process ||<  ||

Learning Transfer: problem-solving, how to achieve a goal, devising a method for transforming a problem from its current state into a desired state when a solution is not immediately obvious, how to manage one's time, case studies, solving an arithmetic word problem, conducting experiments to determine validity of a scientific theory, inventing a new approach to solving a problem ||<  ||