Gestalt
pronunciation
How to pronounce Gestalt in British English:
UK [ɡə'ʃtælt]
How to pronounce Gestalt in American English:
US [ɡə'ʃtælt]
-
- Noun:
- a configuration or pattern of elements so unified as a whole that it cannot be described merely as a sum of its parts
Word Origin
- Gestalt (n.)
- 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 set, place, arrange" (see stall (n.1)). As a school of psychology, it was founded c. 1912 by M. Wertheimer, K. Koffka, W. Köhler.
Example
- 1. If you know of gestalt principles , then you 'll no doubt already know that our brains are wired to create symmetry and balance in the things we encounter .
- 2. Despite these individual features , babyface is a " gestalt " or whole that is easily recognizable by people .
- 3. Through gestalt ( our innate rules of visual perception ) , an additional 15 visual elements are added to the layout : the centerline , each background box , and each horizontal line .
- 4. In order to understand nlp , you really need to have a basic grasp of the theory behind gestalt therapy . Gestalt works on the assumption that people fill in information gaps .