14、明清名医全书大成(万密斋医学全书-)_部分1.pdf

—CHAPTER 14
Gestalt Psychology
About the same time that the behaviorists were re- taken. Taking the molar approach in studying con-
belling against structuralism and functionalism in sciousness would mean concentrating on phenomeno-
the United States, a group of young German psy- logical experience (mental experience as it occurs to
chologists was rebelling against Wundt’s experimen- the naive observer without further analysis). The
tal program that featured a search for the elements of term phenomenon means “that which appears” or
consciousness. Whereas the focus of the behaviorists’“that which is given,” and so phenomenology, the
attack was the study of consciousness and the associ- technique used by the Gestaltists, is the study of that
ated method of introspection, the German protesters which naturally appears in consciousness. Taking the
focused their attack on Wundt’s elementism. Con- molar, or phenomenological, approach while study-
sciousness, said the German rebels, could not be re- ing behavior means concentrating on goal-directed
duced to elements without distorting the true mean- (purposive) behavior. We saw in the last chapter
ing of the conscious experience. For them the that, under the influence of Gestalt psychology, Tol-
investigation of conscious experience through the man chose to study this type of behavior. As we will
introspective method was an essential part of psy- see, the Gestaltists attempted to show that in every
chology, but the type of conscious experience Wundt aspect of psychology, it is more beneficial to concen-
and the . structuralists investigated was artificial. trate on wholes (Gestalten, plural of Gestalt) than on
These young psychologists believed that we do not parts (atoms, elements). Those taking a molar ap-
experience things in isolated pieces but in meaning- proach to the study of behavior or psychological phe-
ful, intact configurations. We do not see patches of nomena are called ho