Page 238 - Understanding Psychology

PRINCIPLES OF PERCEPTUAL ORGANIZATION
Through the process of perception, the brain is always trying to comprehend the confusion of stimuli that bombard the senses. The brain makes sense of the world by creating whole structures out of bits and pieces of information in the environment. Each whole that is organized by the brain is called a Gestalt. Here, the whole is more than the sum of the parts. (Gestalt is a German word meaning “pattern” or “configuration.”)
Gestalt psychologists have tried to identify the principles the brain uses in constructing perceptions (Koffka, 1963). Some of the principles they have discovered are demonstrated in Figure 8.12. For example, people tend to see dots in patterns and groups. Principles that people use in organizing such patterns are proximity, continuity, similarity, simplicity, and closure. If the elements of the pattern are close to one another or are simi- lar in appearance, they tend to be perceived as belonging to one another.
The Gestalt principles of organization help explain how we group our sensations and fill in gaps to make sense of our world. In music, for instance, you tend to group notes on the basis of their closeness, or prox- imity, to one another in time—you hear melodies, not single notes. Similarity and continuity are also important. They allow you to follow the
Gestalt: the experience that comes from organizing bits and pieces of information into meaningful wholes
Figure 8.12 Gestalt Principles
Humans see patterns and groupings in their environment rather than disorganized arrays of bits and pieces. Why do we use the principles of organization illustrated here?
Proximity
When we see a number of similar objects, we tend to perceive them as groups or sets of those that are close to each other.
Similarity
When similar and dissimilar objects are mingled, we see the similar objects as groups.
Simplicity
We see the simplest shapes possible.
Closure
When we see a familiar pattern or shape with some missing parts, we fill in the gaps.
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Continuity
We tend to see continuous patterns, not disrupted ones.
C
B
A
Two curves or two pointed shapes?
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D
We see a star instead of five Vs.
224 Chapter 8 / Sensation and Perception