Deck 14: Gesalt Psychology

Question 1

While studying learning at Tenerife,Köhler's research subjects were

A)humans
B)chimpanzees
C)gorillas
D)bonobos

Answer 1

chimpanzees

Question 2

Who believed that a search for a one-to-one correspondence between a sensory event and a mental event was doomed to failure?

A)Kant
B)the Gestaltists
C)Locke
D)both Kant and the Gestaltists

Answer 2

both Kant and the Gestaltists

Question 3

For the Gestaltists,the proper subject matter for psychology was ____,or mental experience as it occurred to the naïve observer.

A)operant behavior
B)S-R associations
C)mental elements
D)phenomenological experience

Answer 3

phenomenological experience

Question 4

Mach demonstrated that:

A)there was a one-to-one correspondence between an environmental stimulus and the mental event it created
B)perception was independent of any particular cluster of sensory elements
C)psychology could never be a true science
D)only overt behavior could be studied objectively

Question 5

Who published the article,"Perception: An introduction to Gestalt-Theorie," which led to many believing that Gestalt psychology was only about perception?

A)Wertheimer
B)Koffka
C)Mach
D)Köhler

Question 6

The "phi phenomenon" investigated by Wertheimer was:

A)the observation of simultaneous sounds as one
B)the observation of different colors when observing a spinning series of lines
C)the observation of apparent movement
D)the observation of flashing lights as one light

Question 7

According to the Gestaltists,sensory information was transformed by ____ before it was experienced consciously.

A)fields of electrochemical activity in the brain
B)the categories of thought
C)the mind
D)the apperceptive mass

Question 8

Wertheimer found that if the interval between light flashes was about ____ ms,it appeared that one light was moving from one position to the other.

A)30
B)40
C)60
D)200

Question 9

Because of the influence of Carl Stumpf,____ and Gestalt psychology had much in common.

A)structuralism
B)act psychology
C)behaviorism
D)evolutionary theory

Question 10

The Gestaltists were opposed to any type of:

A)mentalism
B)elementism
C)introspection
D)analysis

Question 11

Gestalt psychology can be seen as an effort to model psychology after ____ instead of ____.

A)evolutionary theory;Newtonian physics
B)Newtonian physics;evolutionary theory
C)Newtonian physics;field theory
D)field theory;Newtonian physics

Question 12

Wertheimer demonstrated that explanations of apparent movement based on learning were not plausible by showing that:

A)very young children experienced apparent movement
B)the phi phenomenon occurred in two directions at the same time
C)primitive humans who had never experienced real movement still experienced apparent movement
D)even nonhuman animals experienced apparent movement

Question 13

Those who take the molar approach to studying behavior and/or psychological phenomena are called:

A)elementalists
B)functional analysts
C)materialists
D)holists

Question 14

Köhler criticized the representation of intelligence as an IQ score because:

A)doing so obscured important differences among mental abilities
B)doing so confused precise measurement with an understanding of what was being measured
C)such scores did not satisfactorily correlate with success in school
D)doing so obscured important differences among mental abilities and confused precise measurement with an understanding of what was being measured

Question 15

Which of the following observations by Wertheimer launched the school of Gestalt psychology?

A)our perceptions are more than,or different from,the sensations that make them up
B)humans are only quantitatively different from other animals
C)objective reality and subjective reality are really the same thing
D)introspection can be used to study the contents of the human mind

Question 16

Wertheimer was no doubt influenced by and took several courses from which of the following men?

A)Mach
B)Ehrenfels
C)Wundt
D)Stumpf

Question 17

In their explanation of apparent movement,Wundt and Helmholtz emphasized ____ though their descriptions were different.

A)learning
B)genetics
C)innate ideas
D)psychophysical isomorphism

Question 18

In the case of cognitive experience,the important point is that fields of brain activity ____ sensory data and give that data characteristics it otherwise would not possess.

A)create
B)synthesize
C)transform
D)destroy

Question 19

The term "Gestalt" means :

A)element
B)mental
C)configuration
D)psychology

Question 20

According to Köhler,patterns of brain activity and patterns of conscious experience are always structurally equivalent.This described the Gestalt concept of:

A)the law of Prägnanz
B)the constancy principle
C)unconscious inference
D)psychophysical isomorphism

Question 21

With their notion of psychophysical isomorphism,the Gestaltists opposed the:

A)law of Prägnanz
B)principle of inclusiveness
C)constancy hypothesis
D)principle of similarity

Question 22

Camouflage utilizes the Gestalt principle of:

A)continuity
B)proximity
C)closure
D)inclusiveness

Question 23

Köhler said that the brightness constancy existed because:

A)the ratio of the brightness of the figure to the brightness of the ground remained constant
B)of the constancy hypothesis
C)of learning
D)of unconscious inference

Question 24

When stimuli are close together,they tend to be grouped together as a perceptual unit.This exemplifies the Gestalt principle of:

A)continuity
B)proximity
C)similarity
D)closure

Question 25

The way we respond to objects as if they were the same,although the actual stimulation our senses receive may vary widely,was called:

A)unconscious inference
B)the constancy hypothesis
C)the law of Prägnanz
D)perceptual constancy

Question 26

For the Gestaltists,analysis of experience:

A)proceeds from the parts (bottom)to the whole (top)
B)is purely a physiological field analysis
C)must be broken down into its component parts
D)proceeds from the whole (top)to the parts (bottom)

Question 27

Insightful learning occurs

A)when the things necessary for a problem's solution are present
B)when incremental learning occurs
C)when an organism weighs all the options for problem solving through experience
D)after rote memorization has been successful

Question 28

Gestalt psychology's version of the transfer of training was called:

A)the identical-elements theory of transfer
B)the law of Prägnanz
C)transposition
D)the constancy hypothesis

Question 29

Because of the principle of ____,incomplete figures are seen as complete.

A)continuity
B)inclusiveness
C)closure
D)proximity

Question 30

By rejecting the constancy hypothesis,Gestaltists:

A)rejected the empirical philosophy on which structuralism,functionalism and behaviorism was based
B)instead used field theory in analyzing brain functioning
C)used a strict rationalistic approach to brain function
D)Both rejected the empirical philosophy on which structuralism,functionalism and behaviorism was based and instead used field theory in analyzing brain functioning

Question 31

According to the Gestaltists,when an organism was confronted with a problem,a ____ was set up and continued until the problem was solved.

A)cognitive map
B)behavioral environment
C)mental set
D)cognitive disequilibrium

Question 32

The behavioristic explanation of transposition offered by Spence emphasized:

A)the transferring of principles learned in one situation to other similar situations
B)productive thinking
C)the generalization of behavioral tendencies
D)cognitive trial and error and insightful learning

Question 33

The German word Prägnanz has no exact English counterpart but an approximation is

A)essence
B)best fit
C)completion
D)organized

Question 34

According to the Gestaltists,what governs brain activity is:

A)innate
B)learned
C)the invariant dynamics that govern all physical systems
D)very much like the animal spirits described by Descartes

Question 35

For Koffka,the ____ environment constituted the physical environment and the ____ environment constituted subjective reality.

A)geographical;behavioral
B)behavioral;geographical
C)neurophysiological;behavioral
D)transposed;geographical

Question 36

According to the Gestaltists' idea of transposition,if an animal is trained to approach a medium gray card and to avoid a black card,and then is presented with a medium gray card along with a white one,the animal will tend to:

A)approach the white card
B)avoid both cards
C)approach the medium grey card
D)approach both cards about 50% of the time

Question 37

The ____ asserts that all cognitive experiences will tend to be as organized,symmetrical,simple,and regular as they can be,given the pattern of brain activity at any given moment.

A)principle of inclusiveness
B)law of Prägnanz
C)constancy hypothesis
D)principle of continuity

Question 38

Insightful learning has several characteristics.Which one of the following is not one of the characteristics?

A)the transition from presolution to solution is sudden and complete
B)performance is usually smooth and free of errors
C)a solution gained by insight is retained for long periods of time.
D)a principle gained by insight is not readily applied to other problems

Question 39

Stimuli that seem to go in the same direction form a perceptual unit exemplifies which Gestalt principle?

A)continuity
B)proximity
C)similarity
D)closure

Question 40

The Gestaltists viewed the brain as

A)a passive receiver of sensory information
B)a storage center for memory
C)a dynamic configuration of forces that transforms sensory information
D)as processing information from the bottom up rather than top down

Question 41

According to the Zeigarrnik effect,when subjects were allowed to complete some tasks but not others,____.

A)the completed tasks were remembered better than the uncompleted tasks
B)the uncompleted tasks were remembered better than the completed tasks
C)neither completed not uncompleted tasks were remembered very well
D)complete and uncompleted tasks were remembered equally well

Question 42

In their research on group dynamics Lewin,Lippitt,and White found the ____ group to be highly productive and friendly.

A)laissez-faire
B)authoritarian
C)democratic
D)smallest

Question 43

Lewin's contention that only facts currently present on one's life space can influence a person's thinking and behavior is called:

A)a psychological fact
B)the principle of contemporaneity
C)the principle of contiguity
D)the Zeigarnik effect

Question 44

According to Lewin,____ believed that uniqueness (individual differences)was a distortion caused by external forces interfering with an organism's natural growth tendencies.

A)Galileo
B)Aristotle
C)Newton
D)Einstein

Question 45

Which type of conflict is most difficult to resolve?

A)approach-approach
B)avoidance-avoidance
C)approach-avoidance
D)all of these choices are equally difficult to resolve

Question 46

Lewin was the first to investigate conflict experimentally and described several types of conflicts - which one of the following is not one of the conflicts addressed in the text?

A)approach - approach conflict
B)avoidance - avoidance conflict
C)double approach - avoidance conflict
D)approach - avoidance conflict

Question 47

Like everything else they studied,the Gestaltists believed that memory was governed by:

A)the law of Prägnanz
B)psychological parallelism
C)the constancy hypothesis
D)the Zeignarnik effect

Question 48

In their research on group dynamics,Lewin,Lippitt,and White found the ____ group to be highly aggressive.

A)democratic
B)authoritarian
C)laissez-faire
D)largest

Question 49

Lewin distinguished between ____ explanation of natural events,which emphasized inner essences and categories,and ____ explanation of natural events,which emphasized external causation and dynamics of forces.

A)Newton's;Einstein's
B)Einstein's;Newton's
C)Aristotle's;Galileo's
D)Galileo's;Aristotle's

Question 50

Lewin believed that a person's life space consisted of:

A)objectively real facts
B)imagined facts
C)facts of which a person is unaware
D)both objectively real facts and imagined facts

Question 51

According to Lewin,a person's ____ consisted of all of the influences acting upon him or her at a given time.

A)apperceptive mass
B)essence
C)life space
D)hodological space

Question 52

All of the following was considered a positive contribution of Gestalt psychology except:

A)it moved psychology away from elementism
B)it demonstrated the organizational nature of perception
C)it demonstrated that introspection could not be used if psychology was to become an objective science
D)it opened new avenues of inquiry that have persisted in contemporary cognitive psychology

Question 53

Koffka believed that each environmental event we experienced gave rise to specific activity in the brain that he called ____,and a remnant of this is called a ____.

A)a memory process;memory trace
B)a memory trace;memory process
C)a memory process;trace system
D)memory engram;trace system

Question 54

Lewin called such intentions as wanting a car,wanting to go to college,or wanting to go to a party:

A)psychological needs
B)quasi-needs
C)Zeigarnik needs
D)both psychological needs and quasi-needs

Question 55

According to Lewin,a psychological fact was:

A)anything of which a person was aware at any given moment
B)something that could be proven beyond any doubt
C)nonexistent
D)anything that existed in the geographical environment

Question 56

According to Koffka,as adults,most of our conscious experiences are determined by:

A)memory processes
B)memory traces
C)trace systems
D)an interaction between memory processes and memory traces or trace systems

Question 57

In his book Productive Thinking,Wertheimer stated that the type of learning that occurred when mental associations,memorization,drill,and external reinforcement were employed was:

A)as important as any other type of learning
B)insightful
C)longer lasting than other types of learning
D)trivial

Question 58

According to Wertheimer,productive thinking occurred as the result of:

A)logical thinking
B)rote memorization
C)understanding
D)applying the laws of association

Question 59

When one has mixed feelings about one goal,what type of conflict is this?

A)approach - approach conflict
B)avoidance - avoidance conflict
C)double approach - avoidance conflict
D)approach - avoidance conflict

Question 60

In their research on group dynamics Lewin,Lippitt,and White found the ____ group to be least productive.

A)democratic
B)authoritarian
C)laissez-faire
D)smallest

Question 61

The person can change figure and ground in a situation by changing the focus of attention.

Question 62

Wertheimer called apparent movement the Prägnanz phenomenon.

Question 63

Wundt and Helmholtz emphasized learning in explaining the phi phenomenon.

Question 64

With isomorphism,the Gestaltists agreed with the consistency hypothesis.

Question 65

Describe the law of Prägnanz and how it was explained by the Gestaltists.

Question 66

If those things necessary to solve a problem are presented with the problem,insightful learning will often occur.

Question 67

Teams wearing different uniforms stand out in two separate groups on a field.This is an example of the principle of similarity.

Question 68

Briefly discuss the work of Lewin,including the concept of life space,motivation,and conflict.

Question 69

Using the molar approach in studying consciousness means concentrating on phenomenological experience.

Question 70

The conclusion Wertheimer reached about productive thinking and put in his book were based on personal experience,research,and observation of animals.

Question 71

Describe and discuss productive thinking and its application.

Question 72

For Kant and the Gestaltists,looking for one-to-one correspondence between sensory experience and conscious experience is doomed to failure.

Question 73

For Koffka,the behavioral environment is our objective physical environment.

Question 74

Köhler used so-called detour problems to study learning processes.

Question 75

Gestaltists explained perceptual constancies in terms of learning.

Question 76

Choose four of the perceptual "Gestalten" and describe each.

Question 77

Lewin's life space was all influences acting on a person at a given time.

Question 78

Koffka called a consolidation of a number of interrelated experiences a memory process.

Question 79

The tendency to remember uncompleted tasks better than completed tasks has been called the Zeigarnik effect.

Question 80

Describe the phi phenomenon and how it was explained by Wertheimer.