German psychologist Wolfgang Köhler: biography, achievements and interesting facts. German psychologist Wolfgang Köhler: biography, achievements and interesting facts Development theory of Wolfgang Köhler

Wolfgang Köhler (1887-1967) - German and American psychologist, one of the founders of Gestalt psychology. Doctor of Philosophy (University of Berlin, 1909).

V. Köhler also studied the features of the intellectual development of the individual, based on the search for patterns of creation of a gestalt in the human imagination. He believed that learning leads to education new structure and, therefore, to a different perception and awareness of the situation. The moment phenomena enter another situation, they acquire new feature. This awareness of new combinations and new functions of objects is, according to Koehler, the formation of a new gestalt, the awareness of which is the essence of thinking. Köhler called this process “gestalt restructuring” and believed that it occurs instantly and does not depend on the subject’s past experiences. In order to emphasize the instantaneous rather than long-term nature of thinking, Koehler gave this moment of restructuring the name “insight”, that is, illumination

Koehler conducted an experiment in which children were asked to reach a typewriter located high on a cabinet. In order to get it, it was necessary to use different objects - a ladder, a box, a chair. It turned out that if there was a staircase in the room, the children quickly solved the proposed problem. It was more difficult if you had to figure out how to use the box.

But the greatest difficulty was caused by the option when there were no other objects in the room except a chair, which had to be moved away from the table and used as a stand.

Köhler explained these results by the fact that the ladder is recognized from the very beginning functionally as an object that helps to reach something located high. Therefore, its inclusion in the gestalt with the closet does not present any difficulty for the child. The inclusion of the box already needs some rearrangement, since the box can be realized in several functions. As for the chair, the child is aware of it not on its own, but already included in another gestalt - with the table, with which it appears to the child as a single whole. Therefore, to solve this problem, children must first break the integral image “table - chair” into two, and then combine the chair with the cabinet into a new image, realizing its new functional role. M. Wertheimer, who studied the process, came to similar conclusions about the role of “insight” in the restructuring of past images creative thinking in children and adults.

The foregoing sheds light on a somewhat strange fact: the first programmatic work of Gestalt psychology, which belonged to Köhler, was devoted to the questions physical chemistry and was called “Physical Gestalts at Rest and Stationary State” (1920). The psychologist, who had previously studied acoustic sensations and animal psychology, turned to colloid chemistry not because of capricious changes in his professional interests. The Gestalt theory could not claim a serious role without natural scientific justification. That's why it starts with Köhler's book about physical gestalt. Köhler and his colleagues imagined that the Gestalt principle - uniform for different orders of phenomena - would make it possible to solve the psychophysical problem in a new way, bringing consciousness into line with the physical world and at the same time not depriving it of its independent value. This decision was expressed in the concept of “isomorphism”.

Isomorphism means that the elements and their relationships in one system correspond one-to-one to the elements and their relationships in another. The physiological and psychological systems, according to the Gestalt hypothesis, are isomorphic to each other (just as topographic map corresponds to the terrain).

V. Köhler proved that when an intellectual task is successfully solved, the situation as a whole is seen and transformed into a gestalt, which changes the nature of adaptive reactions. Köhler's research expanded the scope of ideas about the nature of skills and new forms of behavior in humans and animals. Köhler also studied the phenomenon of transposition, which is based on the body’s reactions not to individual, isolated stimuli, but to their relationship. He believed that psychological knowledge should be modeled on physical knowledge, since processes in consciousness and the body are both material system are in a one-to-one correspondence (isomorphism). Guided by this idea, Köhler extended the concept of Gestalt to the brain. This prompted his followers to postulate the presence of electric fields in the brain that serve as a correlate of mental gestalts in the perception of external objects.

Wolfgang Köhler was born on January 21, 1887 in Estonia, in Reval (Tallinn), in the family of a school director and a housewife. His childhood was spent in Germany. He also began studying at one of the German schools.

Köhler received an excellent education at the universities of Tübingen, Bonn and Berlin. In 1909, when Wolfgang was 22 years old, he received a PhD in psychology from the University of Berlin and headed the Institute of Psychology in Berlin until 1935.

Start scientific activity Köhler also falls on 1909. In the period from 1913 to 1920, Wolfgang Köhler from the Prussian Academy of Sciences headed research work to study the behavior of great apes on the island of Tenerife. At the end of his observations, Wolfgang wrote the book “Study of the Intelligence of Apes” (1917), in which he experimentally proved in experiments on animals the role of insight as a principle of organizing behavior. According to Koehler, with the successful solution of an intellectual task, a vision of the situation as a whole occurs and its transformation into gestalt (the word “gestalt” translated from German language means form, image or structure), due to which the nature of adaptive reactions changes. Köhler's research expanded the scope of ideas about the nature of skills and new forms of behavior in humans and animals.

Upon returning from the island and completing his research, Wolfgang Köhler in 1920 assumed the duties of director of the Institute of Psychology at the University of Berlin. In 1922, after a series of brilliant experiments on chimpanzee perception and intelligence that brought him international recognition, he was appointed director of the Institute of Psychology at the University of Berlin.

At this institute, Köhler continued research based on the Gestalt theory and in 1929 published the work “Gestalt Psychology” - a manifesto of the school of Gestalt psychology, which he created together with Kurt Koffka and Max Wertheimer.

Together with Wertheimer and Koffka, Wolfgang made a huge contribution to the basis of a new progressive teaching, which later became known as Gestalt psychology. Psychologists developing this area have laid a solid foundation for the consideration of the theory of perception. The discovery and research of the laws of integrity and structure received different assessments from critics, but over time, society nevertheless accepted and approved them.

The concept of Gestalt itself has received fundamental development in Köhler's works published in 1920 and 1940. In them, Köhler drew attention to the striking similarities between certain aspects of field physics and phenomena of perceptual organization. He pointed to examples of functional wholes in physics that cannot be considered as sets of individual parts. There are macroscopic physical states that tend to develop towards equilibrium and towards maximum regularity.

When Köhler helped found Gestalt psychology in 1920, he reworked the axioms of Georg Müller (1897) according to new concepts of non-analytic dynamics. It was he who proposed the term “isomorphism” to describe these psychoneurological relationships, and it was he and his colleagues who made this concept so important for Gestalt psychology that in their works it is not always possible to distinguish which field is being talked about, the phenomenological one or the corresponding brain one. But Köhler spoke quite clearly: the relationship between them is of a topological order, and not of identity in size and shape.

Köhler made a fundamental amendment to the concept of cortical processes, so he considered the visual area as an electrolyte. In his opinion, the processes in it occur according to the physical laws of self-distribution, and not in accordance with the microanatomical structure of neural networks. Local regions of excitation are surrounded by fields that represent these states in environment, and interact with other similarly represented areas of excitation. On this basis, Köhler hypothesized that there are physiological processes that are patterns of physiochemical gestalts, and these are correlates of phenomenological gestalts.

Hidden in such reasoning is the assumption of psychophysical isomorphism, that is, the assumption that brain processes have certain structural features, similar to the structural qualities of organized experience. Isomorphism does not mean metric, but topological correspondence. It is assumed that processes in the brain repeat the original relationships of symmetry, proximity, contiguity, but do not preserve the exact sizes and angles of the figures projected onto the retina.

This formulation differs from the widely accepted view that phenomenological and physiological fields are not particularly similar, although they are related to each other. The postulate of isomorphism is intended to become a heuristic guide for researchers. This is how Köhler found a general explanation for neurophysiological and psychological facts in the field of physical phenomena

In his 1938 book The Role of Values ​​in the World of Facts, in the chapter “Beyond Phenomenology,” he writes: “Our intention is not to limit this study questions of phenomenological descriptions.” Although Köhler notes that “all questions related to fundamental principles can only be resolved on a phenomenological basis,” he expresses a desire to overcome pure phenomena, to turn to “transphenomenal reality”: “It is generally accepted that physical nature has a transphenomenal existence. Regardless of what our epistemological beliefs are, we must comprehend, moving away from pure phenomenology, all the natural sciences, such as physics, chemistry, geology and biology.

Discussing the phenomenon of memory, Köhler writes: “There is only one part of nature which, as modern knowledge shows, could in this case be in close contact with phenomenological data. This part of nature is usually called brain activity."

In 1935, Köhler resigned in protest against Nazi interference in the affairs of the university and emigrated to the United States. In 1955 he became a fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University, and in 1958 he became a professor of psychology at Dartmouth College. Koehler died in Enfield (New Hampshire) on June 11, 1967.

Born on January 21, 1887 in Estonia, in Reval (Tallinn), in the family of a school director and a housewife. His childhood was spent in Germany. He also began studying at one of the German schools. Köhler received an excellent education at the universities of Tübingen, Bonn and Berlin. In 1909, when Wolfgang was 22 years old, he received a PhD in psychology from the University of Berlin and headed the Institute of Psychology in Berlin until 1935. The beginning of Köhler's scientific work also dates back to 1909. Between 1913 and 1920, Wolfgang Köhler from the Prussian Academy of Sciences led research work on the behavior of great apes on the island of Tenerife. At the end of his observations, Wolfgang wrote the book Study of the Intelligence of Apes (1917), in which he experimentally proved in experiments on animals the role of insight as a principle of organizing behavior. According to Koehler, when an intellectual task is successfully solved, the situation as a whole is seen and transformed into gestalt (the word gestalt in German means form, image or structure), due to which the nature of adaptive reactions changes. Köhler's research expanded the scope of ideas about the nature of skills and new forms of behavior in humans and animals. Upon returning from the island and completing his research, Wolfgang Köhler in 1920 assumed the duties of director of the Institute of Psychology at the University of Berlin. In 1922, after a series of brilliant experiments on chimpanzee perception and intelligence that brought him international recognition, he was appointed director of the Institute of Psychology at the University of Berlin. At this institute, Köhler continued research based on the Gestalt theory and in 1929 published Gestalt Psychology, a manifesto of the school he created together with Kurt Koffka and Max Wertheimer. Together with Wertheimer and Koffka, Wolfgang made a huge contribution to the basis of a new progressive teaching, which later became known as Gestalt psychology. Psychologists developing this area have laid a solid foundation for the consideration of the theory of perception. The discovery and research of the laws of integrity and structure received different assessments from critics, but over time, society nevertheless accepted and approved them. The concept of Gestalt itself received fundamental development in the works of Köhler, published in 1920 and 1940. In them, Köhler drew attention to the striking similarities between certain aspects of field physics and phenomena of perceptual organization. He pointed to examples of functional wholes in physics that cannot be considered as sets of individual parts. There are macroscopic physical states that tend to develop towards equilibrium and towards maximum regularity. When Köhler helped found Gestalt psychology in 1920, he reworked the axioms of Georg Müller (1897) according to new concepts of non-analytic dynamics. It was he who proposed the term isomorphism to describe these psychoneurological relationships, and it was he and his colleagues who made this concept so important for Gestalt psychology that in their works it is not always possible to distinguish which field is being talked about: the phenomenological or the corresponding cerebral one. But Köhler spoke quite clearly: the relationship between them is of a topological order, and not of identity in size and shape. Köhler made a fundamental amendment to the concept of cortical processes: thus, he considered the visual area as an electrolyte. In his opinion, the processes in it occur according to the physical laws of self-distribution, and not in accordance with the microanatomical structure of neural networks. Local regions of excitation are surrounded by fields that represent these states in the environment, and interact with other similarly represented regions of excitation. On this basis, Köhler hypothesized that there are physiological processes that are patterns of physiochemical gestalts, and these are correlates of phenomenological gestalts. Implicit in such reasoning is the assumption of psychophysical isomorphism, that is, the assumption that brain processes have certain structural features similar to the structural qualities of organized experience. Isomorphism does not mean metric, but topological correspondence. It is assumed that processes in the brain repeat the original relationships of symmetry, proximity, contiguity, but do not preserve the exact sizes and angles of the figures projected onto the retina. This formulation differs from the widely accepted view that phenomenological and physiological fields are not particularly similar, although they are related to each other. The postulate of isomorphism is intended to become a heuristic guide for researchers. It was in this way that Köhler found a general explanation for neurophysiological and psychological facts in the field of physical phenomena. In his 1938 book The Role of Values ​​in the World of Facts, in the chapter Beyond Phenomenology, he writes: It is not our intention to limit this study to questions of phenomenological descriptions. Although Köhler notes that all questions related to fundamental principles can only be resolved on a phenomenological basis, he expresses the desire to overcome pure phenomena, to turn to transphenomenal reality: It is generally accepted that physical nature has a transphenomenal existence... Regardless of what our epistemological beliefs, we must comprehend, moving away from pure phenomenology, all the natural sciences, such as physics, chemistry, geology and biology. Discussing the phenomenon of memory, Köhler writes: There is only one part of nature which, as modern knowledge shows, could in this case be in close contact with phenomenological data. This part of nature is usually called brain activity. In 1935, Köhler resigned in protest against Nazi interference in the affairs of the university and emigrated to the United States. In 1955 he became a fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University, and in 1958 he became a professor of psychology at Dartmouth College. Koehler died in Enfield (New Hampshire) on June 11, 1967.

Wolfgang Köhler born on January 21, 1887 in Estonia, in Reval (Tallinn), in the family of a school director and a housewife. His childhood was spent in Germany. He also began studying at one of the German schools. Köhler received an excellent education at the universities of Tübingen, Bonn and Berlin. In 1909, when Wolfgang was 22 years old, he received a PhD in psychology from the University of Berlin and headed the Institute of Psychology in Berlin until 1935. The beginning of Köhler's scientific work also dates back to 1909. Between 1913 and 1920, Wolfgang Köhler from the Prussian Academy of Sciences led research work on the behavior of great apes on the island of Tenerife. At the end of his observations, Wolfgang wrote the book “A Study of the Intelligence of Apes” (1917). In 1922, after a series of brilliant experiments on chimpanzee perception and intelligence that brought international recognition to Wolfgang Köhler, he was appointed director of the Institute of Psychology at the University of Berlin. At this institute, Köhler continued research based on the Gestalt theory and in 1929 published the work “Gestalt Psychology” - a manifesto of the school of Gestalt psychology, which he created together with Kurt Koffka and. In 1938, Koehler wrote the book “The Role of Values ​​in the World of Facts.” In 1935, Koehler resigned in protest against Nazi interference in the affairs of the university and emigrated to the United States. In 1955 he became a fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University, and in 1958 he became a professor of psychology at Dartmouth College. Koehler died in Enfield (New Hampshire) on June 11, 1967.

Basic principles of Wolfgang Köhler's theory

Köhler's first works devoted to the study of chimpanzee intelligence led him to his most significant discovery - the discovery of insight. Based on the fact that intellectual behavior is aimed at solving a problem, Koehler created situations in which the experimental animal had to find workarounds to achieve the goal. The operations that the monkeys performed to solve the problem were called two-phase, since they consisted of two parts. In the first part, the monkey had to use one tool to get another, which was necessary to solve the problem (for example, using a short stick that was in a cage, get a long one located at some distance from the cage). In the second part, the resulting tool was used to achieve the desired goal, for example, to obtain a banana located far from the monkey.

The experiment was supposed to help understand how the problem is solved - whether a blind search occurs the right decision(by trial and error) or the monkey achieves the goal thanks to a spontaneous grasp of relationships, understanding. Köhler's experiments proved that the thought process follows the second path, i.e. there is an instant grasp of the situation and the correct solution to the task. Explaining the phenomenon of insight, he argued that the moment phenomena enter another situation, they acquire a new function. The combination of objects in new combinations associated with their new functions leads to the formation of a new gestalt, the awareness of which is the essence of thinking.

Köhler conducted a series of experiments to study the thinking process in children. He presented the children with a problem situation similar to the one presented to the monkeys, for example, they were asked to get a typewriter that was located high on a cabinet. To achieve the goal, the children included a ladder in the gestalt with a closet; if there was no ladder, other objects were used: drawers, a table with a chair.

Köhler believed that mental development associated with the transition from grasping the general situation to its differentiation and the formation of a new, more adequate gestalt to the situation. Köhler's experiments proved the instantaneous, rather than extended in time, nature of thinking, which is based on insight.

(Wolfgang Köhler, 1887-1967) - German and American psychologist, one of the founders of Gestalt psychology. In the 1910s, while working at the anthropoid station of the Prussian Academy of Sciences (on the island of Tenerife), he studied thinking in chimpanzees and concluded that the understanding of animal thinking in behaviorism as solving problems through blind trial and error was inconsistent (see. Trial and error method) and the presence of intellectual (productive) behavior in apes (in some cases and in animals at an earlier phylogenetic stage). Having analyzed the conditions for monkeys to solve productive problems, he concluded that such a solution should be based on the formation of a “good gestalt” in the animal’s visual field (see. Insight).

Later, while working on general psychological issues, he came to the conclusion that there are integral structures (gestalts) not only in consciousness, but also in physiology and the physical world, and therefore, when solving a psychophysiological problem, he shared the concept of anti-localizationism.

K.’s ideas about the existence of a fundamental commonality in the structure of integral structures in various fields reality played a certain role in the formation systematic approach in psychology. Having emigrated to the USA (1935), K. continued research on the problem of the electrophysiological foundations of the formation of gestalts in consciousness. Recipient of the award “For Outstanding Contribution to Science” by Amer. Psychological Association (1956), was president of this association. (E.E. Sokolova)

Psychological Dictionary. A.V. Petrovsky M.G. Yaroshevsky

(1887–1967) - German-American psychologist, one of the leaders of Gestalt psychology. He experimentally proved in experiments on animals (“Study of the Intelligence of Apes,” 1917) the role of insight as a principle of organizing behavior. According to K., with the successful solution of an intellectual task, a vision of the situation as a whole occurs and its transformation into gestalt, due to which the nature of adaptive reactions changes.

Köhler Wolfgang's research expanded the scope of ideas about the nature of skills and new forms of behavior in humans and animals. K. was studying the phenomenon of transposition, which is based on the body’s reactions not to individual, isolated stimuli, but to their relationship. He believed that psychological knowledge should be modeled on physical knowledge, since the processes in consciousness and the body as a material system are in one-to-one correspondence (isomorphism). Guided by this idea, he extended the concept of gestalt to the brain. This prompted K.'s followers to postulate the presence of electric fields in the brain that serve as a correlate of mental gestalts in the perception of external objects.

Literature

• 1913 Uber unbemerkte Empfindungen und Urteilstauschungen (Unnoticed feelings and misjudgements). Zeitschrift für Psychologie, 66, 51-80.
• 1917 Intelligenzprufung an Menschenaffen. (The mentality of apes, English translation, Harcourt Brace, 1925.)
• 1920 Die physischen Gestalten in Ruhe und im stationären Zustand: eine naturphilosophische Untersuchung
• 1929 Gestalt Psychology. Liveright (rev. edn, 1947).
• 1938 The Place of Value in a World of Facts. Liveright.
• 1958 The present situation in brain physiology. American Psychologist, 13,150-154.
• 1965 Unsolved problems in the field of figurative after-effects. Psychological Record, 15, 63-83.
• 1969 The Task of Gestalt Psychology. Princeton University Press.

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