The Psychology Book (51 page)

the information-processing model

could provide a more effective

that our thoughts and actions are

to memory opened up the field,

therapy—and that it was more

determined by the make-up of our

making memory an important area

amenable to objective scrutiny. The

brains, and that they are like other

of study for cognitive psychologists,

cognitive therapy he advocated,

inherited characteristics: subject

including Endel Tulving, Elizabeth

later incorporating elements of

to the laws of natural selection. ■

160

INSTINCT IS

A DYNAMIC

PATTERN

WOLFGANG KOHLER (1887–1967)

IN CONTEXT

If a chimp tries to solve

…it pauses and

APPROACH

a problem using
trial and

considers the problem
,

Gestalt psychology

error
, but fails…

taking into account

everything around it…

BEFORE

1890
Austrian philosopher

Christian von Ehrenfels

introduces the concept

of Gestalt in his book,

It then applies this solution

… until it reaches an

On the Qualities of Form
.

to
similar problems

insight
that leads

in the future.

to a solution.

1912
Max Wertheimer

publishes
Experimental

Studies of the Perception

of Movement
, a landmark

in Gestalt psychology.

This pattern of insight-

Instinct is a

learning is
active
,

AFTER

not passive.

dynamic pattern.

1920s
Edward Tolman brings

together ideas from Gestalt

and behaviorist psychology in

his purposive behaviorism

Gestalt psychology (not to be

(now cognitive behaviorism).

confused with Gestalt therapy,

1935
Psychology of

I
n the late 19th century, a group

of German psychologists who

disagreed with the prevailing

a much later development) took

schools of thought developed a new,

Productive Thinking
by Karl

as its starting point the idea that

scientific, and distinctly holistic

concepts such as perception,

Duncker—a German Gestalt

approach, which they called Gestalt.

learning, and cognition should be

psychologist—describes

Wolfgang Köhler, who founded the

considered as wholes, not studied

experiments in problem-

new movement along with Max

by investigating their various parts.

solving and mental

Wertheimer and Kurt Koffka,

Köhler thought the dominant

restructuring.

explained that the word means

branch of psychology, behaviorism,

both “pattern” and, when applied to

was too simplistic and overlooked

their theory, “organized whole.”

the dynamic nature of perception.

COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY 161

See also:
Ivan Pavlov 60–61 ■ Edward Thorndike 62–65 ■ Edward

Tolman 72–73 ■ Max Wertheimer 335

behavior showed a cognitive trial-

and-error process rather than an

actual one; they were solving the

problem in their minds first, and

only after an insight (the “aha”

moment) tried out their solution.

This is contrary to the behaviorist

view that learning is conditioned

by response to a stimulus, and

reinforced by reward. The chimps

learned by perceiving the problem,

Wolfgang Köhler

Köhler studied chimpanzees
solving

not by receiving rewards.

task-related problems. He realized they

This was a demonstration

Wolfgang Köhler was born in

could actively perceive several possible

Estonia, but his family returned

of Köhler’s dynamic model of

solutions before finding the answer

to their native Germany soon

behavior, involving organization

through a moment of insight.

after his birth. He studied at

within perception, rather than

various colleges before

passive learning through response

completing a PhD in Berlin.

Pavlov and Thorndike claimed that

to rewards. The pattern (Gestalt)

In 1909, he and Kurt Koffka

animals learn by trial and error

of learning by insight—failure,

worked with Max Wertheimer

through simple stimulus–response

pause, perception, insight, and

at the Frankfurt Academy on

conditioning, but Köhler believed

attempt—is an active one; but

his perception experiments;

they were capable of insight and

this is not necessarily apparent to

these formed the basis of

intelligence. He was able to put this

someone watching the chimps’

Gestalt psychology.

to the test when he became director

separate attempts to solve the

In 1913, Köhler became

of an anthropoid research center on

problem, mainly because it is not

director of the Prussian

Tenerife from 1913–20, where he

possible to see the organization of

Academy of Sciences research

studied chimpanzees tackling a

perception in the chimp’s mind.

station in Tenerife, where he

number of problem-solving tasks.

What we call instinct, the

became stranded at the start

of World War I, remaining

apparently automatic response to

there until 1920. On his return

Insightful learning

solving a problem, is affected by this

to Berlin, he served as director

What Köhler observed confirmed his

process of insight learning, and is

of the Psychological Institute

belief, and also demonstrated that

itself an active, dynamic pattern. ■

until 1935, when he emigrated

problem-solving and learning could

to the US to escape the Nazi

be explained in terms of Gestalt.

regime. He taught at several

When faced with a problem, such as

US colleges, and was elected

how to reach food in an inaccessible

president of the American

place, the chimpanzees were

Psychological Association for

frustrated in their initial attempts,

1959. Ulric Neisser described

but would then pause and apparently

Insight has the appearance

him as “a genuinely creative

take stock of the situation before

of a complete solution with

thinker as well as a person of

attempting some kind of solution.

reference to the whole

great dignity and honor.”

This often involved using tools—

layout of the field.

Key works

such as sticks or crates that were

Wolfgang Köhler

lying around in their play area—to

1917
The Mentality of Apes

reach the food. When subsequently

1929
Gestalt Psychology

faced with the same problem, they

1938
The Place of Values in

instantly applied the same solution.

a World of Facts

Köhler concluded that the chimps’

162

INTERRUPTION OF A TASK

GREATLY IMPROVES

ITS CHANCES OF

BEING REMEMBERED

BLUMA ZEIGARNIK (1901–1988)

IN CONTEXT

APPROACH

W
hile researching for her experiment in which participants

doctorate in Berlin,

were given simple puzzles or tasks

Russian psychologist

to do. They were interrupted during

Bluma Zeigarnik was told by her

about half these tasks. Later, when

Memory studies

professor, Kurt Lewin, that he had

asked how well they could remember

BEFORE

noticed waiters could recall details

the activities, it became clear that

of orders that were still not paid for

they were twice as likely to recall

1885
Hermann Ebbinghaus

better than details of orders they

details of the interrupted tasks,

publishes his pioneering book,

had completed. This led Zeigarnik

whether these were ultimately

Memory: A Contribution to

to wonder whether unfinished tasks

completed or not. Zeigarnik

Experimental Psychology
.

have a different status in memory,

reasoned that this could be due to

1890
William James in
The

and are remembered better, than

the task lacking closure, leading

Principles of Psychology
makes

finished ones. She devised an

to the memory being stored

the distinction between

differently, and more effectively.

primary (short-term) and

This phenomenon, which

secondary (long-term) memory.

became known as the “Zeigarnik

effect,” had important implications.

AFTER

Zeigarnik proposed that students,

1956
George Armitage Miller’s

especially children, retained more

The Magical Number Seven,

if they had frequent breaks while

Plus or Minus Two
revives

studying. But little notice was

interest in the study of memory.

taken of her ideas until memory

once again became a key subject

1966
Jerome Bruner stresses

for research in the 1950s. Since

the importance of organization

then, Zeigarnik’s theory has been

and categorization in the

accepted as a major step in the

learning process.

The “Zeigarnik effect”
can be

understanding of memory, and

demonstrated by the fact that a waiter

1972
Endel Tulving

has found practical application

is more likely to remember details of

distinguishes between

an order that has not yet been paid for,

not only in education but also in

episodic memory (of specific

than one that has been completed.

advertising and the media. ■

events) and semantic memory

(of factual information unrelated

See also:
Hermann Ebbinghaus 48–49 ■ Jerome Bruner 164–65 ■ George to an event or situation).

Armitage Miller 168–73 ■ Endel Tulving 186–91 ■ Daniel Schacter 208–09