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A school in
psychology that emphasizes the organized character of human experience and behavior.
Gestalt is a German word that means form, pattern, or configuration. Gestalt psychology
thus emphasizes the study of wholes or whole patterns. According to the theory, the
functioning of the parts of a whole is determined by the nature of the whole itself, and
the behavior of wholes or whole systems is such that they are inseparable in terms of
their function or functions. Gestalt theory attempts to organize human behavior in terms
of larger units of analysis, rather than small atomistic units. The larger units (wholes)
of Gestalt psychology are then related to their parts as well as to other wholes. Gestalt
psychology arose in opposition to associationism and elementaristic analysis - two types
of theory in which wholes are analyzed in terms of their simplest parts.
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