Gestalt psychology, school of psychology founded in the 20th century that provided the foundation for the modern study of perception. Gestalt theory emphasizes that the whole of anything is greater than its parts. That is, the attributes of the whole are not deducible from analysis of the parts in isolation.

How did Gestalt psychologists understand perceptual organization?

How did the Gestalt psychologists understand perceptual organization, and how do figure-ground and grouping principles contribute to our perceptions? Gestalt psychologists searched for rules by which the brain organizes fragments of sensory data into gestalts (from the German word for "whole"), or meaningful forms.

How does Gestalt psychology explain human behavior?

Gestalt psychology is a school of thought that looks at the human mind and behavior as a whole. ... Instead, our minds tend to perceive objects as part of a greater whole and as elements of more complex systems.