GCSE Psychology
Gestalt Laws
Learning objectives
• To learn about Gestalt laws including figure
ground and the law of similarity.
• To become familiar with the laws of proximity,
continuity and closure.
Look around you
• Can you see anything that stands out against a
background?
• Can you see any groups of objects?
Organisation in the world!
• We organise the information around us (stimuli)
according to different rules:
• E.g. edges/solids, ‘things that go together’ and
‘things that don’t go together’
Gestalt Laws
Gestalt = ‘Good Form’
Gestalt Laws
‘The whole is worth more than the sum of its
parts’
• What does this mean?
Gestalt (Good Form)
Gestalt Examples
Gestalt psychologists developed a set of principles
to explain perceptual organization
or how smaller objects are grouped to form larger
ones
These principles are often referred to as the "laws
of perceptual organization.“
mental shortcuts for solving problems.
Gestalt Laws
• Read page 18 in text book.
• Copy definitions for Gestalt laws, figure-ground
and similarity into your books.
• Read page 19.
• Copy the ‘figure ground’ table into your books to
help you understand the concept.
• How does similarity help us in perception?
• Complete questions 1-3 at the bottom of page
19.
Law 1. Figure and Ground
-Which is the figure and
which is the ground?
-How does the figure
differ from the ground?
-(i.e. in terms of size,
complexity, symmetry?)
Identifying figure and ground
Law 2. Similarity
• Similarity helps us group things together
which share the same characteristics and
separate them from things which look
different.
Law 3. Proximity
• How many groups of students are there in this
classroom?
• How did you work that out?
Law 3 - Proximity
• When objects are near one another or in
CLOSE PROXIMITY, we perceive them to be
related.
• How many ‘groups’ are there above?
Law 4 - Continuity
• We link things that form a predictable pattern.
• It makes separate parts look as though they
are joined, even though they are not.
Gestalt continuity examples
Continuity or
proximity?
Law 5 - Closure
• We tend to perceive objects as a whole even
when they are not.
• We ‘fill in the gaps’ in our perception.
What do you perceive?
Gestalt Laws
• In pairs, read pages 20 and 21.
• Be able to explain to each other the concepts
of proximity, continuity and closure.
• Complete both ‘Quick checks’ on page 19 and
the one n page 21.
The laws of proximity, continuity and
closure
• For each of the following slide say which law is
at work
The laws of proximity, continuity and
closure
1)
The laws of proximity, continuity and
closure
2)
The laws of proximity, continuity and
closure
3)
The laws of proximity, continuity and
closure
4)
The laws of proximity, continuity and
closure
5)
The laws of proximity, continuity and
closure
6)
The laws of proximity, continuity and
closure
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Answers
1 = proximity
2 = continuity
3 = closure
4 = closure
5 = proximity
6 = continuity
For Monday....
• Homework – find a picture of a visual illusion
and bring it to next lesson.
• If you would like to bring more than 1 please
do!
• Am expecting textbooks and FILES as well….
• Also remember there will be a short induction
test NEXT FRIDAY so start revising please 