Gestalt Theory

Gestalt Theory:

Gestalt (pronounced ge-SHTALT) is a German word that means roughly means “shape”, “form”, “essence”, or “whole”.
There is no exact equivalent in English for Gestalt. ‘Form’ is the usual translation.

Gestalt is a psychology term which means "unified whole". It refers to theories of visual perception developed by German psychologists in the 1920s

One of the most important theories of perception is the Gestalt Theory.
Gestalt Theory “The Whole is different from the sum of its part”.

It was developed about 1910
by Max Wertheimer
(Born April 15, 1880 ,Died Oct 12, 1943) ,
and carry on by Wolfgang Kohler
(Born in Jan 21, 1887,Died in June 11, 1967) ,
and Kurt Koffka
(Born March 18, 1886 ,Died Nov 22, 1941),
at Frankfurt University
Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Kohler and Kurt Koffka ,concluded that learners were not Passive, but rather active. They suggested that learners do not just collect information as is but they actively process and restructure data in order to understand it.This is the Perceptual Process, Certain factors impact on this perceptual process. Factors like past experiences,needs,attitudes and one’s present situation can affect his perception.

They defined the principles - psycho physiological mechanisms -of the perception in:
(independent of culture, sociological and environmental influences)

The law of the relation figure / ground
The law of symmetry
The law of proximity
The law of similarity
The law of good continuation
The law of closure
The law of good pragnanz
The law of common fate
The law of past experience

Nothing is fully comprehensible out of context. The essential point of gestalt is that in perception the whole is different than the sum of its parts.