Wolfgang Kohler
(1887 - 1967)
Insight Learning
Biography
Kohler was born in Estonia, and earned his Ph.D from the
University of Berlin in 1909 on psycho-acoustics. From 1910
to 1913 he collaborated with Wertheimer and Koffka, working
on the foundations of what would become known as
"Gestalt" theory. From 1913 to 1920, which encompassed
the years of World War I, he was director of a
research station in Canary Islands where he conducted
behavioral research with animals.. Later he served as
director of the Psychology Institute, Berlin. In
1925-26 Köhler was a visiting professor at Clark
University in the United States. In 1934-35 he was
William James Lecturer at Harvard and in 1935 a
visiting professor at the University of Chicago. He
came to the United States in 1934, where he became
professor of psychology at Swarthmore College. Köhler
is best known for the influence of his writings in the
founding of the school of Gestalt psychology.
Theory
Kohler was one of the original Gestalt theorists,
along with Wertheimer and Koffka. All of these "fathers
of Gestalt" were Germans, but ended their careers in
the US. Gestalt theory emerged as a reaction to the
behaviorist theories of Pavlov and
Watson which focused on
mechanical stimulus-response behavior. The term
"Gestalt" refers to any pattern or organized whole.
The key concept in Gestalt theory is that the nature
of the parts is determined by the whole - parts are
secondary to the whole. When we process sensory
stimuli, we are aware directly of a configuration or
overall pattern which is grasped as a whole. For
example, when listening to music, we perceive a melody
rather than individual notes, or when looking at a
painting, we see the overall image rather than
individual brush strokes. Köhler emphasized that one
must examine the whole to discover what its natural
parts are, and not proceed from smaller elements into
wholes.
Kohler proposed the view that insight follows from the
characteristics of objects under consideration. His theory
suggested that learning could occur by "sudden
comprehension" as opposed to gradual understanding. This
could occur without reinforcement, and once it occurs, no
review, training, or investigation are necessary.
Significantly, insight is not necessarily observable by
another person.
Learning Theory
Bibliography
Kohler, 1947
Sahakian, 1976
Lefton, 1997
