Gestalt Modern Wurzburg Brentano Tradition Research Psychology Cognitive

Wurzburg was the precursor to modern psyc because of the experiments being conducted on “mental processes”: judgment, attention, problem solving, & memory. 

Modern cognitive psy still focuses on research in the “mental processes” just with more methodological rigor. 

Wurzburg followed a Brentano tradition and not a Wundtian tradition (See slide for comparison between Wundt and Brentano). In a Brentano tradition, the study of our mental actions can be done through empirical observation of our mental actions and processes themselves (ideating, judging, and loving vs hating) and believed that introspection changes what is observed (Wundtian). Brentano used observation and logic vs. Wundt with introspection. Gestalt was against psychophysiological approach to perception (Wundtian). Gestalt was more interested in the “process” of perception and not the “elements.”  Gestalt maintained a lot of tradition from the experimental methods, yet used less rigid methods. The Wurzburg school was attempting to expand the content of psychology and so Gestalt was more readily accepted than it would have been in a more structured university based in a strict experimental method. This allowed for Gestalt researchers to use a more qualitative approach to researching perception.