Wolfgang Kohler, one of the most eminent representatives of the famous Gestalt psychology, was careful to explain one of the most complex subjects in school: learning. The funny thing is that many of his postulates are the result of long, patient and fruitful observation of chimpanzees.
This great researcher lived in a time when determination was great to give more and more scientific basis to psychology. In North America, the school of conduct has gradually consolidated, this current was intended to validate only observable behaviors. Meanwhile, in Europe, the psychology of Gestalt is taking shape. She also worked in the lab, but sought a phenomenological interpretation of the results.
- Wolfgang Kohler was one of the pillars of the Gestalt.
- Along with Max Wertheimer and Kurt Koffka.
- While not the most notable of this triumvirate.
- It has brought valuable elements for the advancement of the new school.
- It was.
- Broadly speaking.
- His life.
- And his work.
“It would be interesting to wonder how much essential progress has been made in science because the limits of particular disciplines have not been respected. Is pushing boundaries one of the most successful techniques in science?-Wolfgang Kohler-
Wolfgang Kohler was born in the city of Reval 40-Estonia 41; January 21, 1887. He had a brother and several sisters. His father was a teacher and always instilled in his children a love of knowledge and art.
When Wolfgang was just 6 years old, his family moved to Germany, where the future researcher will stay much of his life.
Wolfgang Kohler’s university education was exceptional. He passed through the universities of Tubinga, after Bonn and, later, Berlin. During his transition to higher education, he was in contact with various disciplines, particularly impressed by biology, physics and psychology. Wolfgang received his doctorate in the latter field, in 1909 from the University of Berlin.
Newly graduated, he began working at the Frankfurt Institute of Psychology, first held the position of assistant and was then promoted to professor, that’s when he met Max Wertheimer and Kurt Koffka.
The work of the three would become Gestalt’s school. In 1912, he married the artist Thekla Achenbach. A year later, he was appointed director of the Monthropomorphic Monos Research Center of the Academy of Applied Sciences of Tenerife in Preussen. , his life changed completely.
Wolfgang Kohler was the first to use chimpanzees as the basis for a psychology study. Before, there were only experiences with dogs and cats in terms of conditioning. Assuming monkeys were related to the human race, one of Kohler’s main goals was to see how similar they were and how different they were from humans in terms of learning.
From his research, Wolfgang Kohler establishes the concept of learning through insight, that is, through a sudden discernment based on a series of previous stimuli, as presented in his book The Mentality of the Apes, published in 1925, where he describes several of the experiments carried out in Tenerife.
What Kohler did with the chimpanzees was basically to prevent their goal from getting the food they had in sight, while laying around them tools that allowed them to overcome the obstacle. problem, but he didn’t do it linearly. This means that there has been some kind of sudden leap in his reasoning and acting.
During their stay in Tenerife world war I occurred, the British had much speculation linking Kohler to espionage, so in 1920 he left his job on the island and returned to Berlin. At that moment, his fame grew and he grew more and more. wanted by colleges around the world.
Wolfgang Kohler has spoken out publicly against National Socialism. That is why, when World War II began, he had to emigrate to the United States, for he feared for his life. There he was hired as a professor at prestigious universities such as Princeton and Dartmouth. In 1959, he was appointed president of the APA (American Association of Psychology).
Kohler died in 1967 in New Hampshire and his concept of insight remains valid in psychology. His best-known works are the tests of intelligence in anthropoids (1917), dynamics in psychology (1940), psychology of form (1947) and dynamic connections in psychology (1959).