3) Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Köhler and Kurt Koffka: Gestalt school and The Mentality of Apes

Another important school of thought to emerge at the turn of the 20th century was the Gestalt school. Convinced that the segmented approach of most psychologists to the study of human behaviour was inadequate, Max Wertheimer and his asssistants Wolfgang Köhler and Kurt Koffka formed the new Gestalt school.

At the Prussian Academy of Sciences in Canary Islands (1913–20), Wolfgang Köhler went on to conduct experiments on problem-solving by chimpanzees, revealing their ability to devise and use simple tools and build simple structures. His work led to a radical revision of the learning theory.



The following silent footage captures Kohler’s original work with chimpanzees:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *