Kurt Koffka
German psychologist and co-founder of Gestalt psychology
German psychologist who was a subject in Max Wertheimer's apparent-motion studies, introduced Gestalt theory to American psychologists in 1922, and taught at Smith College from 1927 until his death in 1941.
Why this person matters
Koffka explained the Gestalt approach to English-language readers and applied it to child development, perception, memory and learning. With Wertheimer and Wolfgang Köhler he is counted as a founder, and his career shows how a school started by three people depended on teaching, editing and translation as well as experiments.
Main contributions
Introducing Gestalt theory
His 1922 article 'Perception: An Introduction to the Gestalt-Theorie' in Psychological Bulletin introduced Gestalt theory to American psychologists. He also edited the series Beiträge zur Psychologie der Gestalt and helped found the journal Psychologische Forschung in 1921.
Gestalt child psychology
Die Grundlagen der psychischen Entwicklung (1921) appeared in English as The Growth of the Mind; one reference work gives 1924 and another 1928 for the translation. It applied Gestalt principles to developmental psychology.
Principles of Gestalt Psychology
His 1935 book extended the Gestalt approach from perception to learning, memory and other fields. At Smith College he held a research chair with a funded laboratory and assistants, and published studies of visual perception.
Context and limits
Critics have labelled Gestalt psychology Platonist or holist, a charge defenders say ignores its experimental work, and later approaches in developmental and cognitive psychology partly superseded it. A memoir of Clark Hull records that Koffka spent a year at the University of Wisconsin, mostly attacking Watsonian behaviourism; Hull concluded that Watson had not made as good a case as the facts warranted. Sources differ on the date of the English Growth of the Mind.
In your introductory course
Sensation and perception.Appears in the perception chapter alongside Wertheimer and Köhler as one of the three founders of Gestalt psychology.
Related course reading: Psychology 2e, section 1.2. This is course context rather than a biographical source.
Years of active work
- 1908
Completed his doctorate at the University of Berlin under Carl Stumpf, with a dissertation on rhythm that was published in 1909.
- 1912
Served as a subject in Wertheimer's Frankfurt studies of apparent movement, which mark the birth of the Gestalt movement.
- 1922
Published his Psychological Bulletin article on Gestalt theory.
- 1927
Took the William Allan Neilson research chair at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts.
- 1935
Published The Principles of Gestalt Psychology.
Sources
- Encyclopedia.com, Koffka, Kurt (Gale reference)Reference work. Reference article inspected.
- National Academy of Sciences, Clark Leonard Hull: A Biographical Memoir (Beach)Society or association. Institutional biography inspected.
- Encyclopedia.com, Wertheimer, Max (Encyclopedia of World Biography and Gale reference)Reference work. Reference article inspected.