What factors impeded the acceptance of Gestalt psychology in the United States?
The Gestalt psychology was a movement which cropped up in Germany in 1912. This theory proposes that entirety is more important than the individual tendencies. The perception of a visual scene as a whole helps in finding order and unity among the unrelated parts. It considers learning process as a whole, not just the external stimulus response. According to this philosophy, the whole of an experience has more significance rather than the individual parts.
During mid-1920s, this movement was at its peak in Germany. It attracted a large number of students from different parts of the world. But it suffered downfall in 1933, during the Nazi invasion of Germany. The anti-Semantic, anti-intellectual, and repressive actions of Nazis resulted in the forced migration of Gestalt scholars. This resulted in shifting of Gestalt core to the United States.
Although Gestalt movement proved to be successful in gathering attention, its acceptance was rather slow. The slow acceptance of movement was due to the following factors:
1. Behaviorism was at its peak at that time in the United States.
2. The language barrier proved to be a significant problem. The Gestalt publications required to be translated from German into English.
3. Many psychologists were under the wrong impression that, Gestalt psychology dealt with perception only.
4. The founders faced difficulty in attracting disciples as they were located in small colleges, which did not offer graduate programs.
5. The basis of Gestalt revolt had already been beaten in America. Behaviorism was in prevalence, and was being challenged. Wundt and Titchener’s work had already been rejected.