Explain what is meant by the contention that Gestalt theory used field theory as its model and that empirical-associationistic psychology used Newtonian physics as its model.
Newtonian physics and Galilean view of Mechanistic and elementistic were not enough to understand the properties of magnetic fields so some physicists used and studied force fields to understand this. In force field study all the events and actions are related to each other. This study of force field was come to be known as field theory.
One of the famous Gestaltist psychologists was Wolfgang Kohler who was a renowned physicist also. He even studied with Max Planck who was the father of quantum mechanics. Wolfgang Kohler contribution to Gestaltist psychology is world famous. Hence, it is clear and accurate to say that after field theory, the Gestaltist psychology was a contribution to model psychology instead of Newtonian physics.