 |
born Jan. 21 [Jan. 9, Old Style], 1887,
Tallinn, Estonia, Russian Empire [now in Estonia]
died June 11, 1967, Enfield, N.H., U.S. |
| German psychologist and a key figure in the
development of Gestalt psychology, which seeks to understand
learning, perception, and other components of mental life
as structured wholes.
Köhler's doctoral thesis at the University of Berlin
(1909) was an investigation of hearing. As assistant and
lecturer at the University of Frankfurt (1911), he continued
his auditory research. In 1912 he and Kurt Koffka were subjects
for experiments on perception conducted by Max Wertheimer,
whose report on the experiments launched the Gestalt movement.
Thereafter Köhler was associated with Wertheimer and
Koffka as the three endeavoured to gain acceptance for the
new theory.
As director of the anthropoid research station of the Prussian
Academy of Sciences at Tenerife, Canary Islands (1913–20),
Köhler conducted experiments on problem-solving by
chimpanzees, revealing their ability to devise and use simple
tools and build simple structures. His findings appeared
in the classic Intelligenzprüfungen an Menschenaffen
(1917; The Mentality of Apes), a work that led to a radical
revision of learning theory. Another major work, Die physischen
Gestalten in Ruhe und im stationären Zustand (1920;
“Physical Gestalt in Rest and Stationary States”),
was based on an attempt to determine the relation of physical
processes in nervous tissue to perception.
In 1921 Köhler became head of the psychological institute
and professor of philosophy at the University of Berlin,
directing a series of investigations that explored many
aspects of Gestalt theory and publishing Gestalt Psychology
(1929). Outspoken in his criticism of Adolf Hitler's government,
Köhler went to the United States in 1935 and was professor
of psychology at Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, Pa., until
1955.
|
