Wolfgang Köhler facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Wolfgang Köhler
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| Born | 21 January 1887 Reval (now Tallinn), Governorate of Estonia, Russian Empire
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| Died | 11 June 1967 (aged 80) Enfield, New Hampshire, U.S.
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| Alma mater | University of Bonn |
| School | Gestalt psychology Berlin School of experimental psychology Phenomenological psychology |
| Thesis | Akustische Untersuchungen (Acoustic investigations) (1909) |
| Doctoral advisor | Carl Stumpf |
| Other academic advisors | Max Planck |
| Doctoral students | Carl Gustav Hempel, Karl Popper |
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Main interests
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Psychology |
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Notable ideas
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Psychology of problem solving |
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Influenced
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Wolfgang Köhler (born January 21, 1887 – died June 11, 1967) was a German psychologist. He was one of the main people who helped create Gestalt psychology. This way of thinking looks at how we see things as a whole, not just as separate parts.
During the time of the Nazis in Germany, Köhler bravely spoke out. He protested when Jewish professors were fired from universities. He also refused to do the Nazi salute at the start of his classes. In 1935, he moved to the United States. There, Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania offered him a job as a professor. He taught and did research there for 20 years.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Wolfgang Köhler was born in a port city called Reval. This city is now known as Tallinn in Estonia. His family was of German background. Soon after he was born, his family moved to Germany.
University Studies
Köhler studied at several universities. These included the University of Tübingen, the University of Bonn, and the University of Berlin. He was very interested in how physics and psychology were connected.
At the University of Berlin, he learned from important scientists. These included Max Planck, who was a physicist, and Carl Stumpf, a psychologist. In 1909, Köhler finished his Ph.D. (a high-level university degree). His main project was about how we hear sounds.
Understanding Gestalt Psychology
From 1910 to 1913, Köhler worked in Frankfurt. He teamed up with other psychologists, Max Wertheimer and Kurt Koffka. They studied how people see movement, even when there isn't any real movement. This led them to new ideas about how our vision works.
They helped create a new way of thinking about psychology called Gestalt theory. "Gestalt" is a German word that means "shape" or "form." This theory suggests that we see things as complete shapes or forms, not just as individual pieces.
The Whole Picture
A key idea in Gestalt psychology is that "the whole is different from the sum of its parts." This means that when you put parts together, the way they connect creates something new. This "something new" is more than just adding up the separate pieces.
Think about a car. If you have all the parts of a car laid out on the floor, it's just a pile of metal and plastic. But when those parts are put together in a certain way, they become a working car. The "assembly" part is what makes it a car, not just the individual pieces.
How Chimpanzees Solve Problems
In 1913, Köhler moved to the Canary Islands. He became the head of a research station there that studied apes. He worked there for six years. During this time, he wrote a famous book called The Mentality of Apes (1917).
Clever Chimps
In his research, Köhler watched how chimpanzees solved problems. For example, he saw them try to get bananas that were out of reach. The chimps would stack wooden boxes to make a ladder to reach the food. If the bananas were outside their cage, they used sticks to pull them closer.
Köhler realized that the chimps weren't just trying things randomly until something worked. Instead, they seemed to have a sudden "aha!" moment, or insight. They would figure out the solution in their minds first. Then, they would carry out the plan in a very clear and focused way. This was a big discovery in understanding how animals think.
Why Study Apes?
Köhler was inspired to work with chimpanzees for two main reasons. First, he noted that their brains are very similar to human brains. He was curious to see if human-like thinking could be seen in their daily actions. Second, he wanted to learn more about how intelligent actions happen.
He found that chimps, like humans, have different levels of intelligence. They were good at handling objects in many ways, even in their playtime. Köhler believed that studying apes could help us understand more about how both animals and humans think and solve problems.
Thinking About How We Learn
Köhler also had strong opinions about other ideas in psychology. He disagreed with two main approaches: introspection and behaviorism.
What is Introspection?
Introspection was a popular idea in Germany in the late 1800s. It involved people reporting their own thoughts and feelings. The idea was that by breaking down our conscious thoughts into tiny parts, we could understand how our minds work.
Köhler thought this method was too personal. He said that what one person described about seeing the color red might be different from another person's description. He felt that introspection didn't give clear, repeatable results. He believed that science needed to find facts that were true for almost everyone.
What is Behaviorism?
Behaviorism was another popular idea, especially in North America. This approach focused only on actions that could be easily seen and measured. Things like thoughts and feelings were ignored. Behaviorists believed these inner processes couldn't be studied scientifically.
Köhler disagreed with this. He argued that ignoring our "direct experience" was a mistake. He believed that even things like a faster heart rate could tell us something important about how people react to things. He thought that behaviorists missed out on a lot by only looking at outward actions.
Life in Nazi Germany
The Nazi Party came to power in Germany in January 1933. They started unfair rules against Jewish people. Jewish professors were fired from their university jobs.
Speaking Out
Köhler did not publicly speak out against the Nazis right away. But by April 1933, he became very concerned. He wrote an article called "Conversations in Germany." This article openly criticized the Nazi government. It was the last article published in Germany that dared to do so during their rule.
After the article, Köhler expected to be arrested. But he wasn't. He received many letters from people, both Jewish and non-Jewish, thanking him for his bravery. He tried to get his fellow professors to join him in protesting, but many were afraid or thought it wouldn't make a difference.
Refusing the Nazi Salute
On November 3, 1933, the Nazi government ordered professors to start their classes with the Nazi salute. Köhler believed this went against his values. He told his students he could not do it. His students applauded him, even those who supported the Nazis.
His situation at the university became harder. Nazi officials started watching his classes. They would stop students and check their IDs. Köhler complained, but his wishes were ignored. In May 1934, he asked to retire. This led to an investigation by the government.
Later Life and Legacy
Because of the difficulties with the Nazis and losing important colleagues, Köhler found it impossible to continue his work in Germany. He officially left the University of Berlin and moved to the United States in 1935. He became a professor at Swarthmore College and taught there for 20 years.
Later, he became a research professor at Dartmouth College. He also served as the president of the American Psychological Association. He often visited the Free University of Berlin to advise faculty and share ideas about American psychology. He passed away in 1967 in Enfield, New Hampshire.
Family Life
Köhler married Thekla Achenbach, an artist, in 1912. They had four children: Claus, Marianne, Peter, and Martin. Later, they divorced. In 1927, he married Lili Harlemann, and they had a daughter named Karin.
Honors and Recognition
- In 1956, he received an award for his important scientific work from the American Psychological Association.
- The Wolfgang Köhler Primate Research Center was named after him. It is located at the Leipzig Zoo in Germany.
Books by Köhler
Here are some of his books that were published in English:
- 1925. The mentality of apes
- 1929. Gestalt psychology
- 1938. The place of value in a world of facts
- 1940. Dynamics in psychology
- 1947. Gestalt psychology: an introduction to new concepts in modern psychology (a newer version of his 1929 book)
- 1969. The task of gestalt psychology
See also
- Bouba/kiki effect
- Berlin School of experimental psychology
- Max Wertheimer
- Kurt Koffka
- Kurt Lewin
