Hockenbury Discovering Psychology 5th txtbk

118 CHAPTER 3 Sensation and PerceptionFigure 3.15The Gestalt Principles of Organization(a) The law of similarity is the tendency toperceive objects of a similar size, shape, orcolor as a unit or figure. Thus, you perceivefour horizontal rows rather than sixvertical columns of holiday cookies.(b) The law of closure is the tendency tofill in the gaps in an incomplete image.Thus, you perceive the curved lines on theclock as smooth, continuous circles, eventhough they are interrupted by workersand the clock’s hands.(c) The law of good continuation is the tendencyto group elements that appear to followin the same direction as a single unit orfigure. Thus, you tend to see the curved sectionsof the highways as continuous units.(d) The law of proximity is the tendency toperceive objects that are close to one anotheras a single unit. Thus, you perceivethese five people as one group of twopeople and one group of three people.(a) The Law of Similarity(b) The Law of Closure(c) The Law of Good Continuation(d) The Law of ProximityThe Perceptual Urge to Organize As youscan this image, you’ll experience firsthandthe strong psychological tendency to organizevisual elements to arrive at the perceptionof whole figures, forms, and shapes.Notice that as you shift your gaze across thepattern, you momentarily perceive circles,squares, and other geometric forms.The Gestalt psychologists studied how the perception of visual elements becomesorganized into patterns, shapes, and forms. They identified several laws,or principles, that we tend to follow in grouping elements together to arrive atthe perception of forms, shapes, and figures. These principles include similarity,closure, good continuation, and proximity. Examples and descriptions of these perceptuallaws are shown in Figure 3.15.The Gestalt psychologists also formulated a general principle called the law ofPrägnanz, or the law of simplicity. This law states that when several perceptualorganizations of an assortment of visual elements are possible, the perceptual interpretationthat occurs will be the one that produces the “best, simplest, andmost stable shape” (Koffka, 1935). To illustrate, look at Figure 3.16. Do youperceive the image as two six-sided objects and one four-sided object? If you arefollowing the law of Prägnanz, you don’t. Instead, you perceptually organize theelements in the most cognitively efficient and simple way, perceiving them asthree overlapping squares.According to the Gestalt psychologists, the law of Prägnanz encompasses all theother Gestalt principles, including the figure–ground relationship. The implicationof the law of Prägnanz is that our perceptual system works in an economical way topromote the interpretation of stable and consistent forms (van der Helm, 2000).The ability to efficiently organize elements into stable objectshelps us perceive the world accurately. In effect, we actively andautomatically construct a perception that reveals “the essence ofsomething,” which is roughly what the German word Prägnanzmeans.Figure 3.16 What Do You See? The law ofsimplicity refers to our tendency to efficientlyorganize the visual elements of a scene in away that produces the simplest and most stableforms or objects. You probably perceived thisimage as that of three overlapping squaresrather than as two six-sided objects and onefour-sided object.