Laws of Gestalt Psychology

Have you ever heard about how your brain can sometimes behave in a way that you can’t physically control? Let’s say you are looking for red shoes on a jumbled clearance rack at the mall, and just because your aim is to find red shoes, red shoes are all you seem to notice. How about when you see a painting of a beautiful woman whose feet are not in the painting, but it is always assumed that she does in fact have feet. These examples, and more, of behaviors of the brain are referred to as “a school of thought that looks at the human mind and behavior as a whole” (Van Wagner) – the Gestalt Psychology theory.

Scholars of Gestalt Psychology have broken down the subject into several laws, which separate visually-specific psychological behaviors into different types. These laws are the Law of Similarity, the Law of Pragnanz, the Law of Proximity, the Law of Continuity, and the Law of Closure. See below for examples and descriptions of each law.

Law of Similarity

This law is self-explanatory – it is when your brain tends to group things by similar shape, color, etc, so all one notices is the grouped objects. The behavior shown in the red shoe example from earlier would be considered a law of similarity.

Here is a photograph that displays a perfect example of grouping by similarity, as the different film-developing apparatus are grouped together by type. Now, imagine if all of these objects were mixed together in a random mess - it definitely would not be as aesthetically pleasing.

Law of Pragnanz

Meaning "good form" in German, “this law holds that objects in the environment are seen in a way that makes it as simple as possible” (Van Wagner). Moreover, it "identifies an organizational tendency, a way in which the human brain decides that things go together" (Dewey). The easiest way to explain this is with the aid of the images provided. In the first photo, what shapes do you notice first?

On first instinct, one would see an outer circle, followed by a slightly smaller inner circle (both outlined in red in the middle photo).

On the other hand, I don't think that anyone would say that the shapes created by the rectangular holes in the drain (outlined in blue in the bottom photo) are the first shapes they notice.

This is a great example of the Law of Pragnanz.

Law of Proximity

This law describes the way we tend to group objects by how close, or proximal, they are to each other. In this example, the folders in the columns are grouped by how close they are to each other (we can also see grouping by similarity from the colors).

Law of Continuity

This law says that we will always want to see some sort of smooth, continuing path between lines or other elements of an object or image. In this image, there is an aesthetically-pleasing element.
If you couldn't find it right off the bat, I have provided another image (below) that outlines where the Law of Continuity can be seen.

Law of Closure

This law is very interesting, as it describes how we tend to ignore insufficient or missing elements of an object or image by “filling in the blank” with what we expect or, rather, “know.” The feet in the portrait example as mentioned above would be considered a law of closure. The image I have provided as a visual example has a subtle example of the Law of Closure.

In the top image, you can see that some of the clock has been cut out of the frame. In the bottom image, I have filled-in with red what would have been part of the clock - but...you probably already knew what was there in the first place, even though you can't actually see it. This is what the Law of Closure describes.

(All original images above were taken by myself for the purpose of this blog entry on December 2, 2009 in the photography lab in the LNCO building)


Citations
Van Wagner, Kendra. "What is Gestalt Psychology?." About.com. 2009. Web. 9 Dec 2009. <http://psychology.about.com/od/schoolsofthought/f/gestalt_faq.htm>. 

Van Wagner, Kendra. "Gestalt Laws of Perceptual Organization." About.com. 2009. Web. 9 Dec 2009. <http://psychology.about.com/od/sensationandperception/ss/gestaltlaws_3.htm>.

Dewey, Russ. "Laws of Pragnanz." Psych Web. 2007. Web. 9 Dec 2009. <http://www.psywww.com/intropsych/ch04_senses/laws_of_pragnanz.html>

Additional

http://psychology.about.com/od/sensationandperception/ss/gestaltlaws_4.htm

http://psychology.about.com/od/sensationandperception/ss/gestaltlaws_5.htm

http://psychology.about.com/od/sensationandperception/ss/gestaltlaws_6.htm