Max Wertheimer (1880–1943), Kurt Koffka (1886–1941), and Wolfgang Kohler (1887–1967) founded Gestalt psychology in the early 20th century. The dominant view in psychology at the time was structuralism, exemplified by the work of Hermann von Helmholtz (1821–1894), Wilhelm Wundt (1832–1920), and Edward B. Titchener (1867–1927). Structuralism was rooted firmly in British empiricismand.
Together, these three theories give rise to the view that the mind constructs all perceptions and even abstract thoughts strictly from lower-level sensations that are related solely by being associated closely in space and time. The Gestaltists took issue with this widespread “atomistic” view that the aim of psychology should be to break consciousness down into putative basic elements.
One could say that the approach was based on a macroscopic view of psychology rather than a microscopic approach. Gestalt theories of perception are based on human nature being inclined to understand objects as an entire structure rather than the sum of its parts.
