The Principle Of The Gestalt Principle

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Essay 2

Latalvin Bullock

Liberty University

The Gestalt principle, “the whole is greater than the sum or the parts,” can help one understand how preconceived perceptions can be very different from the actual perception. Throughout my pursuit of my education I have taken many classes and there have been many courses that I preconceived to be one way and turned out to be totally different. For example, I took a music appreciation class one time. I love music and I listen to it and sing all the time whether it is with my choir, solo, or with my family. So when I saw that music appreciation was a class that I could take, my preconceived perception is that it would be a very easy class because it was about a subject that I loved. In my mind I thought there would be no way that I wouldn’t get an A in that class. The first detail that I learned from my initial perception of what the class was going to be like that was different was that the class went far beyond just listening to different types of music. We had to really learn the background and foundation of how music was made and all the different concepts of music. The second detail that I learned from my initial perception was that was different is that the class actually involved real work. We had to present presentations and research papers that showed that we understood all of the elements of music. Also, we had to show that we knew about composers and the composition of their musical techniques. The third detail that I learned from that was entirely different than my initial perception is that I actually had to come up with a sample song and present it with an audio and visual presentation. I was used to performing in front others but always singing so...

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... mental processes stem from social activities (p. 316). Just as Vygotsky believed I think that the environment and the social interactions that I have had influences how I feel and think about the psychology courses that I am taken. I think that my social interactions have contributed to how I learn concepts of psychology. The third concept of Vygotsky’s that I think has played a role in learning the classes in my major is having the assistance of people who are more competent and knowledgeable help me to learn all the aspects of psychology that I do not understand. Most people learn difficult concepts when they have the help of someone who knows about the subject. I found that this has greatly helped with my zone of proximal development for my courses in my major.

References
Ormrod, J. E. (2012). Human learning (6th ed.). New York, NY: Pearson.

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