2017 Gestalt Anniversaries
140 years ago (1877)
- 25.2. Erich M. v. HORNBOSTEL (1877-1935) is born (musicologist and psychologist who worked with Max WERTHEIMER in Berlin and contributed to Gestalt theory in research on acustics and vision).
- 6.7. Robert OGDEN (1877-1959) is born in Binghampton, N.Y.
130 years ago (1887)
- 1.1. Dimitrii USNADZE (1887-1950) is born.
- 21.1.: Wolfgang KÖHLER (1887-1967) is born in Reval (today: Talinn) in Estonia.
- 18.11. Adhémar GELB (1887-1936) is born in Moscow.
120 years ago (1897)
- 9.8.: Lauretta BENDER (1897-1987) is born in Butte / Montana.
- 27.9. Cesare MUSATTI (1897-1989) is born in Dolo (Venezia).
- Susanne LIEBMANN (1897-1990) is born.
110 years ago (1907)
- 11.4. Erwin LEVY (1907-1991) is born in Graudenz (Poland).
- 10.6. Fabio METELLI (1907-1987) is born.
- 14.9. Solomon Eliot ASCH (1907-1996) is born in Warsaw, Poland.
100 years ago (1917)
- Wolfgang KÖHLER: 'Intelligenzprüfungen an Anthropoiden' (apes are shown to have the ability to grasp the situational value of an object such as a tool by a process of insight; translated into English and published in 1927: The Mentality of Apes).
- Kurt LEWIN: 'Kriegslandschaft' (early discussion of figure-ground structures in connection with camouflage in war).
90 years ago (1927)
- Three of the famous Berlin dissertations of LEWINs students are approved: Bluma ZEIGARNIKs dissertation 'Über das Behalten von erledigten und erledigten Handlungen' (published in Psychologische Forschung, 9, pp 1-85, 1927), Anitra KARSTENs dissertation 'Über psychische Sättigung' (published in Psychologische Forschung, 10, 1928, pp 142-254), Maria OSVIANKINAs dissertation 'Die Wiederaufnahme unterbrochener Handlungen' (published in Psychologische Forschung, 10, 1928, pp 302-379).
- Kurt KOFFKA leaves Germany permanently for the United States and settles at Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts.
- Friedhart KLIX (1927-2004) is born in Friedersdorf (Lausitz).
- Guido PETTER is born in Luino/Varese.
- 24.12.: Vittorio BENUSSI dies in Padua.
- Kurt LEWIN: 'Gesetz und Experiment in der Psychologie' (Symposion, 1, pp 375-421); 'Kindlicher Ausdruck' (Zeitschrift für pädagogische Psychologie, 28, pp 510-526).
- Kurt KOFFKA: 'Bemerkungen zur Denkpsychologie' (Psychologische Forschung, 9, pp 163-184).
- Wolfgang KÖHLER: 'Zum Problem der Regulation'.
80 years ago (1937)
- Paul THOLEY is born.
Edwin RAUSCH obtains PhD from the University of Frankfurt. His dissertation 'Über Summativität und Nichtsummativität' (On Summativity and Nonsummativity) is published in Psychologische Forschung (21, pp 209-289).
- KÖHLER and VON RESTORFFs paper on recognition as influenced by the contents of the material seen in the retention interval: 'II. Analyse von Vorgängen im Spurenfeld. Zur Theorie der Reproduktion.' (Psychologische Forschung, 21, pp 56-112).
- Adhémar GELB: 'Zur medizinischen Psychologie und philosophischen Anthropologie' (Acta psychologica, 3, pp 194-271).
- Kurt LEWIN: 'Psychoanalysis and topological psychology' (Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic, 1, pp 202-211). One of his Berlin students, Sara JUCKNAT publishes her dissertation 'Anspruchsniveau und Selbstbewußtsein' (Psychologische Forschung, 22, pp 89-179).
- David KATZ: 'Animals and Men' (London: Longmans, Green).
70 years ago (1947)
- 12.2.: Kurt LEWIN (1890-1947) dies in Newtonville, Massachusetts. He does not live to see the famous National Training Laboratories (NTL) - to which he and his colleagues laid the foundations - start their work in this year.
- Wolfgang KÖHLER: 'Gestalt Psychology' is published in New York (Liveright).
- Kurt LEWIN: 'Group Decision and Social Change' (in: T.M. Newcomb & E.E. Hartley, eds, Readings in social psychology, New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, pp 330-344); 'Frontiers in Group Dynamics' (Human Relations, 1, pp 5-41, 142-153).
- Karl DUNCKER: 'Phenomenology and Epistemology of Consciousness of Objects' (Philos. Pehom. Res., 7).
- Wolfgang KÖHLER and David A. EMERY: 'Figural after-effects in the third dimension of visual space' (The American Journal of Psychology, 60, pp 159-201).
- Abraham S. LUCHINS: 'Experiences with closed ward group psychotherapy' (Americ. Orthopsychiat., 17, pp 511-520); 'Group structures in group psychotherapy' (J. Clin. Psychol., 3, pp 209-273); 'Methods of studying the progress and outcomes of a group psychotherapy program' (J. Consult. Psychol., 11, pp 173-183).
60 years ago (1957)
- Wolfgang KÖHLER is elected president of the American Psychological Association.
- Solomon E. ASCH is elected president of the Division of Personality and Social Psychology of the American Psychological Association.
- Werner WOLFF (1904-1957) dies in New York.
- Max WERTHEIMERs 'Productive thinking' (New York 1945) is first published in German, translated by Wolfgang METZGER (Produktives Denken, Frankfurt: Kramer).
- Mary HENLE: 'On Field Forces' (Journal of Psychology, 43, pp 239-249); 'Some Problems of Ecclecticism' (Psychological Review, 64, pp 296-305).
- Rudolf ARNHEIM: 'Film as Art' (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press).
- Wolfgang METZGER: 'Stimmung und Leistung' (Münster: Aschendorff).
50 years ago (1967)
- Solomon E. ASCH is awarded the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award from the American Psychological Association.
- 11.6.: Wolfgang KÖHLER dies in Enfield, New Hampshire.
- Wolfgang METZGER and Anne BRUNS: 'Entstehung und Heilung einer kindlichen Phobie' (in: R. Mühlher and J. Fischl, eds, Gestalt und Wirklichkeit, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, pp 223-243). Wolfgang METZGER: 'Der Geltungsbereich gestalttheoretischer Ansätze' (Bericht über den 25. Kongress der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Psychologie, Göttingen: Hogrefe, pp 13-24).
- Rudolf ARNHEIM: 'Toward a Psychology of Art' (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press); 'Abstraction and Empathy in Retrospect' (Confinia Psychiatrica, 10, pp 1-15); 'Constancy and Abstraction' (in: R. Mühlher and J. Fischl, eds, Gestalt und Wirklichkeit, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, pp 71-78).
40 years ago (1977)
- 22.6. Paul OPPENHEIM (1885-1977) dies in Princeton.
- 13.10. Harry HELSON (1898-1977) dies.
- Hans-Jürgen WALTERs dissertation 'Die Gestalttheorie als wissenschaftliche Grundlage psychotherapeutischer Praxis und ihre Beziehung zu psychotherapeutischen Ansätzen der Gegenwart' is approved at the University of Darmstadt and is first published as: Gestalttheorie und Psychotherapie - Ein Beitrag zur theoretischen Begründung der integrativen Anwendung von Gestalt-Therapie, Psychodrama, Gesprächstherapie, Tiefenpsychologie, Verhaltenstherapie und Gruppendynamik (3rd edition 1994 Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag; see reviews of this book). H.-J. WALTER publishes 'Gestalt-Therapie, ein psychoanalytischer und gestalttheoretischer Ansatz' (Gruppendynamik, Nr. 1, pp 3-27).
- Wolfgang METZGER: 'Adler als Autor' and 'Gestalttheorie im Exil'.
- Mary HENLE: 'The Influence of Gestalt Psychology in America'.
- Rudolf ARNHEIM: 'The Dynamics of Architectural Form' (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press); 'Zur Psychologie der Kunst' (Köln: Kiepenheuer).
30 years ago (1987)
- The international Society for Gestalt Theory and its Applications (GTA) holds its 5th Scientific Convention at the University of Regensburg, Germany.
- 9.10. Lee E. TRAVIS (1896-1987) dies.
- Gestalt Theory publishes a special issue commemorating the 100th birthday of Wolfgang KÖHLER (Gestalt Theory, 9, No 3-4). It contains the German translation of KÖHLERs 'The Obsessions of Normal People' by A. Zimmer and contributions by K. Foppa, D. Heckelmann, T. Hermann, S. Jaeger, P. Keiler, H. Lück, M. Müller, W. Schönpflug, V. Schurig, L. Sprung, H. Wallach.
- Solomon E. ASCH publishes the paperback edition of his 'Social Psychology' (Oxford University Press) with a new preface commenting the developments in social psychology since the first edition of his famous book 35 years before.
- A.S. LUCHINS and E.H. LUCHINS: 'The Influences of Thinking, Surveyability and Illustrations on Einstellung Effects' (Gestalt Theory, 9, pp 17-27); 'Max Wertheimer in America: 1933-1943' (Part I, Gestalt Theory, 9, pp 134-160).
- Rudolf ARNHEIM: 'Prägnanz and its Discontents' (Gestalt Theory, 9, pp 102-107).
- Molly HARROWER: 'The Inside Story: Self-Evaluation Reflecting Basic Rorschach Types' (Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum), co-aothored by Dawn BOWERS.
- Mary HENLE: 'On breaking out of dichotomies' (Gestalt Theory, 9, pp 140-149).
- G. KANIZSA and R. LUCCIO: 'Formation and categorization of visual objects' (Gestalt Theory, 9, pp 111-127).
20 years ago (1997)
