Gestalt theory can be simplified into this phase: “The whole is greater than the sum of the parts”. It is when an image can be seen as whole even though there many different images that create it. For an experiment, I was asked to show a slide show of pictures to three different people and record their responses.
Having taken the experiment myself, I was curious to see if others would react the same way or not. In each of the three experiments, I started the same way: I asked each person if they would be willing to look at something and tell me what they saw if they saw anything. After I showed the participant Condition 1 I followed it with Condition 2.
In the next few paragraphs I feature the different participants and their reactions to the experiment.
First participant: this individual is a writer that does not consider them self to be visual. At the end of Condition 1 when they were quite, I asked the participant if they saw anything in the last image. They mentioned that they could slightly see a face within the shapes. At the end of Condition 2 I asked the same question. The participant relied with the same response.
Second participant: this individual is the art/design person in my experiment. It was not until the last slide on Condition 1 that this person saw the horse and rider. On the second condition, they saw the image on slide 11.
Third participant: on Condition 1, the third participant saw a smiley face on slide 8 and then the horse and rider on slide 20.
Forth participant: the forth participant never saw the horse and rider. Puppy, duck, and a penguin were the shapes that they saw.
Fifth participant: the fifth participant saw nothing during Condition 1. On the last slide on Condition 2 they saw someone riding a horse with a hat and cape.
Sixth participant: the sixth participant is the most interesting case. On Condition 1, the person saw a horse and rider on slide 1. As this person intends to go to law school, I find it interesting that they saw the “whole” on the very first slide.
After seeing participant 6 see the image on slide one I was very impressed. It was a nice sign that they saw the entire picture with only the parts. In law, sometimes you are only able to see certain parts of a story. Knowing that this person saw the Gestalt image on the first slide means that they can see the full picture.
