Facts, basics, statistics, tests

parts that make up the whole.
THE LAW OF SIMILARITY
People tend to group together items that are similar. In the
following image, people usually see vertical columns made up of
circles and squares.

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PERCEIVED SIMILAR GROUPINGS
THE LAW OF PRAGNANZ
In German, “pragnanz” means “good figure.” The law of pragnanz
states we view objects in their simplest possible form.
For example, in the following image, instead of seeing a series of
complex shapes, we see five circles.
SIMPLIFIED PERCEIVED GROUPINGS
THE LAW OF PROXIMITY
The law of proximity states that when objects are near one another,
people have the tendency to group them together.
In the following image, the circles on the right appear as if they
are grouped together in horizontal rows, while the circles on the left
appear as if they are grouped together in vertical columns.

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PROXIMAL GROUPINGS
THE LAW OF CONTINUITY
The law of continuity states that people will find the smoothest path
when points seem connected by curving or straight lines. These lines
will appear as if they belong with one another, instead of appearing
as individual lines and angles.
For example, in the following image, instead of viewing the
bottom part as a separate line, we view it as an extension of the
series.
PERCEIVED SMOOTH TRANSITIONS
THE LAW OF CLOSURE
The law of closure states that our brains have the tendency to fill in
gaps when objects are grouped together so that the grouping can be
seen as a whole.
In the following image, for example, the gaps between the objects
are ignored by our brains, and we complete the contour lines. Our
brains fill in this missing information and create triangles and
circles—shapes that are familiar to us.

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PERCEIVING SHAPES IN NEGATIVE SPACE
FIGURE-GROUND
Figure-ground shows that people have an innate tendency to
recognize only one part of an event as the figure (also known as
foreground) and the other as the background. Even though this is a
single image, either a vase or two faces can be seen, but never at the
same time.
FOREGROUND AND BACKGROUND RECOGNITION
GESTALT THERAPY
Drawing upon the work of early Gestalt perceptual psychology, as
well as several other influences such as the work of Sigmund Freud,
Karen Horney, and even the theatre, husband and wife Frederick
and Laura Perls created Gestalt therapy in the 1940s.
Much like Gestalt psychology focused on the whole, Gestalt
therapy focuses on the whole being of a person through items such
as behavior, speech, posture, and how an individual encounters the
world.
Whereas early Gestalt psychology focused on foreground and

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background in the figure-ground theory, Gestalt therapy uses the
idea of foreground and background to help an individual become
self-aware. It helps them identify who they are in a background of
situations and emotions that remain unresolved.
COMMON GESTALT THERAPY TECHNIQUES
A common technique used in Gestalt therapy is that of role-playing.
This helps an individual work out a resolution to an otherwise
unfinished situation or problem. The most common role-playing
technique used is the “empty chair technique,” where a person will
talk to an empty chair as if someone were sitting in it. This
technique not only allows one to vent, but also helps a person find
new ways to solve their problems.
Gestalt therapy also places great emphasis on dream analysis,
believing that dreams can bring out the psychology of an individual
as well as any trauma from the individual’s past. A technique
commonly used in Gestalt therapy is to have an individual write
their dreams down for two weeks, choose one that feels particularly
important or significant, and actually act it out. This allows a
person to reconnect with parts of their experience that have since
been disowned.
Another common technique used in Gestalt therapy is hitting a
sofa with soft bats or padded sticks to release feelings of anger. By
visualizing what you are angry about and hitting it with the bats or
sticks, you can release unproductive anger and move on to focusing
on your true self.
Lastly, one of the most famous Gestalt therapy techniques is also
one of the simplest. Because the idea behind Gestalt therapy is to
become self-aware, one must first increase their awareness. This can
be done by saying “I am aware that … ” and defining oneself in that
way. You can say, “I am aware that I am sitting at my desk,” “I am
aware that I feel sad right now,” and so on. This technique helps
keep a person in the present, separates feelings from interpretations
and judgments, and helps produce a clearer vision of how that
person understands himself or herself to be.

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COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
Understanding what’s really going on in your head
Cognitive psychology is the branch of psychology that focuses on
how a person acquires, processes, and stores information. Prior to
the 1950s, the dominant school of thought had been behaviorism.
For the next twenty years, the psychology world began to shift away
from studying observable behaviors and moved towards studying
internal mental processes, focusing on topics such as attention,
memory, problem solving, perception, intelligence, decision making,
and language processing. Cognitive psychology differed from
psychoanalysis because it used scientific research methods to learn
about mental processes, instead of simply relying on the subjective
perceptions of a psychoanalyst.
The 1950s through the 1970s is now commonly referred to as the
“cognitive revolution” because it was during this time period that
processing models and research methods were created. American
psychologist Ulric Neisser first used the term in his 1967 book,
Cognitive Psychology
.
The Two Assumptions of Cognitive Psychology
Individual parts of mental processes can be recognized and
understood by scientific method, and one can describe internal
mental processes with algorithms or rules in information
processing models.
ATTENTION
In cognitive psychology, attention refers to how an individual
actively processes information specifically present in his or her
environment. When you read this book, you are also experiencing
the numerous sights, sounds, and sensations around you: the weight
of the book in your hands, the sounds of the person next to you

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talking on the phone, the feeling of sitting on your chair, the sight of
the trees outside your window, the memory of a previous
conversation you had, and more. Psychologists that study cognitive
psychology want to understand how a person can experience all of
these different sensations and still focus on just a single element or
task.
FOUR TYPES OF ATTENTION
Focused attention:
A short-term response, which can be as
short as eight seconds, to very specific auditory, tactile, or
visual stimuli. For example, a phone ringing or a sudden
occurrence might cause someone to focus on it for a few
seconds, but then they will turn back to the task they were
performing or think about something unrelated to the ringing
phone.
Sustained attention:
A level of attention that will produce
consistent results involving a task performed over time that is
continuous and repetitive. For example, if a person washing
dishes shows sustained attention, they will perform the task
until completed. If a person loses focus, they may stop
halfway through and move on to another task. Most adults
and teenagers cannot show sustained attention on one task
for more than twenty minutes, and will instead repeatedly
choose to refocus on the task, which enables them to pay
attention to things that are longer, like movies.
Divided attention:
Paying attention to several things at a
single time. This is a limited ability, and it impacts how much
information gets processed.
Selective attention:
Paying attention to specific things while
filtering out others. For example, if you are at a loud party,
you are still able to maintain a conversation with someone
even though there are other sensations going on around you.
INATTENTIONAL BLINDNESS AND THE INVISIBLE

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GORILLA TEST
Inattentional blindness shows what happens when a person is
overloaded with sensations. This takes place when a person does not
notice obvious stimuli, even though they are right in front of the
person. Inattentional blindness happens to everyone because it is
mentally and physically impossible to notice every stimulus. One of
the most famous experiments showcasing inattentional blindness is
Daniel Simon’s Invisible Gorilla Test.
A group of subjects were asked to watch a short video of two
groups of people (one group wearing white T-shirts, the other black
T-shirts) as two basketballs were passed around within their
respective groups. The subjects were asked to count how many times
the basketball was passed in one group.
Meanwhile, as the two groups passed their basketballs to each
other, a person in a gorilla suit walked to the center, beat his chest,
and then walked off screen.
When the video was over, the test subjects were asked if they
noticed anything unusual, and in most cases, 50 percent had not
seen the gorilla. This experiment demonstrates that attention plays a
significant role in the relationship between a person’s perception
and visual field.
PROBLEM SOLVING
In cognitive psychology, a problem is defined as a question or
situation that involves difficulty, uncertainty, or doubt. The mental
process of problem solving consists of discovery, analysis, and
solving the problem, with the ultimate goal being to overcome an
obstacle and resolve the issue with the best possible solution.
The Problem-Solving Cycle
Researchers believe that the best way to solve a problem is
through a series of steps known as the problem-solving cycle. It is
important to note, however, that even though the steps are listed
sequentially, people rarely follow this series of steps rigidly and will

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instead skip various steps or go back as many times as needed until
they have reached a desired result.
1. 
Identify the Problem:
It is in this first step that the
existence of a problem is first recognized. Though it sounds
simple enough, mistakenly identifying the source of the
problem will render any attempts to solve it inefficient and
possibly useless.
2. 
Define the Problem and Identify Limitations:
Once the
existence of a problem has been identified, a person must
fully define what his or her problem is in order for it to be
solved. In other words, now that there is an
acknowledgment of a problem’s existence, the definition of
what the problem actually is becomes clearer.
3. 
Form a Solution Strategy:
The approach to creating a
strategy will depend on the situation and the unique
preferences of the individual.
4. 
Organize Information about the Problem:
A person must
now organize any available information so he or she can be
prepared to come up with a fitting solution.
5. 
Allocate and Use the Mental and Physical Resources
Needed:
Depending on the importance of the problem, it
might be necessary to allocate certain resources of money,
time, or something else. If the problem is not as important,
using too many resources may not be essential to coming up
with a solution.
6. 
Monitor Progress:
If no progress is being made, then it is
time to reevaluate the approach and search for different
strategies.
7. 
Evaluate the Results for Accuracy:
To make sure the
solution was the absolute best outcome, the results must be
evaluated. This can either be done over time, such as
evaluating the results of a workout regimen; or it can be
immediately, such as checking the answer to a math
problem.

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COGNITIVE STRATEGIES FOR PROBLEM SOLVING
There are two types of problems: well-defined problems and ill-
defined problems. Problems that are well-defined have goals that are
clear, feature a very specific path leading to a solution, and have
obstacles that are easy to identify based on the provided
information. Problems that are ill-defined do not feature a specific
path or formula leading to a solution and need to be investigated so
that the problem can be defined, understood, and solved.
Because using a formula cannot solve ill-defined problems,
information must be collected and analyzed to come up with a
solution. Ill-defined problems can also feature well-defined sub-
problems. In order to find a solution, a combination of problem-
solving strategies may be required. Researchers have reportedly
found more than fifty different strategies for problem solving. Some
of the most common include:
Brainstorm:
List every option without evaluating them,
analyze the options, and then choose one.
Analogy:
Use an option that has been learned from similar
problems.
Break down:
Take a problem that is large or complex and
break it down into problems that are smaller and simpler.
Hypothesis testing:
Create a hypothesis based on the cause
of the problem, gather information, and test it.
Trial and error:
Test random solutions until you have found
the right one.
Research:
Adapt and use existing ideas for problems that are
similar.
Means/Ends analysis:
At each phase of the problem-solving
cycle, take an action to get closer to the goal.
MEMORY
Memory in cognitive psychology refers to the processes used in
acquiring, storing, retaining, and retrieving information. There are

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three main processes: encoding, storage, and retrieval.
To create a new memory, information must first go through
encoding so it can be transformed into a useable form. Following
encoding, the information is stored in our memory so that it can be
used later. Most of our stored memory is actually outside of our
awareness until it is needed. When it is needed, this information
goes through the retrieval process, allowing for stored memory to be
brought into our conscious awareness.
To understand the basic function and structure of memory, one
can look at the stage model of memory, which proposes three
separate stages:
PROGRESSION OF MEMORY FORMATION
1. 
Sensory Memory:
This is the earliest stage in the memory
process. Sensory information that has been gathered from
the environment as an exact copy of what is seen or heard is
stored for a short period of time. Auditory information is
stored for three to four seconds, while visual information is
usually stored for no longer than half of a second. Only