Wolfgang Kohlers Contributions to Learning Essay example

Wolfgang Kohlers Contributions to Learning Learning affects an individuals behavior through cognition in many ways. One of the most obvious ways is the acquiring of a skill. Kohler, a Gestaltist, was a believer in the value of perception and insight in terms of our cognition and how we are more than our behavior#8230; that we actually have mental processes that govern our capacity to solve problems and make decisions in regards to learning and behavior. Kohler performed many experiments with chimpanzees to assist his theory about perception and insight. Although, we cannot confine our learning to solely abiding in Kohlers theory, he was still able to allow room for the reflective places in cognition and how we go about using†¦show more content†¦Wolfgang Kohler was born in Reval, Estonia, as the son of German parents. When he was six, the family moved to Germany and settled in Wolfenbuttell. Kohler attended the universities of Tubingen, Bonn and Berlin, receiving his PhD in 1909. In the same year, he started t o work at the Psychological Institute in Frankfurt-am-Main. There he met Max Wertheimer and Kurt Koffka, with whom he lay foundations of the Gestalt psychology. It was born as a reaction to the behavioristic theories of Watson and Pavlov and focused mainly on the nature of perception. In 1913, Kohler became director of the Anthropoid Station of the Prussian Academy of Sciences on the Island of Teneriffe. He remained there through WWI and started to work on The Mentality of Apes. After his return to Germany, Kohler became director of the Psychological Institute at the University of Berlin. He founded with his colleagues discussion forum about Gestalt Psychology. Because of the Nazi interference with his work, Kohler immigrated to the United States in 1935 (Lefrancois 2000). He continued to write books in the United States, engaging in fierce battles with behaviorists such as Hull and Watson. He was awarded the scientific contribution award by the American Psychological Asso ciation and served as president of that association. From 1958 until his death, he was research professor of psychology at Dartmouth College. Kohler died on June 11, 1967 in New