Overview
- Presents an exposition of Gestalt psychology
- Offers a detailed account of the genesis and reception of Wertheimer's work
- Translated original text and detailed historical commentary by Viktor Sarris
Part of the book series: Classic Texts in the Sciences (CTS)
Access this book
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Other ways to access
Table of contents (2 chapters)
Keywords
About this book
Max Wertheimer (1880-1943), a pioneer of 20th-century psychology, had a major influence on the development of cognitive psychology, especially the psychology of perception and of productive thinking. His work "Productive Thinking" (1945), written in New York, is regarded as a milestone in creativity research. Consisting of many examples of creative thought processes - from geometric tasks to socio-psychologically relevant conflict resolutions to the development of Einstein's theory of relativity - the book leads the reader through a multi-faceted body of thought in the psychology of thinking.
Only a few texts in psychology have remained significant even after a period of three quarters of a century - Max Wertheimer's Productive Thinking is such an exception. This book, which also presents an exposition of Gestalt psychology, highlights the "productive" (insightful) versus automatic (unreflected) thought processes for many areas of life. In addition to examples from school teaching, the chapter on the emergence of Albert Einstein's theory of relativity is of lasting interest to today's generation of psychologists, pedagogues, brain researchers, neuroscientists and philosophers. Wertheimer had the unique opportunity to analyze Einstein's thinking in direct conversation. An introductory commentary by Viktor Sarris for this new edition of the first publication of Productive Thinking in 1945 offers a detailed account of the genesis and reception of Wertheimer's work.Reviews
“Making these ideas accessible again through the new edition of this book, for which Viktor Sarris deserves thanks and appreciation, should be a contribution to the enrichment of our science of thinking and problem solving today, but above all an encouragement to every reader to take the risk and the pleasures of productive thinking in every day life.” (Gerhard Stemberger, Gestalt Theory, Vol. 43 (2), 2021)
Authors, Editors and Affiliations
About the editor
Author
Max Wertheimer (1880-1943), the main founder of Gestalt psychology, taught and conducted research in perception and psychology of thinking in Frankfurt am Main and in Berlin. He emigrated to the USA in 1933 to continue his research and teaching at the New School for Social Research (New York). His work "Productive Thinking" (1945) was posthumously published there as his chief work.
Editor
Viktor Sarris is Professor Emeritus of Psychology, in particular General Psychology, and the former holder of the Max-Wertheimer Chair at the Goethe University in Frankfurt. His work focuses on perceptual as well as cognitive psychology, comparative psychophysics and the history of psychology.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Max Wertheimer Productive Thinking
Authors: Max Wertheimer
Editors: Viktor Sarris
Series Title: Classic Texts in the Sciences
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36063-4
Publisher: Birkhäuser Cham
eBook Packages: Mathematics and Statistics, Mathematics and Statistics (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-36062-7Published: 31 March 2020
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-36065-8Published: 31 March 2021
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-36063-4Published: 30 March 2020
Series ISSN: 2365-9963
Series E-ISSN: 2365-9971
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: IX, 257
Number of Illustrations: 165 b/w illustrations, 1 illustrations in colour
Topics: History of Science, History of Psychology, Cognitive Psychology