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==Definition==''[[Gestalt]]'' is a [[German]] [[word ]] [[meaning ]] an organized pattern or [[whole]] which has properties [[other ]] than those of its components in [[isolation]].

The experimental study of [[gestalt]]s began in 1910 with the study of certain phenomena of [[perception]], and led to a [[school]] of [[thought ]] known as "[[gestalt]] [[psychology]]" which was based on a holistic [[concept ]] of [[mind]] and [[body]] and which stressed the [[psychological]] importance of [[body]] presentation.

These [[ideas ]] formed the basis of [[Gestalt]] [[therapy]] as developed by [[Paul Goodman]]Goodman, [[Fritz Perls]] and [[Ralph Hefferline]].

==Jacques Lacan==When [[Lacan]] refers to the [[gestalt]], he refers specifically to one kind of oganized pattern, namely the [[visual]] [[image]] of [[another ]] member of the same [[species]], which is perceived as a [[unified]] [[whole]].

Such an [[image]] is a [[gestalt]] because it has an effect which none of its component parts have in isolation; this effect is to act as a "releasing [[mechanism]]" ([[French]]: ''déclencheur'') which triggers certain [[instinct]]ual responses, such as [[reproductive ]] [[behavior]].<ref>{{S1}} p.121f</ref>

==Animals==In other [[words]], when an [[animal ]] perceives a [[unified]] [[image]] of another member of its species, it responds in certan [[instinct]]ual ways.

==Human Beings==For [[human]]s the [[body]] [[image]] is also a [[gestalt]] which produces [[instinct]]ual responses, especially [[sexual]] ones, but the [[power]] of the [[image]] is also more than merely [[instinct]]ual; it constitutes the essential captivating [[power]] of the [[specular iamgeimage]] (see [[captation]]).

==Fragmented Body==It is by [[identifying]] with the [[unified]] [[gestalt]] of the [[body]] [[image]] that the [[ego]] is constantly threatened by [[fear]]s of [[fragmented body|disintegration]], which [[manifest ]] themselves in [[image]]s of the [[fragmented body]]; these [[image]]s [[represent ]] the opposite of the [[unified]] [[gestalt]] of the [[body]] [[image]]. The [[German]] [[word]] [[Gestalt]] means "pattern" or "figure."  As a [[psychological]] concept, [[Gestalt]] refers to our perception of a form whose [[meaning]] exceeds the [[totality]] of its components--a [[Gestalt]] is always greater than the sum of its parts.  [[Gestalt]] [[psychology]] is founded on the observation that we do not comprehend our world as an assemblage of disparate elements, but as a pattern of meaningful forms.  Our understanding of a "home", for example, is derived from more than merely the materials and architectural plans that produce the physical "house."  A "face" is likewise more than a collection of identifiable parts.  For [[Lacan]], the [[imago]] with which the [[infant]] [[identifies]] in the [[mirror stage]] is a kind of [[Gestalt]].  The [[infant]] recognizes not only that it is a particular shape, but also grasps that this shape has a special--in fact transformative--[[significance]].

{{See}}* [[Ego]]* [[Fragmented body]]||* [[Identification]]* [[Instinct]]||* [[ImageMirror stage]]* [[BodySpecular image]]{{Also}}

[[Category:PsychoanalysisDevelopment]][[Category:Dictionary]]