Wolfgang Köhler: biography of this German Gestalt psychologist

Research on the way humans learn and understand the world has led a large number of researchers to develop different models and theories. Not only in the human being, but we also find great interest in understanding the animal's ability to adapt to the environment and solve problems with whom they meet.

In this sense, a large number of analyzes and experiments have been carried out throughout history. comparative with different species, being one of the closest to the human being that of the chimpanzees.

One of the most important and renowned researchers in this area, who became one of the main pillars of the Gestalt school, describe learning by insight and would even lead the American Psychological Association It was Wolfgang Köhler, whose biography you can find in a summarized way below.

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Brief biography of Wolfgang Köhler

Wolfgang Köhler was born on January 21, 1887 in the port city of Reval (nowadays known as Tallinn), in an Estonia at that time part of the Russian Empire. His family was of German origin, his parents being Franz Köhler and Wilhelmine Girgensohn (school principal and housewife, respectively) and having a brother and several sisters.

Köhler would live his first years of life in Estonia but when he was six years old he moved with his family to the country of origin of his parents, Germany, settling in the town of Wolfenbüttel. As his father was the head of a school, education was something very important in his family, and at the Köhler school he would begin to discover a great interest in science, field work and classical music.

Training

Köhler's university education ran through various universities. In the first place he would be accepted at the University of Tübingen in 1905, studying there for up to a year later. After that, he would go on to study at the University of Bonn between 1906 and 1907, and finally enter the University of Berlin in the latter year.

In this last university he would study subjects such as biology, physics and chemistry, being influenced by figures as relevant as Planck and Nernst in the field of physics, and knowing and studying together with whom he would be his thesis tutor, Carl Stumpf. He received his doctorate in psychology from this university in 1909 with the dissertation "Akustische Untersuchungen", a thesis on psychoacoustics.

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Some great contributions

Shortly after his doctorate, specifically in 1910, Köhler he would go to work at the Psychological Institute in Frankfurt, where he would first act as an assistant and later he would become a professed. He would work together with Wertheimer and Kofka in different experiments related to perception, a work that would converge in the creation of the well-known Gestalt school, which focused on the study of forms and considered that the whole was more than the sum of the parts.

In October 1912 he would marry artist Thekla Achenbach, and a year later he would be recommended and hired as director of the Prusiona Academy of Sciences of Tenerife, in what is known as Casa Yellow. There Köhler would carry out different investigations with chimpanzees, analyzing their cognitive abilities and discovering what would come to be called insight learning. From this he would write works such as The Mentality of Apes, developing different theories regarding learning and the existence of intelligence in non-human apes.

The first World War

During the stay of Köhler and his family in Tenerife, different events took place, among which the First World War stands out. Although initially Köhler he wanted to participate in the military service of his countryThis was not possible due to the impossibility of navigating through waters controlled by the British. He would remain on the island during the war.

However, there are theories and different suspicions arose about the possibility that Köhler acted as a spy for his government regarding the activity of the British on the island. These suspicions ended up provoking the protests of the British consulate, which would finally achieve that the activity of the Yellow House was transferred to another place. After that, Köhler returned to Germany in 1920.

Back in his home country, Köhler was hired at the Institute of Psychology at the University of Berlin, of which he would be appointed director in 1921. He divorced his first wife and would remarry Lily Harleman in 1927.

He would also work as a professor of philosophy and participating directly in Gestalt theory research, reconnecting with Koffka and Wertheimer. During these investigations he would come to analyze and criticize introspection due to its subjectivity and would seek the use of more empirical and objective methodologies.

However, he would not be favorable to behaviorism either, since it is based only on directly observable behavior and ignores the covert one. He would also travel and work in the United States, along with William James and at Harvard and Chicago universities, although he would return to his homeland.

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The arrival of the Nazis and emigration to the United States

The coming to power of the Nazis was another turning point in Köhler's life. Although initially it did not show his opposition to the regime openly, it would end up publishing a criticism of him (in fact, it is considered the last criticism published in Germany towards his regime until his fall) after having forced the resignation of Planck and would begin to act much more review.

However, although he apparently was not detained, the regime was imposing more and more restrictions in the academic field And he was losing more and more autonomy in the university, to the point that he had to resign and emigrate to the United States in 1935.

Once in North America he worked as a professor of psychology and researcher at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania, where he would practice until his retirement in 1955. He would also conduct various investigations in Hannover, at Dartmouth College.

Köhler, due to his multiple contributions to psychology during his career, would be elected president of the American Psychological Association in 1959. He previously he would have received an award from the same institution in 1956.

Death and legacy

Wolfgang Köhler passed away on June 11, 1967. His death occurred at his home in Lebanon, New Hampshire.

The legacy of this important psychologist remains valid today and is part of many current theories. The concept of insight, for example, is still present, as well as his important participation in the Gestalt school.

In addition, the analysis and study of the cognitive abilities of primates allowed them to be developed and reformulated different theories of learning and consideration of the cognitive abilities of apes and other animals (including chickens as well). Finally, it would also contribute to the investigation of cortical processes, in aspects such as visual or auditory perception.

Bibliographic references:

• Schultz, D. P., & Schultz, S. AND. (2016). A History of Modern Psychology. Eleventh Edition. Cengage Learning.