Editorial

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> The Society for Gestalt Theory and its Applications (GTA) is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. The task of this article was to give a selection of gestalt theoretical research, which was created within the framework of the GTA. After a brief introduction to the theory, recent developments that have emerged since the founding of the Society and have found expression in the journal Gestalt Theory, as well as in many other publications, have been discussed. A number of contributions to the fundamental area could be cited: consciousness research, multifield approach, synergetics, language, development, and so on. The transfer of basic knowledge to a number of application-oriented disciplines, namely, psychotherapy, education, arts, culture, nation and society, organizations, and so on, has been presented. The article has shown that Gestalt theory has great relevance in both basic and application-related areas and can cover a wide range of issues.</abstract>

Vierzig Jahre Gesellschaft für Gestalttheorie: Der wissenschaftliche Ertrag

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> The current theory of social policy is characterized by considerable inconsistencies and analytical gaps. Disciplinary one-sidedness goes together with nontransparent and partially incompatible epistemological considerations. In this paper, it is shown that the Gestalt theory can be a sound starting point for the theory of social policy. Gestalt theory provides a groundwork for the selection of behavioral assumptions, the understanding of self-organization processes and the formulation of basic normative questions.</abstract>

Individuum, Gruppe und Gesellschaft. Unmittelbare und mittelbare Kontexteffekte und deren Bedeutung für die Theorie der Sozialpolitik

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> The international research on teams, which is inspired by the input-process-output model, is mostly empirical. Researchers in this field look for causal explanations between independent (e.g., team size and team composition) and dependent (e.g., team performance) variables. Recently, some critics have pointed to the deficits in this model. Especially, the temporal, contextual, and dynamic aspects of teams need to be investigated further (multilevel approach). Emergent states, such as team cognitions, team emotions, and team hierarchies, comprise a promising field of study that leads to a more comprehensive and holistic understanding of teams. These emergent states offer an opportunity to reconcile former concepts (Lewin’s gestalt, Koestler’s holarchy, and Cattell’s syntality) with topical team research. Therefore, the future of research on teams may partly lie in its past.</abstract>

Liegt die Zukunft der Teamforschung in ihrer Vergangenheit? Auf dem Weg zu einem ganzheitlich-dynamischen Teamverständnis

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> Since the 1970s, new therapeutic practices, involving the interaction between humans and dolphins - Tursiops truncatus in particular, have developed. Such practices are known as dolphin-assisted therapies (DAT), a specific case of a more heterogeneous set of experiences with dolphins called dolphin-assisted activities (DAA): these include programmes of dolphin watching and swimming in high seas, as well as shows in dolphinariums and marine parks. DAT has grown rapidly as a highly attractive form of therapy, due to the well-liked animals used in an aquatic, and often exotic, environment. This kind of co-therapy seems to testify the enchantement that dolphins - in myths and chronicles often reported in rescue at sea, perceived as especially charismatic - exert on people; the human attempt of bonding with them, possibly in response to the need of building a human-animal bodily intersubjectivity.</abstract>

Healing and Caring in Dolphin-Assisted Therapy: Criticisms of Effectiveness and Ethical Issues

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> The author exemplifies the congruency of essential foundations between the critical realism of the Berlin School of Gestalt Psychology (Gestalt theory) and Nicolai Hartmann`s Critical Ontology. For instance, this congruency manifests in the importance given to critical-realistic epistemology - purified from idealistic prejudices, not least prejudices such as production-theoretical ones - connected with an unconditional phenomenology. Altogether, it results in a shared critical distance from scholars of Brentano, such as Husserl and Meinong, as well as from Neo-Kantianism.</abstract>

Nicolai Hartmanns Kritische Ontologie („wie sie als Grundlage der Gnoseologie anzustreben ist“) und der Kritische Realismus der Gestaltpsychologie („Berliner Schule“/Gestalttheorie)

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Volume 45 (2023): Issue 3 (December 2023)

Volume 45 (2023): Issue 1-2 (August 2023)

Volume 44 (2022): Issue 3 (December 2022)

Volume 44 (2022): Issue 1-2 (August 2022)

Volume 43 (2021): Issue 3 (December 2021)

Volume 43 (2021): Issue 2 (August 2021)

Volume 43 (2021): Issue 1 (March 2021)

Volume 42 (2020): Issue 3 (December 2020) The Scope of Movement. Psychological and Philosophical Investigations. Guest Editors: Jagna Brudzińska, Alice Pugliese

Volume 42 (2020): Issue 2 (August 2020) Motion in Experience. Philosophical and Psychological Perspectives I. Guest Editors: Jagna Brudzińska, Alice Pugliese

Volume 42 (2020): Issue 1 (March 2020)

Volume 41 (2019): Issue 3 (November 2019)

Volume 41 (2019): Issue 2 (July 2019) What is What? Focus on Transdisciplinary Concepts and Terminology in Neuroaesthetics, Cognition and Poetics / Was ist Was? Transdisziplinäre Konzepte und Terminologien in Neuro-Ästhetik, Kognition und Poetik. Guest Editors: Renata Gambino, Grazia Pulvirenti, Elisabetta Vinci.

Volume 41 (2019): Issue 1 (April 2019)

Volume 40 (2018): Issue 3 (November 2018)

Volume 40 (2018): Issue 2 (July 2018)

Volume 40 (2018): Issue 1 (April 2018)

Volume 39 (2017): Issue 2-3 (November 2017)

Volume 39 (2017): Issue 1 (March 2017)

Gestalt Theory

The journal Gestalt Theory was founded in 1979 in Germany as an international multidisciplinary journal to establish a platform for the globally ramified research activities built on the fundamental scientific findings of the Berlin School of Gestalt theory and its legacy. The Journal publishes articles that present a holistic system-theoretical, phenomenological or experimental analysis and addresses international scientists of any field where these approaches are represented, such as psychology, philosophy, pedagogy, social and life sciences, economics, art, communication sciences in a fruitful interdisciplinary dialogue. It contains original contributions, reviews, discussions and announcements in these fields and provides a wide overview of the current scientific research and advances in multidisciplinary gestalt-theoretical perspective.  Gestalt Theory is a double-blind peer-reviewed journal. The journal has no article processing charges (APCs) nor article submission charges.    Rejection Rate   30%   Archiving  Sciendo archives the contents of this journal in Portico - digital long-term preservation service of scholarly books, journals and collections.  Plagiarism Policy  The editorial board is participating in a growing community of Similarity Check System's users in order to ensure that the content published is original and trustworthy. Similarity Check is a medium that allows for comprehensive manuscripts screening, aimed to eliminate plagiarism and provide a high standard and quality peer-review process.  BACK ISSUES: Selected full text articles from the period 1979-2008: www.gestalttheory.net/cms/index.php?page=gestalt-theory-early-archives-1979-2008  2009-2016 (Krammer, Vienna): www.gestalttheory.net/cms/archive/  Further information: www.gestalttheory.net/cms/index.php?page=onlinejournal 