<P> In the study of perception, Gestalt psychologists stipulate that perceptions are the products of complex interactions among various stimuli . Contrary to the behaviorist approach to focusing on stimulus and response, gestalt psychologists sought to understand the organization of cognitive processes (Carlson and Heth, 2010). The gestalt effect is the capability of our brain to generate whole forms, particularly with respect to the visual recognition of global figures instead of just collections of simpler and unrelated elements (points, lines, curves, etc .). </P> <P> In psychology, gestaltism is often opposed to structuralism . Gestalt theory, it is proposed, allows for the deconstruction of the whole situation into its elements . </P> <P> The concept of gestalt was first introduced in philosophy and psychology in 1890 by Christian von Ehrenfels (a member of the School of Brentano). The idea of gestalt has its roots in theories by David Hume, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Immanuel Kant, David Hartley, and Ernst Mach . Max Wertheimer's unique contribution was to insist that the "gestalt" is perceptually primary, defining the parts it was composed from, rather than being a secondary quality that emerges from those parts, as von Ehrenfels's earlier Gestalt - Qualität had been . </P> <P> Both von Ehrenfels and Edmund Husserl seem to have been inspired by Mach's work Beiträge zur Analyse der Empfindungen (Contributions to the Analysis of Sensations, 1886), in formulating their very similar concepts of gestalt and figural moment, respectively . On the philosophical foundations of these ideas see Foundations of Gestalt Theory (Smith, ed., 1988). </P>

When was the gestalt school of psychology founded