Kurt Koffka - Definition and Overview

Kurt Koffka (Berlin, March 18, 1886 - 1941) was a Gestalt psychologist. In 1909 he received his PhD from the University of Berlin. Together with Wolfgang Köhler he became assistant at the University of Frankfurt, where he worked with Max Wertheimer.

From 1911 to 1927 he taught at the University of Giessen. There he wrote Growth of the Mind: An Introduction to Child Psychology (1921). In 1922 he introduced the gestalt programme with an article in the Psychological Bulletin to readers in the USA. From 1927 onwards he taught in the USA at Smith College. There he published Principles of Gestalt Psychology (1935).

External links

• Gestalt psychology website of the international Society for Gestalt Theory and its Applications - GTA (http://www.gestalttheory.net/)
• Website on gestalt psychology with biographies of Wertheimer et al. (http://www.ship.edu/~cgboeree/gestalt.html)