Kurt Koffka

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Kurt Koffka (born March 18, 1886 in Berlin , † November 22, 1941 in Northampton , Massachusetts ) was a German psychologist. Together with Max Wertheimer and Wolfgang Köhler, he is one of the founders of Gestalt psychology and Gestalt theory .

Life

Koffka was born in his parents' apartment at Wilhelmstrasse 139. His parents were the lawyer Emil Koffka and Henriette Louise geb. Levy. The family was Protestant but of Jewish origin. From 1892 to 1903 Koffka attended Wilhelm-Gymnasium in Berlin, after which he went to Edinburgh to study for two years . In 1904 he took up his psychology studies at the University of Berlin , where he received his doctorate in 1909 under Carl Stumpf on tone psychology . In 1910 there was a first meeting with Wertheimer and Köhler and the first discussions about the emerging Gestalt theory. In 1911 Koffka was appointed to the University of Giessen , where he taught until 1927 - from 1918 as an associate professor. In 1921, together with Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Köhler, Kurt Goldstein and Walter Gruhle , Koffka founded the journal Psychological Research , which would subsequently become the most important publication organ for research on shape theory. Also in 1921 his book “The Basics of Psychological Development” appeared, in which he presented a developmental psychology of the child based on gestalt theory; the English translation, published in 1924, made a significant contribution to the rise of Gestalt psychology in the USA. In 1922, Koffka introduced gestalt theory in an article in the Psychological Bulletin in the United States. In 1924 he was visiting professor at Cornell University , from 1927 until his untimely death he taught as a research professor at Smith College . In 1934 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences .

His main work is the systematic presentation of Gestalt theory in his classic book “Principles of Gestalt Psychology” (1935), of which some chapters are now also available in a German book version.

In 1909 Koffka married Mira Klein . The marriage was divorced in 1923. His second marriage was to Elisabeth Ahlgrimm. Koffka's younger brother was the lawyer and writer Friedrich Koffka .

Since 2007, the Justus Liebig University in Giessen has awarded the Kurt Koffka Medal to internationally outstanding researchers for excellent research in the field of perceptual and / or developmental psychology.

selected Writings

literature

  • Molly Harrower (1983): Kurt Koffka - An Unwitting Self-Portrait. Gainesville: University Presses of Florida, ISBN 978-0-8130-0760-1 . (His student Molly Harrower published this biography based on her long-term correspondence with Koffka, which also contains his fragmentary introduction to psychology for neurologists ).
  • Jacqueline L. Cunningham & Wolfgang G. Bringmann (2001): Kurt Koffka and Clinical Neuropsychology. In: Rudolf Miller (Ed., 2001), Psychology Between Theory and Practice. Festschrift for the 60th birthday of Prof. Helmut Lück , Munich-Vienna: Profil Verlag, 183–200.
  • Wolfgang Metzger:  Koffka, Kurt. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 12, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1980, ISBN 3-428-00193-1 , p. 417 f. ( Digitized version ).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Birth register StA Berlin II No. 307/86 .
  2. ↑ Marriage register StA Berlin II No. 287/84 .
  3. ↑ This and the following biographical information from Michael Stadler, "Kurzbiographie von Kurt Koffka", in: Koffka 2009, p. 211.
  4. ↑ Perception: An introduction to the Gestalt theory (1922).
  5. ↑ Kurt Koffka 2009: On the basics of Gestalt psychology: A selection volume. Edited by Michael Stadler . Vienna: Verlag Krammer. ISBN 978-3-901811-41-8
  6. ↑ Elisabeth Ahlgrimm Koffka (1896–1994) was a. a. worked as a history professor at Smith College. For her résumé see the Elisabeth Koffka Papers .
  7. ↑ Barbara Hartlage-Laufenberg, two lawyers, two writers, two Jews - Friedrich Koffka and Kurt Messow . In: Neue Juristische Wochenschrift , issue 11/2013, p. 748.
  8. ^ University of Giessen: Kurt Koffka Medal

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Koffka, Kurt
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German psychologist
DATE OF BIRTH March 18, 1886
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH November 22, 1941
Place of death Northampton , Massachusetts