Who has propounded the theory of insight?

Concept

Insight learning is a theory of learning put forward by the Gestalt school of psychology. It holds that learning is not always a gradual, incremental process built up through repeated trial-and-error or reinforcement; instead it can occur as a sudden reorganisation of the perceptual field, in which the learner suddenly perceives the relationships among the elements of a problem and grasps the solution as a whole (the “aha” moment).

Application

In Wolfgang Köhler's classic experiments with chimpanzees — for example, the chimpanzee Sultan given a stick with a banana hung out of reach — the animal did not solve the problem through repeated blind attempts. After a pause, it suddenly perceived the relationship between the stick and the banana and used the stick to obtain the fruit. Köhler attributed this sudden, whole-problem solution to insight, not to gradual conditioning.

Because this explanation of learning — sudden reorganisation of the perceptual field — originates with the Gestalt psychologists, the theory of insight is attributed to them.

Cross-check / Contrast

• Thorndike's law of effect explains learning through trial-and-error in the puzzle-box experiments: correct responses are gradually stamped in through repeated attempts and reward, producing a slow learning curve rather than a sudden solution.

• Skinner's operant conditioning explains behaviour change through reinforcement schedules following a response — again a gradual, incremental process, not a single perceptual realisation.

• Hegarty is not associated with any established theory of learning in educational psychology; the name does not correspond to a recognised insight or learning theorist.

Result

The theory of insight was propounded by the Gestalt Psychologists (notably Wolfgang Köhler).