An Example of the Law of Similarity
The best way to explain the principal of Gestalt psychology known as the law of similarity is with a simple example. Support someone showed you a photo composed of rows of shapes. Now, imagine that these rows were made of alternately placed circles and triangles. If the person handing you the picture didn’t verbally explain the image as such, you probably wouldn’t see any rows at all. Instead, you would probably see vertical columns of circles and triangles, disregarding the presence of rows all together.
The law of similarity illustrates the phenomenon of almost everyone instantaneously perceiving information in this way. Why is this interesting to Gestalt psychology? First of all, the fact remains that there are indeed rows of alternately placed triangles and circles. So why will almost everyone ignore this and see the vertical columns of like shapes instead? It isn’t as if the law of similarity details an inability to see the rows. If asked by someone, you could quickly shift into a different mode of thinking and acknowledge the alternately placed circles and triangles. However, the immutable fact remains that when left to your own devices, you would probably first see the rows of like objects. In fact, this is what most people do, whenever they are presented with such information.
The Law of Similarity and Gestalt Psychology
The Law of similarity asserts that humans will instinctively group like objects together. Expanding upon this, we can see that the more basic and straightforward the objects, the easier and more uniformly most people will group that information. As we saw with the circle and triangle example, this grouping not only assists us in recognizing similarity, but actually shapes the way we perceive information. What does the law of similarity have to do with Gestalt psychology?
Gestalt psychology states that an end perception will be more than the sum of the parts composing that perception. For if the sum of the parts were the only factors influencing perception in our example of the law of similarity, we would either merely see a collection of circles and triangles devoid of any type of grouping, or have no preference for columns or rows. According to Gestalt psychology, perception is about what happens to information as we process it, not just about the information itself. This is revolutionary. Any understanding of the human brain will make this seem obvious, but the quest for objective truth blinded scientists from discovering Gestalt psychology until the early nineteen hundreds.
Why is it the Law of Similarity Important?
The latter implication of the law of similarity is a bit more involved than may first appear, and is in fact why Gestalt psychologists are so involved in their field of study. Note that there is no correct way of perceiving the triangles and circles in the above law of similarity example. Yet, almost every time, people will jump to the conclusion of columns as if it were an objective truth, generally never stopping to question if there is another way of perceiving the information. While it is true the Gestalt law of similarity does assist us in quick thinking, it also has the potential to mislead us into thinking one type of perception is superior or closer to the truth. This is troubling because the consequences of the law of similarity, along with the law of similarity itself, it merely an arbitrary perception. We could just as easily be wired to see rows in the law of similarity example, and though we see the columns as if that were all were present, it is not. Therefore, the law of similarity is not only important to Gestalt psychology because it helps explain why people perceive the way they do, but it also sheds light on how we may be limiting out reality by relying on arbitrary perceptions.
The Law of Similarity Applied to Real Life
What if we are constantly grouping objects together without any objective reason for doing so? While the triangle-circle example is an obvious illustration of the law of similarity, objects are infrequently so transparently categorized. Gestalt psychology is concerned with how some people may instantaneously categorized more abstract information due to esoteric principals. The law of similarity may extend to further reaches of the human psyche than currently understood and could potentially be the cause for a wide range of emotion. Furthermore, the more Gestalt psychology understands about how we innately categorize information, the more control we can ultimately have over the ways in which we perceive reality. What if, for example, you felt more similar with nature? Is it possible your innate categorical principals can be changed so that you feel more unity with the universe? Only Gestalt psychology and time can tell.
Köhler, Wolfgang. Gestalt Psychology, an Introduction to New Concepts in Modern Psychology. New York: Liveright Pub., 1947. Print.
