Gestalt Psychology, even though it no longer survives as a separate entity, has had an enormous impact.  Two people in particular lead the way in introducing it into other aspects of psychology:  Kurt Goldstein and Kurt Lewin.

Kurt Lewin was born September 9, 1890, in Mogilno, Poland.  He received his PhD from the University of Berlin under Stumpf.  After military service, he returned to Berlin where he worked with Wertheimer, Koffka, and Köhler.

He went to the U.S. as a guest lecturer at Stanford and Cornell, and took a position at the University of Iowa in 1935.  In 1944, he created and directed the Research Center for Group Dynamics at MIT.  He died in 1947, just beginning his work there.

Lewin created a topological theory that expressed human dynamics in the form of a map representing a person’s life space.  The map is patterned with one’s needs, desires, and goal, and vectors or arrows indicating the directions and strengths of these forces -- all operating as a Gestalt.

This theory inspired any number of psychologists in the U.S., most particularly those in social psychology.  Among the people he influenced were Muzafer Sherif, Solomon Asch, and Leon Festinger.