Gestalt psychology

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun The school or theory in psychology holding that psychological, physiological, and behavioral phenomena are irreducible experiential configurations not derivable from a simple summation of perceptual elements such as sensation and response.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun (psychology) a theory of psychology that emphasizes the importance of configurational properties