Gabriele von Wartensleben

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Gabriele von Wartensleben (April 24, 1870 – August 12, 1953) was a German psychologist who published the first academic statement on Gestalt theory. She additionally was the first woman to receive a PhD in psychology from University of Vienna through an honorary degree.[1]

Personal life[]

Gabriele von Wartensleben was born in Ansbach, Germany, on April 24, 1870. Her family was educated: her father (Ferdinand Freiherr von Andrian-Werburg) worked with anthropology and ethnography; her mother (Cäcilie Meyerbeer) was the daughter of a composer; her brother (Leopold Andrian-Werburg) wrote and studied literary history.[2]

Her five-year marriage to Dr. Konrad Graf Wartensleben resulted in a son, who died at 20 years old. The divorce happened in Berlin in 1895.[2]

Education and career[]

In 1895, Gabriele von Wartensleben graduated from the University of Zurich, studied classical philology and classical archeology. Her doctoral thesis on the concept of the Greek chreia and contributions to the history of its form was submitted to the University of Vienna, where, on May 3, 1900, she became the first female doctoral student to received her doctorate (without having ever studied there). [2]

In 1913, while studying at the Frankfurt Academy for Social Sciences, she was in the spheres of Max Wertheimer and Wolfgang Köhler, two of the founders of Gestalt theory, even recruiting them for her own psychology experiments. In that same year, she graduated from the Frankfurt Academy with a doctorate and began teaching.[3]

In 1914, she wrote and published a long footnote in The Christian personality in the ideal image which is the first published reference to Gestalt theory.[3]

By the mid-1920s, Gabriele was teaching around Germany before moving to Liechtenstein for eight years. She continued her career as an author and teacher in Germany again before her death in 1953.[2]

Selected publications[]

  • Concept of Greek chreia and contributions to the history of its form. Heidelberg: Winter, 1901.
  • "Contributions to the psychology of translation". In: Zeitschrift für Psychologie 57, 1910, pp. 90-115.
  • "About the influence of the meantime on the reproduction of read letters". In: Zeitschrift für Psychologie 64, 1913, pp. 321–385.
  • The Christian personality in the ideal image. A description of sub specie psychologica. Kempten and Munich: Kösel, 1914.
  • Truthfulness and being fulfilled. Regensburg: Habbel, 1925.

References[]

  1. ^ Harper, Robert S.; Newman, Edwin B.; Schab, Frank R. (1985). "Gabriele Gräfin von Wartensleben and the birth of gestaltpsychologie". Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences (in German). 21 (2): 118–123. doi:10.1002/1520-6696(198504)21:2<118::AID-JHBS2300210203>3.0.CO;2-D. ISSN 1520-6696. PMID 11608762.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c d "ARIADNE - Projekt "Frauen in Bewegung" - Gabriele von Wartensleben". webarchiv.onb.ac.at. Retrieved 2020-05-12.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b King, D. Brett; Wertheimer, Michael (2005-01-01). Max Wertheimer and Gestalt Theory. Transaction Publishers. ISBN 978-1-4128-2826-0.
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