Gestalt

Gestalt is a German word meaning the essence or the shape of an entity's complete form. First popularized in the 1970s, the term has come to mean the totality of the situation. It describes the process by which the brain assembles data into an understandable form instead of a collection of unrelated shapes, sounds, and impressions. Gestalt is also often defined as "the whole is greater then the sum of its parts."