Kurt Lewin is considered to be a Neo Gestaltian Psychologist.
Born at Mogilno, Prussia in Germany, in 1890, he was the second of four children of a middle class Jewish family. His father owned a small general store where his mother also worked and the family resided above the store. They also owned a small farm on the outskirts of the town where Kurt Lewin learned to enjoy nature while growing up. He was fond of saying the ninth nine of 90 (Because he was born on September 9, 1890.)
When he was 15, the Lewin family moved to Berlin. He was introduced to Greek philosophy for which he developed a life-long passion.
In 1909, Lewin entered the University of Frieberg to study medicine. With a keen desire to become a country doctor letter, he took a transfer to the University of Munich to study biology. There after he went to the University of Berlin to complete doctorate in Philosophy.
In 1910, Lewin prepared himself to take up the position of a University professor. During those days, there was an Anti-Semitic wave throughout German Universities. He was aware as to the obstacles he would have to face on his way to professorship. His fellow students included a few women who engaged in long discussions seeking solutions to the social problems, including how to change women’s position, dignity in society. From 1910 to 1912 Lewin and his fellow friends, students were involved in the socialist movement. They organized an adult education program. This was Lewin’s great service to the working class in those days. The program became popular and evoked enthusiastic response among students and teachers.
He had formal education and training in psychology at the University of Berlin. His formal training especially in experimental psychology began in 1910, in Berlin, and led to a Ph. D. in experimental study of Associative Learning in 1916. He developed a serious interest in psychology when an instructor challenged him regarding a statement he made on a scientific concept.
This is the turning point in Lewin’s life. Lewin’s defense led him in 1910 to the University of Berlin’s psychological institute. During that period the eminent psychologist Carl Stumpf was director of the institute, and who eventually became his dissertation director (a Ph. D. Guide). Here, he met the famous philosopher Ernst Cassirer.
Ernst Cassirer, left a lasting influence on him with respect to philosophy of science. At the institute he joined a lively group of students engaged in discussing and challenging conventional theories.
When Lewin completed his studies in 1914 he volunteered to serve in the Kaiser’s army. While serving near the war front for two years he was injured during combat. He served as a private and eventually became a lieutenant in the German army during World War I. For the valor displayed at the front, he was awarded the Iron Cross. He wrote the landmark 1917 article "War Landscape" which represents the earliest sketches of his concept of field theory.
In 1917, Kurt Lewin married a schoolteacher Maria Landsberg. They had two children, daughter Agnes and son Fritz. The marriage lasted 10 years. During this period he was deeply involved in writing articles, research papers in journals. His work and academic thoughts drew attention from all over.
Lewin was engrossed in applied or industrial psychology. He wrote two papers on the subject in 1919 and 1920. He contended that a person produces to live and not vice versa. Lewin argued that the worker’s well-being is enhanced, not merely by reducing his man-hours on the job, but through the improvement of his psychological components (tangible and intangible benefits), the important factor being the enhancement of the inner value (motivation) afforded by working.
In 1922, he began to crystallize his philosophy of science. This was evident from his publication Der Begriff der Genese in Physik, Biologie and Entwicklungsgeschichte. – (In English titled : The concept of Genesis in Physics, Biology and Evolutionary History, 1922). This concept later led Lewin to his Dynamic theory and the Field approach in psychology. According to him, psychology had arrived at a Galileian turning point. He also pointed out that the psychologist must no longer think in Aristotelian terms of absolute contrasting pairs such as black and white but in terms of dynamic sequences, as per Galileo concepts of continuum in a unified field. From Lewin’s writings about field theory and field approach in psychology, we can assume that from 1922 to 1931, Lewin worked more under the influence of "Galileian Physics."
In 1927, he was promoted to the position of Ausserordentilicher professor in University of Berlin. At the psychological institute, Lewin established associations with Kohlar and Max Wertheimer. Both were in the institution establishing formulations for the new gestalt psychology, that Lewin found appealing. He was deeply interested in Gestalt phenomena and its explanations of actual experience, and he became a vital factor in the development of Gestalt’s school of thought.
Lewin was enthusiastic and easy to approach, which attracted students into close-knit discussion groups around him. He oversaw many experimental investigations, while in Berlin. Girls also participated freely in both college debates and conducted research in Lewin’s charmed circle. It was Lewin who encouraged girl studentsto participate in group discussion as well as in experimental investigations. This was when women were still being excluded from Titchener’s Society of Experimental Psychologists in America.
In 1929, his first trip to America was to attend a meeting of the International Congress of Psychologists at Yale University. Before the meeting of I.C.P., Lewin’s works were reviewed by Professor J. F. Brown (one of the former American Students of Lewin, in Berlin). Brown’s paper was published in The Psychological Review, which had evaluated Lewin’s overall contribution to psychology for the benefit of English language psychologists, for the first time in America. Here, Lewin presented a film of a young child. He wanted to show the participants of the conference as to how a young child learns to sit on a stone depicting the barriers and field forces at play. Gordon Allport, one of the eminent psychologists of America, who saw the film said, the film and Lewin were a hit at the Yale conference.
In 1930, Lewin was invited as a visiting professor for six months at Stanford University upon the recommendation of Edwin Boring, the Director of The Psychological Laboratory at Harvard. While proceeding to Stanford, he stopped in New York and was a guest of the Columbia University faculty club. In New York he met Grader Murphy, a young Professor of psychology.
Grader Murphy was very impressed as were other psychologists who were eager to hear Lewin’s first hand report on recent political developments in Germany. Lewin reported the vivid description of the riots organized by Nazis at University of Berlin in which one Jewish student was killed. This meeting also generated Murphy’s interest in Lewin’s research experiments at the psychological institute on environmental forces and child behavior.
After his visit to Stanford, a newly married Lewin and wife Gertrud Weiss and their daughter Miriam headed back home from California to Germany.
Enroute, they visited Japan where they contacted researchers at the University of Tokyo who were interested in his research work on Group Dynamics and Field Theory. He heard about Hitler’s ascendancy to power just as he boarded a train across Asia. His wife and daughter’s departure
was held up due to daughter’s illness. He also learned about Hitler’s rule before leaving America and decided to stay in New England. After sometime Lewin returned to Germany. On account of the combined efforts of the committee on displaced scholars and Ethel Warring (a specialist on child development at Cornell), Lewin was able to return to America on a two- year assignment at Cornell’s School of Home Economics. Dr. Ethel Warring was impressed by Lewin’s work on child behavior, while she had visited the Psychological Institute in Berlin. She was also impressed by his film studies of children. When the funding for this Cornell position of Lewin ran out, he was able to obtain a faculty post at the University of Iowa. Lewin’s Iowa position was the result of the intercession of Lawrence Frank of the Rockefeller Foundation.
In 1935, Lewin was professor at University of Iowa and worked there till 1944. During these years he oversaw path-breaking research, working for the U. S. government. He wrote research papers and articles and lectured on various issues of social concern, all over America.
At Iowa, Lewin attracted a lively community at an informal discussion club, called the Iowa Quasselstrippe.
The Iowa Quasselstrippe or Forum for the energetic exchange of ideas among his students was called the Wot Air Club. The Forum met on Tuesdays at noon, at the Round Window Restaurant.
Lewin was invited as visiting professor at Harvard University for the spring terms of 1938 and 1939. Henry Murray was then the director of psychological clinic at Harvard University. After completing his spring semester in 1939, he was invited to the University of California at Berkeley to lecture at the summer school. Lewin left Iowa to establish his research center for Group Dynamics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It was realization of Lewin’s dream. Around 1945 he moved to MIT, working on a project – The Project for the American Jewish Congress called the Commission of Community Interrelations. (C.C.I) in New York. By the summer of 1947, Lewin also established The National Training Laboratories (NTL), which to this day plays a leading role in training consultants to business, governmental and non governmental organizations worldwide.
Kurt Lewin died of a massive heart attack in 1947.
This Germany born American (naturalized) psychologist was one of the prominent contributors to the school of Gestalt Psychology.
Starting a career as a faculty at the University of Berlin, he immigrated to the United States in 1932. He rose to become director of the research center for Group Dynamics at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1944.
He saw behavior of individual in terms of the interaction of internal and external psychological forces.
The Founder of Modern Social Psychology is renowned for his scientific approach and experimentation. A prolific writer, he has written over 80 articles and eight books.
September 9,1890
Born in Mogilno, Prussian province of Germany.
1910
Began his formal training in psychology in Berlin.
1914
Enters Army for four years during World War I.
1916
Completed Ph. D., from the University of Berlin.
1917
Married Maria Landsberg.
1919
Birth of daughter Agnes.
1921-33
He became Private dozent at Psychological Institute in Berlin (he served as professor philosophy and psychology.)
1922
Son Fritz born.
1927
Promoted to Ausserordentlichor Professor.
1929
Remarried to Gertrud Weiss.Published The Methods of Kurt Lewin ,A Study of Action and Effect.
1931
Daughter Miriam was born.
1932
He emigrated to the United States.
1932
Served as a visiting professor at Stanford University.
1933
Son Daniel born.
1935
Professor at University of Iowa.
1935
Publication on A Dynamic Theory of Personality.
1936
Publication on Principles of Topological Psychology.
1938
Publication of The conceptual representation and measurement of psychological forces.
1940
Became an American citizen.
1942
He became President of the Society for the psychological study of Social Issues.
1944
Organized research center for Group-Dynamics, at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
1944
Established Commission on community Interrelations (C.C.I).
1944-47
At Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
1944
Mother killed at Nazi Extermination camp.
1946
Published Psychological Problems in Jewish Education.
1946
Published Frontiers In Group Dynamics.
1947
Publication on Resolving Social Conflicts.
1947
He created National Training Laboratories
1948
His publication on Resolving Social Conflicts, selected papers on group dynamics.
1947
Died at the age of 57 in Massachusetts.
While the Gestalt Psychologists, Max Werthemir and others felt that their theory of perception and cognition was entirely adequate, they found it impossible to apply their methods and concepts to the study of such vital matters of human behavior. They left to Kurt Lewin to expand Gestalt theory in to this new area. During World War I, Lewin was interested in working with motivation and tension systems.
Ultimately, his efforts led to the development of a new formulation, known as Field Theory.
He wrote Principles of topologi psychology. He believed in the field approach and also argued "for change to take place, the total situation has to be taken into account. If isolated facts are used, a misrepresented picture could be developed. According to Lewin, the field theory is the proposition that human behavior is the function of both the person and the environment :Expressed in symbolic terms,
This means that one’s behavior is related to one’s personal characteristics and to the social situation in which one find oneself.
In order to study motivation and development of personality, Lewin required some method of mathematical analysis and representation, which could deal with the complete forces. Lewin found his solution in topological mathematics and vector psychology and later in hodology, a new technique that he developed to fit the needs of psychology. Lewin believed that the psychological situations could be described topologically. Topology is a non – material geometry of spaces in which such concepts as inside, outside, and boundary are used.
He proposed a number of concepts dealing with such psychological responses such as behavior in space.
Lewin found topology useful in representing the general situation or environment in which the organism operates. He employed vectors to show the various kinds of forces, acting in and on the individual.
Lewin listed six major characteristics of his Field Theory :
(1) The use of constructive rather than a classificatory method.
(2) An interest in the dynamic aspects of events.
(3) A psychological rather than a physical approach.
(4) An analysis which starts with the situation as a whole.
(5) Behavior as a function of the field at the time it occurs.
(6) A mathematical representation of the field.
Lewin also emphasizes underlying forces as determiners of behavior and expresses a preference for psychological as opposed to physical or physiological descriptions of the field. In Lewin’s words, "A field is defined as the totality of co-existing facts which are conceived of as mutually interdependent."
Group Dynamics
Lewin’s is best known for his work in the field of organization behavior and the study of group dynamics. In 1946, he launched the Research Center for Group Dynamics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1944–47). He attempted to analyze behavior using laboratory techniques. He also compared, for instance, the effect of democratic and authoritarian behavior of groups.
He discovered that learning is best facilitated when there is a conflict between immediate concrete experience and detached analysis within the individual. His cycle of action, reflection, generalization, and testing is characteristic of experimental learning :
Moreover, group dynamics is founded on Lewin’s concept of action research. He felt that social problems, including conflict, leadership, and adjustment should be solved scientifically for there is no hope of creating a better world without a deeper scientific insight into the function of leadership and culture" and other essentials of group life.
The following six major program areas were developed :
1 Group Productivity
2 Communication
3 Social perception
4 Inter group relations
5 Group membership
6 Training of leaders
(that is T – groups training was developed by Lewin)
Regarding Lewin’s work in group dynamics Carl Rogers wrote, "Perhaps the most significant social invention of this century."
THE FEMALE STUDENTS IN LEWIN’S LIFE
When Kurt Lewin was in Berlin, the most useful and significant experimental work, which was fortifying his theories were contributed mostly by female students. They all were pursuing their Ph.D.’s from the University of Berlin.
The most significant contribution to his Field Theory was that of the Russian born Bluma Zeigarnik. She received her Ph. D. under Lewin’s guidance from the University of Berlin in 1927. Her intent was to experiment with respect to Lewin’s thesis that a system of psychological tension is motivating until the intended task is executed fully. It is also observed that goal–directed activity left unfulfilled keeps the psychological system pent-up with undischarged tension. Bluma Zeigarnik also achieved the first confirmation of Lewin’s thesis on tension systems, that unfulfilled tasks are retained better than completed ones. Now this experiment is known in experimental psychology "The Zeigarnik Effect".
Lewin’s another Russian female student Maria Ovsiankina, studied under Lewin at the University of Berlin. She continued her research in the vein of Zeigarnik, but her concern was the quantification of the spontaneous resumption of the once interrupted tasks. She corroborated Lewin’s thesis by establishing a definite correlation between tension release and need satisfaction.
A third female student Vera Mahler Bornin Hamberg, Germany, received her Ph. D. from the University of Berlin in 1933. She explored the possibility of substitute activity functioning as a release of those tensions produced by interrupted tasks. Her research work was on Degrees of Substitute Activity.
Kale Lissner was another female student of Lewin, who published her experimental findings in 1933. She had done her research on The Discharge of needs by Substitute Activities. She explored that a difficult performance serving as the substitute value was found of considerably higher worth than a relatively easy one. Moreover, the greater the similarity of the substitute activity then the greater its value, the degree of relationship being a vital factor.
• As in physics, the grouping of events and objects into paired opposites and similar logical dichotomies is being replaced by groupings with the aid of serial concepts which permit of continuous variation, party owing simply to wider experience and the recognition that transition stages are always present.
• Only by the concrete whole which comprises the objects and the situation are the vectors which determine the dynamics of the event defined.
• American cultural ideal of the self-made man, of everyone standing on his own feet, is as tragic a picture as the initiative – destroying dependence on a benevolent despot. We all need each other. This type of interdependence is the greatest challenge to the maturity of individual and group functioning.
• If you want truly to understand something, try to change it.
• There is nothing so practical as a good theory.
• The processes governing the acquisition of the normal and abnormal are fundamentally alike.
• The re-educative process has to fulfill a task that is essentially equivalent to a change in culture.
• Experience alone does not create knowledge.
• Social action, just like physical action, is steered by perception.
• The possession of correct knowledge does not suffice to rectify false perceptions
• Incorrect stereotypes are functionally equivalent to wrong concepts. Prejudice is the functional equivalent of bad theory.
• Changes in sentiments do not necessarily follow changes in cognitive structure.
• True change involves three expressions of a central process : change in action ideology, acceptance of a changed set of facts and values, and a change in the perceived social world
• Acceptance of a new set of values and beliefs cannot usually be brought about item by item.
• The individual accepts a new system of values and beliefs by accepting belongingness in group.
• The creation of an empirically verifiable theory was the essence of science; research therefore, had to be guided by the need to develop an integrated concept of the processes of group life.
• The conditions, which improve the effectiveness of community leaders who are attempting to better intergroup relations.
• The effect of the conditions under which contact between persons from different groups takes place.
• Our behavior is purposeful; we live in a psychological reality or life space that includes not only those parts of our physical and social environment to us but also imagined states that do not currently exist.
• The creation of an empirically verifiable theory was the essence of science, research, therefore, had to be guided by the need to develop an integrated concept of the processes of group life.
• The chief methodological approach would be that of developing actual group experiments of change, to be carried on in the laboratory or in the field.
