Kurt
Lewin
The
study of psychology is a science centered on understanding and predicting human
behavior. Throughout its
history distinct individuals have come along and dramatically impacted our
understanding and perception of this science with their thoughts, theories, and
research, shaping psychology into what it is today. One such person who had this dramatic effect is Kurt Lewin. Psychology’s founding fathers,
such as Freud, strongly believed that behavior was driven by our unconscious
motivations or personality characteristics. Kurt Lewin revolutionized the study of psychology by
empirically showing that human behavior was not only a product of one’s
internal makeup but also greatly effected by the dynamic environment in with an
individual lives.
Kurt
Lewin has been stated to be one of the founders of social psychology and has
radically influenced our understanding of experimental learning, leadership,
action research, and group dynamics.
Lewin’s contribution and importance to the study of psychology can
be seen in that his work not only set a firm foundation for modern research on
human interaction but more importantly he displayed how social interactions can
be empirically measured and studied.
Kurt
Lewin was born on September 9, 1890 in Mogilno, in the province of Posen (a
part of Prussia, currently known as Poland). Lewin was one of four children born into a common Jewish
family. His father worked in the
families owned general store and was an active member of their Jewish
community. At age 15, the Lewin
family moved to Berlin to ensure all possible educational advantages for their
children.
Lewin’s
early education included semesters of study in Frieburg focusing of medicine
and natural science and a semester of study in Munich focusing on biology. It was during this time that
Lewin became involved in the socialist movement with a particular concern for
combating anti-Semitism, the democratization of German institutions, and the
position of women in society. (Marrow 1969). These concerns fueled Lewin’s thoughts and study while
acting as a driving force for his research. At age 20, Lewin began his studies at the University of
Berlin and received his doctorate in 1916. In this program he worked under Karl Stumpf in a fairly open
minded psychological program that was veering away from the traditional
Wundtian approaches and embracing the ideas of Gestalt psychology.
Upon
receiving his doctorate, Lewin spent four years in active military service
achieving the rank of lieutenant and receiving the Iron Cross. After completion of his military duty,
he returned to the University of Berlin to teach as an assistant professor in
psychology and philosophy. Lewin
became increasingly popular through his published work and his reputation as an
exciting professor who could hold all the students attention. He remained at the University of Berlin
until he was invited to come to Stanford University as a visiting professor in
1932. It was during his time at
Stanford that Hitler come into power in Germany, and with the implications of
this new regime, Lewin deiced to bring his family to America and continue his
work away from Germany.
Lewin
spent a year at Stanford University and two years at Cornell University before
settling into the Child Welfare Research Station at the University of Iowa in
1935 as a professor of child psychology.
It was during his first year at Iowa that Lewin published one his first works
in English, A Dynamic Theory of Personality. He published his second
book, Principles of Topological Psychology, in 1936.
At Iowa, Lewin, along with his associates, began pioneer research on
human behavior in social contexts.
He became increasing interested in research areas concerning the war and
its outcomes, giving him a great desire to heavily research group dynamics. It
was also during this time that Lewin’s solidified large amounts of
research and theory in democracy and groups, group dynamics, field theory, and
action research.
Lewin remained at the University of Iowa until 1944
when the Research Center for Group Dynamics was founded at Massachusetts
Institute of Technology. Lewin
became part of the American Jewish Commission with the Commission of Community
Interrelations project in 1944 as well.
It was within this project that Lewin’s action research model
(research directed to solving social problems) was used to investigate
different types of religious and racial prejudice. Unfortunately in 1947 Kurt Lewin passed away after a
fatal heart attach. While his life
was cut short, his theories and research continue to carry on the legacy of his
name and his immense contribution to the study of psychology.
Lewin
considered himself to be allied in theory with Gestalt psychologists. He carried a strong conviction for the
importance of theory and practice and strived to apply laboratory techniques to
social behavior in order to develop theories and continuously refine his
theories with empirical evidence from these laboratory techniques. It was these principles that brought
field theory, group dynamics, democracy and groups, and action research to be
Kurt Lewin’s most well known and influential contributions.
Field
theory stems out of the idea in order to explain behavior one must look at all
pieces of the puzzle, all dynamic interactions influence outcomes. In his theory Lewin defines the field
as the totality of coexisting facts which are conceived of as mutually
interdependent (Lewin 1951). The
field represents the complete environment of the individual. Behavior, Lewin believed, resulted from
tensions between an individuals self-perceptions and the environment
encountered. (Smith 2001).
Ones “life space”, or total environment of the individual
and all significant others, had to be understood and researched in order to
understand behavior. Lewin then
concluded that as individuals participate in many different life spaces such as
family, church, work, or school, behavior was represented as movements through
life spaces that carry both positive and negative influences and are driven by
ones perceptions based off their underlying psychological needs. (Daniels
2003).
Daniels
pinpoints three important summary points to Lewin’s field theory. First that behavior is derived for the
totality of all coexisting facts.
Second that these coexisting facts make up the dynamic field, and that
in the dynamic field every part is dependent on every other part. And thirdly that behavior depends on
the present field, not on past or future encounters. In this complex theory Lewin stated that concrete
people in a concrete setting can be measured mathematically and empirically
proved. (Smith 2001).
Group
dynamics resulted out of Lewin’s work with field theory. Group dynamics are the collective interactions
that take place with in a group.
(Reber & Reber 2003).
Lewin was particularly interested in the uniformity found in many group
interactions and looked extensively at how field theory came into play in group
settings and the roles that individuals take on when placed in a group setting.
Lewin’s
work in group dynamics can also be seen in to his research involving democracy
and groups. Lewin research in this
area has been cited as one of his best-known research topics. (Daniels 2003). In this study Lewin, along with Ronald
Lippitt, looked at the effects of democratic, autocratic, and laissez-faire
methods/styles of leadership on group structure and the behavior of group
members. Results showed numerous
insights into group structure.
Results showed that groups with efficient change that occurred in
democratic ways lead to superior group results. Superior results were found with the basis that as all
individuals can participate and become an identifiable part of the group,
change is more easily accepted. Groups that contained more authoritarian
structures were found to be more rigid, hindered creativity and lead to
dysfunctional decision making processes.
Group that contained laissez-faire styles were found to be very
inefficient and unproductive. (Daniels 2003).
Overall
results of these three leadership styles showed that democratic leadership
styles lead friendliness, conscientiousness for group members, and more
originality than the other leadership styles. Autocratic and laissez-faire groups showed significantly
greater amounts of discontent, hostility, scapegoating, and aggression than the
democratic leadership style. Lewin concluded that changes resulted not from
individual differences but from group dynamics. He also emphasized need to facilitate and guide change, as
autocracy is imposed on individuals, but democracy is learned. (Smith
2001).
It
was from his work in leadership styles and group dynamics that the
“T” groups were formed and the National Training Laboratory in
Group Development was founded.
This training center used Lewin’s laboratory practices in order to
teach effective methods of change and change motivation in group situations and
to further explore the effects of group dynamics and leadership styles.
“Action
research” is a term created by Lewin that emphasizes research that is
directly purposed at understanding and generating practical applications and
solutions to real world problems. (Reber & Reber 2003). This is the idea of researched used for
social management and leading to social action to solve social problems. Lewin broke down this process into a
cyclical pattern. The pattern
involves identifying a general idea and examining the facts of the
situation. This then leads into
planning for the first step of action to take. After the first step of action is made, a cycle of
evaluating, planning and fact finding continues leading to an overall plan and
additional steps of action. This
process continues throughout the action research process.
Controversy
has centered on whether action research is truly scientific research. With this work Lewin was more
interested in practical applications than in conducting pure scientific
research. (Daniels 2003). Lewin action research involved studies in real life
situations that encountered a wide variety of social problems. Such studies were conducted in
factories or housing projects, and lead to community studies and further
research on minority groups.
In
conclusion Lewin’s life and particularly his work in field theory, group
dynamics, democracy in groups, and action research have significantly
influenced the study of psychology and many sub fields in psychology.
Lewin’s theories and research have greatly contributed to the
understanding and knowledge of leadership and group dynamics. Additionally his work has spurred on
many other psychologists to further investigated and understand the immense
effects and importance of group dynamics and leadership on our society.
Citations
Daniels, V.
(2003). Kurt Lewin notes. Sonoma State
University. http://www.sonoma.edu/users/d/daniels/lewinnotes.html.
Lewin, K. (1951) Field
theory in social science; selected theoretical papers. D. Cartwright. New York: Harper & Row.
Marrow, A. J.
(1969) The Practical Theorist. : The Life and Work of Kurt Lewin, New York: Basic Books.
Smith, M. K.
(2001) Kurt Lewin, groups, experiential learning and action research. The Encyclopedia of Informal Education. http://www.infed.org/thinkers/et-lewin.htm.
Reber, A &
Reber, E (2003). The penguin dictionary of psychology. 3rd Edition. Penguin Books.