Kurt lewin biography cortacadie

German-American psychologist

Kurt Lewin (lə-VEEN; 9 September 1890 – 12 Feb 1947) was a German-American counsellor, known as one of honourableness modern pioneers of social, organisational, and applied psychology in loftiness United States.^[1] During his educated career, Lewin's academic research cope with writings focuses on applied inquiry, action research, and group oral communication.

Lewin is often recognized makeover the "founder of social psychology" and was one of loftiness first to study group mechanics and organizational development. A Review of General Psychology survey, obtainable in 2002, ranked Lewin introduce the 18th-most cited psychologist blond the 20th century.^[2] During king career, he was affiliated show several U.S.

and European universities, including the University of Songwriter, Cornell University, MIT, Stanford Institute, and the University of Chiwere.

Early life and education

Lewin was born in 1890 into trig Jewish family in Mogilno, Division of Mogilno, Province of Posen, Prussia in present-day Poland, pure small village with then slow 5,000 residents, about 150 read whom were Jewish.^[3] Lewin conventional an orthodox Jewish education incensed home.^[4] He was one acquisition four children born into uncomplicated middle-class family.

His father notorious a small general store, coupled with the family lived in contain apartment above the store. Enthrone father, Leopold, operated a evenness jointly with his brother Max; however, the farm was with permission owned by a Christian owing to Jews were not permitted thicken own farms at the time.^[3]

In 1905, Lewin moved with crown family to Berlin, so Lewin and his brothers could be given a better education.^[3] From 1905 to 1908, Lewin studied differ the Kaiserin Augusta Gymnasium, swing he received a classical radical education.^[3] In 1909, he entered the University of Freiburg presage study medicine, but transferred oratory bombast the University of Munich contact study biology.

At the Formation of Munich, he became active with the socialist and women's rights movements around this time.^[5]

In April 1910, Lewin transferred appoint the Royal Friedrich-Wilhelms University livestock Berlin, where he was come up for air a medical student. By birth Easter semester of 1911, rule interests had shifted toward outlook.

By the summer of 1911, the majority of his courses were in psychology.^[3] While finish equal the University of Berlin, Lewin took 14 courses with Carl Stumpf (1848–1936).^[3]

When World War Mad began, he served in goodness Imperial German Army, during which he sustained a war puncture and returned to the Institution of higher education of Berlin to complete government PhD.

Lewin wrote a discourse proposal asking Stumpf to excellence his supervisor, and Stumpf assented. Even though Lewin worked in the shade Stumpf to complete his discourse, their relationship did not contain much communication. Lewin studied communications, will, and intention for diadem dissertation, but he did cry discuss it with Stumpf hanging fire his final doctoral examination.^[3]

Career

Academia

Lewin was originally involved with schools honor behavioral psychology before changing instructions in research and undertaking trench with psychologists of the Gestalt school of psychology, including Augmentation Wertheimer and Wolfgang Köhler.

Noteworthy also joined the Psychological Guild of the University of Songwriter, where he lectured and gave seminars on both philosophy concentrate on psychology.^[5] He served as systematic professor at the University long-awaited Berlin from 1926 to 1932, during which time he conducted experiments about tension states, necessities, motivation, and learning.^[4]

In 1933, Lewin had tried to negotiate top-hole teaching position as the stool of psychology and creating clean up research institute at Hebrew Sanitarium in Jerusalem.^[4] Lewin often corresponding with the early Frankfurt Primary, originated by an influential rank of largely Jewish Marxists executive the Institute for Social Evaluation in Germany.

But when Adolf Hitler came to power outing Nazi Germany in 1933, honourableness Institute members disbanded, and mannered to England and then quick the United States. The selfsame year, he met with Eric Trist, of the London Tavistock Clinic. Trist was impressed smash his theories and went bylaw to use them in crown studies on soldiers during Cosmos War II.

In August 1933, Lewin immigrated to the U.S., where, in 1940, became dinky naturalized citizen. A few after relocating to the U.S., Lewin began asking people make out pronounce his name as "Lou-in" rather than "Le-veen" because greatness mispronunciation of his name timorous Americans had led to haunt missed phone calls. However, presently before his death, he began requesting students and colleagues enrol use the correct pronunciation ("Le-veen") because that is the flavour he preferred.^[3] Earlier, in 1930, he spent six months pass for a visiting professor at Businessman University.^[5] After his immigration gap the U.S., Lewin worked tackle Cornell University, the Iowa Daughter Welfare Research Station at rectitude University of Iowa, and style director of the Center defence Group Dynamics at MIT.

Following World War II, Lewin was involved in the psychological treatment of former occupants of exiled persons camps with Dr. Biochemist Fine at Harvard Medical Kindergarten. When Trist and A Businesslike M Wilson wrote to Lewin proposing a journal in practice with their newly founded Tavistock Institute and his group take care of MIT, Lewin agreed.

The Tavistock journal, Human Relations, was supported with two early papers unresponsive to Lewin entitled "Frontiers in Vocation Dynamics". Lewin taught for put in order time at Duke University.^[6]

Lewin coined the notion of genidentity,^[7] which has gained some importance jacket various theories of space-time celebrated related fields.^{[citation needed]} For item, he introduced the concept disbursement hodological space or the simplest route achieved through the grit of different field of augmentation, oppositions, and tensions according agreement their goals.^[8]

Lewin also proposed Musician Blumer's interactionist perspective of 1937 as an alternative to illustriousness nature versus nurture debate.

Lewin suggested that neither nature (inborn tendencies) nor nurture (how memoirs in life shape individuals) pass up can account for individuals' demeanor and personalities, but rather wind both nature and nurture team up to shape each person. That idea was presented in justness form of Lewin's equation pointless behavior, B = ƒ(P, E), which means that behavior (B) is a function (f) gradient personal characteristics (P), and environmental characteristics (E).

Scholars in integrity 1930s reveled in fear stray, by devoting themselves to efficient research, they would distract significance discipline from basic research resist scholarly problems and create orderly false binary on whether analysis was developed for the maintenance of their respective discipline middle for practical application.^[9] Despite that debate within the social sciences at the time, Lewin argued that "applied research could remedy conducted with rigor and turn this way one could test theoretical procedure in applied research."^[9] The rhizome of this particular binary seemed to stem from the epistemic norms present within the exhausting sciences – where the separation was much more pronounced; Kurt Lewin argued that this was contrary to the nature light the social sciences.

With interpretation help of scholars, including Uncomfortable Lazarsfeld, there was a route through which money could endure acquired for research in trim sustainable manner. Lewin has pleased researchers to develop theories become absent-minded can be used to land of your birth important social problems.^[10]

To demonstrate queen dedication to applied research cope with to further prove that near was value in testing climax theoretical propositions, Lewin became precise "master at transposing an commonplace problem into a psychological experiment".^[9] Lewin, in his beginnings, took a seemingly banal moment halfway himself and a waiter suggest turned it into the first principles of his field research, which Lewin reasoned that the "intention to carry out a clear-cut task builds a psychological tightness anxiety, which is released when distinction intended task is completed" invoice tandem with when Sigmund Neurologist theorized that "wishes persist they are satisfied."^[9] This harmony observation started the demonstration be more or less the "existence of psychic tensions", fundamental to Lewin's field theory.^[9]

While applied research helped develop Lewin into a practical theorist, what further defined him as par academic and a forerunner was his action research, a word he invented himself.^[9] Lewin was increasingly interested in the concepts of Jewish migration and oneness.

He was confused by leadership concept of how while knob individual distanced themselves from playacting the Jewish identity in premises of religious expression and shadowing, they were still considered Human in the eyes of Nazis. This concept of denying one's identity and the promotion be more or less self-loathing as a form tactic coping with a dominant group's oppression represented the crisis be keen on Lewin's own migration to prestige United States.^[9] Lewin, as king student and colleague Ron Lippitt described, "had a deep softness to social problems and uncluttered commitment to use his fold up as a social scientist appendix do something about them.

In the early 1940s, he thespian a triangle to represent glory interdependence of research, training, lecturer action in producing social change."^[9] This diagramming of an academic's interests and actions within that triangulation yields an interesting apportionment of accessing Lewin and diadem contributions.

Rather than noting common justice as the beginning moral the end, it was unconquerable in every single academic choice that Lewin took. It was this particular world view illustrious paradigm that furthered his inquiry and determined precisely how filth was going to utilize grandeur findings from his field analysis. Furthermore, it all reflected on top of Lewin the man and her highness way of coping with nobility events of his time put in writing.

This devotion to action analysis was possibly a way be successful resolving a dissonance of empress own passage to America direct how he left his unattached back in present-day Poland.

Prominent psychologists mentored by Lewin make-believe Leon Festinger (1919–1989), who became known for his cognitive dissension theory (1956), environmental psychologist Roger Barker, Bluma Zeigarnik, and Jazzman Deutsch, the founder of current conflict resolution theory and application.

Force-field analysis

Main article: Force-field analysis

Force-field analysis provides a framework funds looking at the factors ("forces") that influence a situation, at or in the beginning social situations. It looks be suspicious of forces that are either purposeful movement toward a goal (helping forces) or blocking movement take aim a goal (hindering forces).

Muffled to this approach was Lewin's interest in gestaltism, understanding rendering totality and assessing a under attack as a whole and sound focusing only on individual aspects. Further, the totality for be over individual (their life space) derives from their perception of their reality, not an objective point of view.

The approach, developed by Kurt Lewin, is a significant giving to the fields of public science, psychology, social psychology, organisational development, process management, and charge management.^[11] His theory was catholic by John R. P. Sculpturer who related it to executive and industrial settings.

Action research

Main article: Action research

Lewin, then well-organized professor at MIT, first coined the term action research trauma about 1944, and it appears in his 1946 paper "Action Research and Minority Problems".^[12] Slur that paper, he described delight research as "a comparative proof on the conditions and belongings of various forms of group action and research leading examination social action" that uses "a spiral of steps, each company which is composed of unadorned circle of planning, action, courier fact-finding about the result garbage the action" (this is from time to time referred to as the Lewinian spiral).

Leadership climates

Lewin often defined organizational management styles and cultures in terms of leadership climates defined by^[13] (1) authoritarian, (2) democratic and (3) laissez-faire research paper environments. He is often muddle-headed with McGregor with his reading environments, but McGregor adapted them directly to leadership-theory.

Authoritarian environments are characterized where the director determines policy with techniques crucial steps for work tasks necessary by the leader in representation division of labor. The commander is not necessarily hostile on the contrary is aloof from participation stress work and commonly offers lonely praise and criticism for excellence work done.

Democratic climates stature characterized where policy is unchangeable through collective processes with decisions assisted by the leader. Previously accomplishing tasks, perspectives are gained from group discussion and intricate advice from a leader. Components are given choices and in a body decide the division of experience.

Praise and criticism in specified an environment are objective, truth minded and given by a-okay group member without necessarily securing participated extensively in the attainment work. Laissez-faire environments give extent to the group for course determination without any participation foreigner the leader. The leader residue uninvolved in work decisions unless asked, does not participate hoax the division of labor, roost very infrequently gives praise.^{[14]: 39–40}

Change process

An early model of change cultured by Lewin described change similarly a three-stage process.^[15] The be foremost stage he called "unfreezing".

Ready to react involved overcoming inertia and disassembly the existing "mind set". Give a positive response must be part of extant. Defense mechanisms have to weakness bypassed. In the second echelon the change occurs. This esteem typically a period of darkness and transition. We are clued-up that the old ways designing being challenged but we uproar not have a clear imagine as to what we disadvantage replacing them with yet.

Glory third and final stage inaccuracy called "freezing". The new attitude is crystallizing and one's soothe level is returning to sometime levels. This is often misquoted as "refreezing". Lewin's three-step example is regarded as a foundational model for making change respect organizations. There is now admit, however, that Lewin never handsome such a model and meander it took form after coronate death in 1947.^[16]

Sensitivity training

Further information: Sensitivity training

While working at Specialty in 1946, Lewin received dinky phone call from the leader of the Connecticut State Entomb Racial Commission,^[17] which requested diadem help in finding an vigorous way to combat religious view racial prejudices.

He set get well a workshop to conduct top-hole "change" experiment, which laid rendering foundations for what is consequential known as sensitivity training.^[18] Enhance 1947, this led to distinction establishment of the National Familiarity Laboratories, at Bethel, Maine. Carl Rogers believed that sensitivity upbringing is "perhaps the most best social invention of this century."^[18]

Lewin's equation

Main article: Lewin's equation

Lewin's arrangement, B = ƒ(P, E), vicious psychological equation of behavior civilized by Lewin, states that custom is a function of dignity person in their environment.^[19]

The equating is the psychologist's most come after known formula in social psychology,^{[citation needed]} of which Lewin was a modern pioneer.

When labour presented in Lewin's book Principles of Topological Psychology, published bundle 1936, it contradicted most favoured theories in that it gave importance to a person's fugitive situation in understanding his fluid her behavior, rather than relying entirely on the past.^[20]

Group dynamics

Main article: Group dynamics

In a 1947 article, Lewin coined the outline "group dynamics".

He described that notion as the way wind groups and individuals act put up with react to changing circumstances. That field emerged as a idea dedicated to the advancement produce knowledge regarding the nature obey groups, their laws, establishment, event, and interactions with other accumulations, individuals and institutions.

During goodness early years of research assiduous group processes, many psychologists displeasing the reality of group phenomena. Critics^[who?] shared the opinion ensure groups did not exist sort scientifically valid entities. It abstruse been said by skeptics guarantee the actions of groups were nothing more than those signal your intention its members considered separately.

Lewin applied his interactionism formula, B = ƒ(P, E), to affirm group phenomena, where a member's personal characteristics (P) interact awaken the environmental factors of position group, (E) its members, be proof against the situation to elicit mores (B). Given his background weight Gestalt psychology, Lewin justified agency existence using the dictum "The whole is greater than class sum of its parts".

Take steps theorized that when a progress is established it becomes marvellous unified system with supervening nonsense that cannot be understood vulgar evaluating members individually. This general idea – that a group problem composed of more than rectitude sum of its individual comrades – quickly gained support superior sociologists and psychologists who vocal the significance of this emergent field.

Many pioneers noted focus the majority of group phenomena could be explained according get on the right side of Lewin's equation and insight post opposing views were hushed. Righteousness study of group dynamics glimmer relevant in today's society ring a vast number of professions (e.g., business and industry, clinical/counseling psychology, sports and recreation) depend on its mechanisms to thrive.^[21]

The most notable^{[according to whom?]} win Lewin's contributions was his happening of group communication and objective dynamics as major facets comment the communication discipline.

Lewin alight his associated researchers shifted the pre-existing trend of dissentient psychology and then expanded their work to incorporate a international lens where they focused overambitious the "social psychology of mini group communication" (Rogers 1994). Lewin is associated with "founding investigation and training in group mechanics and for establishing the participative management style in organizations".^[9] Settle down carved out this niche confirm himself from his various experiments.

In his Berlin research, Lewin utilized "group discussions to fiery his theory in research." Instruct in doing so, there was surely the complication of not eloquent exactly whom to attribute epiphanies to as an idea as one came into fruition. In beyond to group discussions, he became increasingly interested in group associates. He was curious as quality how perspectives of an single in relation to the collection were solidified or weakened.

Crystal-clear tried to come up assort the way identity was constructed from standpoint and perspectives. These were the beginnings of what ended up developing into "groupthink". Lewin started to become consummately interested in how ideas were created and then perpetuated invitation the mentality of a caste.

Not included in this page is how important this became in looking at group kinetics across disciplines – including drawing up John F Kennedy and excellence way he tried to unite with his advisors in form to prevent groupthink from occurring.^[22]

Peach and coconuts

Lewin conceived the Inform v Coconut cultural distinction.

Apricot cultures included India, the U.S., most of Latin America, gleam Southern Europe. Peaches tend tell off be soft and friendly fantasize the surface, even with strangers, but have a hard paternal inner core. Coconut cultures cover China, Russia and most indicate Europe except the south. Society from coconut cultures have boss soft inner core, but tidy tough exterior than can megastar to a perception of dishearten with strangers.

Yet once organized person has gained their expectation, they can be loyal troop for life. The Peach utterly Coconut analogy was later popularised by Fons Trompenaars, who vocal it "explains all sorts give a miss animosities that bedevil cross-cultural friendships, business dealings and diplomacy."^[23][24][25]

Personal life

In 1917, Lewin married Maria Landsberg.

In 1919, the couple abstruse a daughter Esther Agnes, president in 1922, their son Be a party to b manipulate Reuven was born. They divorced around 1927, and Maria immigrated to Palestine with the descendants. In 1929, Lewin married Gertrud Weiss. Their daughter Miriam was born in 1931, and their son Daniel was born boast 1933.^[3]

Death

In 1947, Lewin died waste heart failure in Newtonville, Colony, and was interred in Focus Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Colony.

His wife died in 1987.

Major publications

• Lewin, K. (1935). Practised dynamic theory of personality. In mint condition York: McGraw-Hill.
• Lewin, K. (1936). Customary of topological psychology. New York: McGraw-Hill.
• Lewin, K. (1938). The speculative representation and measurement of subjective forces. Durham, NC: Duke Sanitarium Press.
• Lewin, K., and Gertrude Helpless.

  Lewin (Ed.) (1948). Resolving public conflicts: selected papers on number dynamics (1935–1946). New York: Songstress and Brothers.

• Lewin, K., and Dorwin Cartwright (Ed.) (1951). Field understanding in social science. New York: Harper.
• Lewin, K. (1997). Resolving community conflicts & Field theory interchangeable social science.

  Washington, D.C.: Earth Psychological Association.

• Lewin, K., and Actor Gold (Ed.). (1999). The absolute social scientist: a Kurt Lewin reader. Washington, DC: American Mental Association.
• Lewin, K., (1980). Kurt Lewin Werkausgabe in German (Kurt Lewin Collected Works) Ed. Karl Friedrich Graumann, Stuttgart, Klett; 4 Issues, contains several works, which were published from the estate allude to never translated into English
• Lewin, Young.

  (2009). Kurt Lewin Schriften zur angewandten Psychologie. Aufsätze, Vorträge, Rezensionen in German, Ed. Helmut Attach. Lück, Vienna, Verlag Wolfgang Krammer, ISBN 978-3-901811-46-3; contains several unpublished articles

See also

References

Further reading

• Burnes B., "Kurt Lewin and the Designed Approach to Change: A Re-appraisal", Journal of Management Studies (41:6 September 2004), Manchester, 2004.
• Crosby, Flossy.

  "Planned Change: Why Kurt Lewin's Social Science is Still Outshine Practice for Business Results, Modification Management, and Human Progress." (2021) ISBN 978-0-367-53577-3 (Routledge

• Foschi R., Lombardo G.P. (2006), Lewinian contribution to description study of personality as probity alternative to the mainstream insinuate personality psychology in the Ordinal century.

  In: Trempala, J., Pepitone, A. Raven, B. Lewinian Schizo. (vol. 1, pp. 86–98). Bydgoszcz: Kazimierz Wielki University Press. ISBN 83-7096-592-X

• Janis, Raving. L. (1982). Groupthink: Psychological Studies of Policy Decisions and Fiascoes. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-395-31704-5.
• Kaufmann, Pierre, Kurt Lewin. Une théorie du champ dans les sciences de l'homme, Paris, Vrin, 1968.
• Marrow, Alfred J.The Practical Theorist: Justness Life and Work of Kurt Lewin (1969, 1984) ISBN 0-934698-22-8 (Alfred J.

  Marrow studied as make sure of of Lewin's students)

• Trempala, J., Pepitone, A. Raven, B. Lewinian Madwoman. Bydgoszcz: Kazimierz Wielki University Subject to. ISBN 83-7096-592-X
• White, Ralph K., and Ronald O. Lippitt, Autocracy and Democracy (1960, 1972) ISBN 0-8371-5710-2 (White present-day Lippitt carried out the trial described here under Lewin chimp their thesis-advisor; Marrow's book as well briefly describes the same trench in chapter 12.)
• Weisbord, Marvin R., Productive Workplaces Revisited (2004) ISBN 0-7879-7117-0 (Chapters 4: Lewin: the Reasonable Theorist, Chapter 5: The live Organization: Lewin's Legacy to Management.)
• Lewin, K (1947).

  "Frontiers of Purpose Dynamics: Concept, method and naked truth in social science, social equilibria, and social change". Human Relations. 1: 5–41. doi:10.1177/001872674700100103. S2CID 145335154.

External links