Skip to main content Skip to Search Box

Lewin, Kurt (18901947)

From Encyclopedia of Group Processes and Intergroup Relations
Kurt Lewin is remembered as a “practical theorist” and considered the intellectual father of the modern discipline of social psychology. Born in 1890 in a German village that is now part of Poland, Lewin was educated in Germany and served as an infantry soldier during World War I. His experience growing up as a Jew in an authoritarian society rampant with anti-Semitism shaped his view of human behavior and his focus on group processes. Trained in philosophy and experimental psychology, and influenced by the German Gestalt theorists, Lewin did his pioneering work in the development of field theory , a framework for understanding human behavior that focuses on how an individual conceptualizes and responds to physical and social environments. Field theory provides a paradigm for understanding and conducting studies of group processes and intergroup relations. Lewin is known as the practical theorist because he linked the study of applied problems to theory. He saw theory as essential for…
112 results

Full text Article Lewin, Kurt

From Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science
Kurt Lewin (1890–1947) was one of the prominent figures in twentieth century psychology. His impact on psychology was fundamental to the development of experimental social psychology, cognitive psychology, and action research . Kurt Lewin is one of the most frequently quoted psychologists of the…
| 2,023 words
Key concepts:

Full text Article Lewin, Kurt (1890–1947),

From Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy
Lewin, Kurt (1890–1947),
German and American (after 1932) psychologist, perhaps the most influential of the Gestalt psychologists in the United States. Believing traditional psychology was stuck in an “Aristotelian” class-logic stage of theorizing, Lewin proposed advancing to a “Galilean” stage of field theory. His central…
| 213 words , 1 image
Key concepts:

Full text Article Lewin, Kurt (1890–1947)

From The AMA Dictionary of Business and Management
| 33 words
Key concepts:

Full text Article AMBIVALENCE THEORY

From Elsevier's Dictionary of Psychological Theories
This proposition by the Swiss psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler (1857-1939) and the Austrian neurologist and psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) asserts that two opposing (“ambivalent”) beliefs, desires, behavioral tendencies, or emotions (e.g., love and hate) may coexist concurrently in one person, …
| 225 words
Key concepts:

Full text Article Action Research

From Dictionary of Nursing Theory and Research
Action research is applied research that is oriented toward producing innovation and change. Social psychologist Kurt Lewin (1890–1947) coined the term and described the process as a cycle of steps designed for problem solving in social and organizational settings, similar in theory to John Dewey's…
| 167 words
Key concepts:
YOU CANNOT UNDERSTAND A SYSTEM UNTIL YOU TRY TO CHANGE IT : KURT LEWIN (1890–1947)
IN CONTEXT APPROACH Field theory BEFORE Early 1900s Sigmund Freud and other psychotherapists argue that human behavior is a result of past experience. 1910s Wolfgang Kohler, among other Gestalt psychologists, argues that people must be understood holistically, according to all of their elements and…
| 2,017 words , 6 images
Key concepts:

Full text Article Lewin, Kurt

From Gale Biographies: Popular People
The American social psychologist Kurt Lewin (1890-1947) carried out researches that are fundamental to the study of the dynamics and the manipulation of human behavior. He is the originator of field theory. Kurt Lewin was born in Mogilno, Prussia, on Sept. 9, 1899. He studied at the universities of…
| 744 words
Key concepts:

Full text Article small groups

From Cambridge Dictionary of Sociology
The study of small groups has been a part of social psychology since the pioneering studies of Norman Triplett (1861-1910) in the late nineteenth century. Triplett argued that the presence of others affected individual performance. This led to the recognition of the importance of social influence in…
| 273 words
Key concepts:

Full text Article Lewinian

From The Penguin Dictionary of Psychology
Of or pertaining to the general point of view of the Prussian-born psychologist Kurt Lewin (1890-1947). Lewin's work was influenced by the Gestalt movement and by the Freudian psychoanalytic school, both of which emphasized the dynamic and the structured elements of human personality. His general…
| 138 words
Key concepts:

Full text Article group dynamics

From Cambridge Dictionary of Sociology
The group dynamics approach to small groups research was perhaps the most influential attempt to analyze the processual quality of group life. The approach was first articulated by German émigré Kurt Lewin (1890-1947) in the 1930s and 1940s, and became institutionalized by Lewin, his students, and…
| 321 words
Key concepts:
Mind Map

Stack overflow
More Library Resources