Kurt Lewin (Luh-veen) was considered by some as the father of modern social psychology due

to his act of breaking new ground in employing scientific methods and experimentation in the
study of social behavior. His focus on fusing psychology with the philosophy of science resulted
in an extensive number of empirical studies performed in the realms of child development,
motivation and social behavior, particularly having to do with observational studies and
experiments on children’s behavior.

Lewin not only adapted Gestalt principles but further applied them to a theory of personality
and development into what is now known as the Psychological Field Theory. He translated
Gestalt philosophy into social experience involving people who should be considered as wholes
instead of being composed of discrete parts. A person is presented as a whole system consisting
of subsystems that are somewhat separate yet are still capable of interacting and combining
with each other.

He was one of the first psychologists to propose that the development of an individual was the
product of the interaction between inborn predispositions (nature) and life experiences
(nurture). This conception was presented by Lewin in the form of a mathematical equation
known as Lewin’s Equation for behavior, stating that behavior is the function of the person
interacting within his environment or B = f (P,E).

As such, Lewin accounted for human behavior by emphasizing forces and tensions that
influence it. He asserted that the behavior of an individual is always geared toward some goal
or objective and it is precisely this intention that matters most in the performance of behavior.
These intentions supposedly follow field principles and are influenced by psychological forces
such as how the individual perceives a situation.

According to Levin, behavior exists in a totality of interacting facts which comprise a dynamic
field. The circumstances or conditions in any part of the field are influenced by and depend on
every other part of the field. This psychological field is otherwise known as the life space which
comprises the individual and his psychological or behavioral environment also known as facts
that affect the behavior or thoughts of the individual at a certain point in time.

Life space is most frequently determined by the physical and social environment that the
individual finds himself in. It may include places where he goes, events that occur, feelings
about places and people encountered, what he sees on TV or reads in books, his imagined
thoughts and goals. Encompassed by a child’s life space are forces which the child may be
aware of or not, in addition to forces which are accepted by the child as true though they may
not be so.

For example, if a child is convinced that his sibling is more loved by their parents, even if it were
not true, the child’s perception would, for him, still be a fact within his life space. Operating
from this misconception, the child’s behavior and attitudes would be influenced just as much
as if what he knew were indeed a fact. Facts in a child’s life space can stem from various sources
such as the current physiological state, e.g. hunger or excitement, his social needs such as
desire for approval, his past experiences, present realities and future goals.

The development of a child is characterized by a personality system that continually expands

and differentiates to accommodate the learning of new roles, norms and social codes. Lewin
further offered an explanation as to why same age children manifest differences in
development. Each child experiences a unique combination of facts that make up his life space
that can never be exactly the same as another child’s life space.
Some say that Lewin’s conceptions were more of an approach rather than a theory, pointing
out that Lewin failed to present an organized description and elaboration of his views on child
development.

In spite of criticisms, however, Lewin merits recognition for stimulating a vast amount of
innovative research on children. He was quite effective at motivating other researchers to
explore novel avenues of research. He unlocked new perspectives on development by
borrowing ideas from physics and mathematics.

Lewin is also credited for contributing to American education through the practice of
cooperative learning, wherein two or more students assist each other in learning a common
subject matter resulting in more successful learning. He also contributed other useful concepts
that aided in leadership, classroom management and discipline, and the field of action
research. His impact on psychology has firmly entrenched him as one of the most highly
revered psychologists of the twentieth century.

Kurt Lewin (1890-1947), unlike Pavlov, Skinner and Gestltian psychologists, conducted
experiments on the study of behaviour of children. He utilised an elaborate experimental set-up
with a view to control the child’s total environment during the course of the investigation for
getting detailed information.

Lewin emphasised the study of behaviour as a function of the total physical and social situation.
Lewin holds that psychological laws need not be formulated solely on the basis of statistical
averages. Rather the individual case is equally important.

Even if all general psychological laws were known, we would still need to understand the specific
individual and ‘total situation’ in which he exists before we could make any prediction about his
behaviour.

Thus Lewin favours an idiographic psychology in which the focus is on the individual, as opposed
to nomothetic psychology, where the emphasis is on Statistical average.

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Lewin describes his viewpoint in the following formula:

b=F(pe)

B represents behaviour

f is a function

P is the person

E is the total environment situation.

Lewin explains the individual behaviour on the basis of life-space. An individual’s life-space
depends on his psychological force. It includes the person; his drives, tensions, thoughts and his
environment, which consists of perceived objects and events.
Lewin represents his theory through a diagram in which an individual is in the centre. He moves
through his life-space which consists of the totality of facts that determine his behaviour at a
given time.

A life-space contains the individual himself, the goals he is seeking (positive valence) or avoiding
(negative valence), the barriers that restrict the individual’s movements and the path he must
follow to reach his goal.

Desire creates tensions in the individual and tensions come to a balancing state and the person
acts. After the goal has been achieved, the organism (individual) returns to a state of repose until
a new desire activates him.

In Lewin’s theory, threat, goal and barrier are the main factors. An individual who has to achieve
some goal has to cross a barrier. The barrier may be psychological or physical. Because of the
changes in the barrier in the life- space of an individual, continuous reconstruction takes place.

Lewin’s theory is called field theory as to a psychologist field means the total psychological world
in which a person lives at a certain time. It includes matters and events of past, present and
future, concrete and abstract, actual and imaginary – all interpreted as simultaneous aspects of
a situation. Lewin states that each person exists within a field of forces. The field of forces to
which the individual is responding or reacting is called his life-space.

Lewin’s theory regards learning as a relativistic process by which a learner develops new insight
or changes old ones. According to the theory, learning is not a mechanistic process of connecting
stimuli and responses within a biological organism. Field psychology explains development of
insight as a change in cognitive structure of life-space.

Lewin’s theory regards learning as a relativistic process by which a learnt develops new insight or
changes old ones. According to the theory, learning is not a mechanistic process of connecting
stimuli and response within a biological organism. Field psychology explains development of
insight as a change in cognitive structure of life-space.
Lewin’s theory may be explained as under:
Suppose a person P is moving towards a goal of getting social recognition. But to achieve the
goal, he has to apologies. New asking for apology is the barrier coming in his way. The barrier
may be physical or psychological forces preventing him from reaching the goal. These forces
organise themselves into a pattern which determines his future behaviour.

Lewin has classified learning into the following categories:

(i) Learning is a change in cognitive structure.

(ii) Learning is a change in motivation, i.e., in valences and values.

(iii) Learning is acquisition of skills.

(iv) Learning is a change in group belonging.

Learning of all types involves change in perception.

Changes in cognitive structure are caused by the forces in the psychological field – needs,
aspirations and valences.

Lewin thinks that level of aspiration depends upon the potentialities of an individual and on the
influences of the group to which he belongs. Too higher or too level of aspiration discourages
learning.

Main Concepts of Lewin’s Field Theory:

Lewin’s system leans heavily on concepts derived from topology, a branch of higher mathematics
that deals with transformation in space, from vector analysis, or the mathematics of directed
lines and from the sciences of chemistry and physics concepts as Valence, equilibrium and field
force. Lewin’s most important publication is Principles of Topological Psychology (1936).

The main concepts used in Lewin’s field theory are as follows:

1. Topology:
It is also called topological. Two basic concepts which topological space denotes are:
(i) Connectedness, and

(ii) Part-whole relationships.

Topological concepts are used to represent the structure of life- space in such a way as to define
the range of possible perceptions and actions. This is accomplished by showing the arrangements
of the functional parts of life-space. The parts are shown as various regions and their boundaries.
When an individual structures his life-space, he divides it into regions.

2. Vector:
The term vector represents a force which is influencing movement towards a goal or away from
it. If there is only one vector (force), there is movement in the direction of the vector. However,
if there are two or more vectors acting simultaneously in different directions, the movement is
in the direction of the resultant force.

3. Life-Space:
It is also called the psychological field. The psychological field is the space in which the person
moves psychologically. It contains the whole of one’s psychological reality – one’s self and what
one thinks of or what one gains from one’s physical and social environment.

4. The Person in Life-Space:

The person is often represented as a point moving about in his life-space, affected by pulls and
pushes upon him, circumventing barriers in his locomotion in his own life-space.

5. Valence:
When a person is attracted by an object, that object is said to have a positive valence. When a
person is repelled by an object that is said to have a negative valence. The person tends to move
towards a region in life- space that has positive valence and he tends to move away from a region
in life-space that has negative valence. Because life-space may contain regions with several
valences active at a time, these give rise to conflict, especially when the opposing forces are
approximately in balance.

Lewin specifies three chief kinds of conflict:

(1) Two Positive Valence:
Such as when a child has to choose between going to picnic and playing with his friends.

(2) A Simultaneous Positive and Negative Valence:

Such as when a child is offered for a reward for the school task he does not wish to perform.

(3) Two Negative Valence:

Such as when a child is threat-end with punishment if he does not do a task which he does not
wish to perform.

6. Distance and Direction:

When there is a close correspondence between life-space and physical space, physical distances
and directions may be used for experimental purposes as approximations of distances and
directions in life space.

7. Behaviour:
Lewin regards behaviour as a function of present life space. He insists that behaviour depends
upon the present and not upon the past or future.

8. Barrier:
It is a dynamic part of an environment which resists motion through it. It stands in the way of a
person’s reaching his goal.

9. Goal:
Goal is a region of valence-region of life-space to which a person is psychologically attracted.
10. Tension:
It is very closely to and is descriptive of psychological needs. Release of tension may be achieved
either through reaching a goal or through reconstructing a life-space.

11. Cognitive Structure:

It is an environment including a person as known by the person. It is synonymous with insight or
understanding.

Classroom Implications of Field Theory:

Taking into consideration, the field theory as a whole, the classroom teaching-learning
implications include the significance of seeing the total situation at the beginning of the lesson
or an activity. The teacher should preview the activities involved and the problem to be
encountered. Moreover, from the point of view of a field theorist, the teacher should keep in
mind that the student, the teacher himself, other teachers, the school and the peer group- are
all parts of the total situation.

The need for seeing the whole and details of the situation is very necessary. The teacher must
assist the students to perceive the goal and the barrier. The goal must be presented in an easier
and simplified way. Sometimes partial insight of a situation may provide partial relief from
tension.

Following are the major educational implications of this theory:

1. Reward and Punishment:
According to Lewin, the learner because of attraction to rewards may resort to shortest methods.
For example, to get distinction in the examination (record) the student may like to cheat (shortcut
method). It is, therefore, necessary to put some barriers over the reward situation, to avoid
access to such short methods.

In the case of punishment, however, there is a tendency to leave the field because of the
unpleasantness of the task, unless some strong barriers are there to keep one in the field. Reward
activities often become interesting and are liked so that motivation is no longer extrinsic while
the activities controlled by the threat of punishment tend to become extremely hated.

2. Success and Failure:

Psychological analysis of success from the point of view of the learner shows the following
possibilities:
(1) To reach a goal constitutes success.

(2) To get within the region of the goal may be a success experience.

(3) To make some progress in the direction of the goal also constitutes a success experience.

(4) To select a socially approved goal is also a success experience.

 If you want to truly understand something, try to change it.
- Kurt Lewin

Field Theory - Kurt Lewin

Kurt Lewin (1890-1947) was a famous, charismatic

psychologist who is now viewed as the father of social
psychology. Born in Germany, Lewin emigrated to the
USA as a result of World War II.

Lewin viewed the social environment as a dynamic field

which impacted in an interactive way with human
consciousness. Adjust elements of the social environment
and particular types of psychological experience
predictably ensue. In turn, the person's psychological
state influences the social field or milieu.

Lewin was well known for his terms "life space" and "field theory". He was
perhaps even better known for practical use of his theories in studying group
dynamics, solving social problems related to prejudice, and group therapy (t-
groups). Lewin sought to not only describe group life, but to investigate the
conditions and forces which bring about change or resist change in groups.

In the field (or 'matrix') approach, Lewin believed that for change to take place,
the total situation has to be taken into account. If only part of the situation is
considered, a misrepresented picture is likely to develop.

Later on, yoda in Star Wars brought field theory back into vogue, with his kind
wish for Luke Skywalker, "may the force [field] be with you." But likewise, Luke
had to influence the force.

The following two passages offer a more detailed summary of Lewin's field theory.

From Smith (2001):

For Kurt Lewin behaviour was determined by totality of an individual�s

situation. In his field theory, a �field� is defined as �the totality of
coexisting facts which are conceived of as mutually interdependent�
(Lewin 1951: 240). Individuals were seen to behave differently according
to the way in which tensions between perceptions of the self and of the
environment were worked through. The whole psychological field, or
�lifespace�, within which people acted had to be viewed, in order to
understand behaviour. Within this individuals and groups could be seen in
topological terms (using map-like representations). Individuals participate
in a series of life spaces (such as the family, work, school and church),
and these were constructed under the influence of various force vectors
(Lewin 1952).

Hall and Lindzey (1978: 386) summarize the central features of Kurt
Lewin�s field theory as follows:

Behaviour is a function of the field that exists at the time the behaviour
occurs,

Analysis begins with the situation as a whole from which are differentiated
the component parts, and

The concrete person in a concrete situation can represented

mathematically.

Kurt Lewin also looked to the power of underlying forces (needs) to

determine behaviour and, hence, expressed �a preference for
 psychological as opposed to physical or physiological descriptions of the
field� (op. cit.).

In this we can see how Kurt Lewin drew together insights from topology
(e.g. lifespace), psychology (need, aspiration etc.), and sociology (e.g.
force fields � motives clearly being dependent on group pressures). As
Allport in his foreword to Resolving Social Conflict (Lewin 1948: ix) put it,
these three aspects of his thought were not separable. �All of his
concepts, whatever root-metaphor they employ, comprise a single well-
integrated system�. It was this, in significant part, which gave his work
its peculiar power.

From Jones (n.d.):

Lewin is most renown for his development of the field theory. The field
theory is the "proposition that human behavior is the function of both the
person and the environment: expressed in symbolic terms, B = f (P, E)."
(Deaux 9) This means that one�s behavior is related both to one�s
personal characteristics and to the social situation in which one finds
oneself.

The field theory may seem obvious to us now, but most early psychologist
did not believe in behaviorism. Many psychologists at the time believed in
the psychoanalytic theory that held human motives to be blind pushes
from within. Lewin thought of motives as goal- directed forces. He
believed "that 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 that are important to us but also imagined states that do not
currently exist" (Tesser 340).

Lewin�s field theory lead to the development of actual field research on

human behavior. With boldness, Lewin manipulated complex situational
variables in natural settings. His approach has guided experiments in the
field of social cognition, social motivation, and group processes. Most
importantly Lewin helped develop action research. Action research uses
empirical social research, social action, and controlled evaluation.

Quotes by Kurt Lewin

"A successful individual typically sets his next goal somewhat but not too much
above his last achievement. In this way he steadily raises his level of aspiration."

"Learning is more effective when it is an active rather than a passive process."

"If you want to truly understand something, try to change it."

Psychological success or failure depends upon ego involvement and the level of aspiration.
Success in easy task is not a success experience, since it does not involve the ego of the person.
Similarly, failure in a very difficult task is no failure experience.

3. Motivation:
The repetition of an activity brings change both in the cognitive structure and in the need-tension
systems. As a result of this goal, attractiveness changes. Lewin calls goal attractiveness valence
and valence change.

The valence may change in any of the following ways:

(1) Attractive goals may lose attention if the activity related to them is repeated to the points of
satiation.

(2) Choice of goals is influenced by previous experiences of success and failure.

4. Memory:
The field theory states the following regarding memory:
(1) Tasks which have no sense in completion are not remembered.

(2) Unfinished tasks are remembered better than finished tasks because of psychological tension.

(3) Tasks which lead to the satisfaction of many needs are remembered better than tasks which
lead to the satisfaction of one need.