» Field and vector of internalization

The Psychological Field Theory of Kurt Lewin (1890-1947)

During his thirty years of scientific work, psychologist Kurt Lewin developed what is broadly called the motivation of human behavior.

In his doctrine of the motivational aspects of behavior, Levin overcomes the idea of ​​"isomorphism" between direct experience and brain dynamics. Associative or instinctive structures must be sufficiently activated by drives, needs and quasi-needs, which subsequently turn into temporary interests, intentions.

Motivation turns out to be not an isomorphic structural connection of the environment, but a certain resultant of external and internal connections. Since the true meaning of the situation absorbs the human factor, then the motivation is also (and even to a greater extent) "humanized". That is why Levin directs his main scientific interest primarily to social, and not physiological, psychology.

Briefly about field theory

Kurt Lewin in 1951 formulated a theory that compares social pressure, which determine human behavior, with physical forces:

People exist in a field of forces that push or pull them in different directions.

Internal forces:

A person's own feelings, perceived by desires, goals and abilities.

External forces (social pressure):

A person's perception of someone else's expectations or desires.

"Field" as one of the most important concepts Lewin's theory became not a brain field isomorphic to direct personal experience, but more social environment individual. The human personality itself turned out to be a system that includes subsystems interacting with each other. If the feature is active, the subsystem is in tension; activity is interrupted - tension remains until the moment the action is performed. If the activity cannot be completed, the tension is substituting or draining.

Field Formula

One of Lewin's main concepts is the field formula, according to which the behavior ( b) is a derivative function internal factors person ( p) and the external environment ( E).

B = f(pE)

P and E are interdependent variables when a person and the environment continuously and mutually influence each other.

The leading formula of the field, according to Levin, has a behaviorist connotation B \u003d f (pE), that is, behavior depends on the interaction of the individual and the environment. Levin, looking for personality structures that determine his behavior, moves away from the idea of ​​the influence of experience on him, does not want to mix in apperceptive components, so as not to endlessly complicate and confuse his formula of behavior.

According to field theory, behavior does not depend on the past or the future, but only on the present. This physicalism (physical bodies have properties but no experience) contrasts both with the teleological belief that the future is the cause of behavior, and with asocianism, which holds that the past is such a cause.

Levin's "field" as a "living space" includes "the personality and its psychological environment". The psychological (or behavioral) environment, however, the environment in the sense that it is perceived and understood by the individual. It is an environment that corresponds to its current needs and quasi-needs.

In this regard, Levin puts forward a number of concepts that should explain behavior:

• positive or negative valency;
• vector as the direction of movement towards or away from the object;
• locomotion as movement in a certain direction;
• barriers that delay or block locomotion;
• frustration that occurs in front of the barrier, and when the voltage increases, ends with a random, not directed action.

The originality of the approach in the study of motivation led Levin to the need to turn to a combination of topology and vector analysis - respectively, to develop a map of "living space" and to process motives.

Although the diagrams and equations clearly represent the situation, the difficulty in presenting the material lies in the fact that the resultants of the two vectors in the study of human behavior cannot be found using a parallelogram of forces. If a person sees one desired goal in the north, another - equally desired - in the east, he cannot move to the northeast, but makes a choice. True, sometimes in special conditions the personality is directed to the northeast, but not in connection with the parallelogram of forces, but with the requirement of clarity of preference and simplification of choice, when two equal goals remain, and the action takes place in the direction of the third.

Despite the fact that Lewin speaks of locomotion as real reactions of the body, in which a way out of the "driving forces of behavior" is visible, he still remains in the field of motivation. Although this problem found a large number of researchers and from time to time its expanded understanding appears, with the introduction of real actions, Levin clearly fixes the emergence of the problem of motivation in the history of psychology.

If Gestalt psychology could be called the psychology of the situation, then Lewin's research is devoted precisely to motives, with their problems of choice, struggle, and so on. Here there is a further deepening of the connection between the external and the internal, the historical disclosure of the inconsistency of motives. Since the problem of personality has not yet been clearly posed here, motivation, fixed as such, acquires a physical and mathematical hue, and Levin's entire psychology also has a significant behavioral coloring.

Kurt Lewin is close to Gestalt psychology, but he defines the main subject much deeper. psychological research: if the problem of significance is opposed to the physicalist mental stimulus, then the stimulus itself can become driving force when it turns from the outside to the inside. Strictly speaking, it is not the external, objective physical nature of the stimulus that makes it so. It becomes a stimulus when it becomes a psychic phenomenon.

A stimulus can only act if it causes pain. Trying to avoid pain is essential behavioral response. But such a desire already means the motivational aspect of behavior.

The difficulty of establishing clear boundaries of motivation lies in the fact that it has objective and subjective grounds at the same time. The motive is determined by an external object and therefore has a certain objectivity, to which the individual's action is directed. But this external objectivity must become the property of the individual, his internal objectification.

Genetically consistent forms of motivation (impulsive, emotional, emotional-reasoning, rationalistic, intuitive-moral) are completed by setting the goal of the act.

While a person is in a state of struggle of motives, he acts. This state can last for a long time, because such a struggle arises precisely because the alternative sides and - each of them - have positive and negative points. This is the drama of the "struggle of motives" as their most outstanding characteristic. It can never be completed, but is suspended simply because the objective development of the situation forces a person to stop the struggle of motives and begin to act. This objective limitation of motivation is its transition to the goal. There is no subject matter here.

Moreover, the motive itself is completely absorbed by the single objectivity of the goal, and the act of a person is directed to the latter. It incorporates both the goal itself and the means to achieve it.

Since the means themselves come from the process of unfolding the end, this is their real dialectic. Deployment of the goal means a person's practical contact with it as an action with the real objective world. This is - practical analysis the goal in which it turns out required item and what follows is the remedy. Part of the goal remains outside its core, becoming a means. Without such a division, the achievement of the goal becomes generally impossible. Such a means, as well as such an end, turns out to be not just some kind of objectivity, but a person who has a goal and uses other people as a means to achieve his goal.

The idea of ​​purpose in human behavior has been carefully explored in the depths of neobehaviorism. E. Tolman, and the inclusion of a person in the mechanism of an act and its conditions arising from this were disclosed in the works of a social psychologist J. Meade.

Literature:

Romenets V.A., Manokha I.P. History of psychology of the XX century. - Kyiv, Lybid, 2003.

Kurt Zadek Lewin was born in September 1890 in the town of Mogilno, located in the Prussian province of Posen. Now it is the territory of Poland. The population of Mogilno was five thousand people. In one of the thirty-five Jewish families living in the town, Kurt was born. His father Leopold Levin knew three languages, had some musical education and did well in business, owning a small farm and food shop. Kurt was born as the second child, besides him, there were three more children in the family: older sister Gert and younger brothers, Egon and Fritz. Parents loved each other and their children, respected their opinion, the atmosphere of warmth and cordiality reigned in the house. But outside the Jewish community, Kurt Lewin had to deal with cold and tough attitudes since childhood. In one of his letters to V. Koehler, he described the Prussian customs of that time: “One hundred percent anti-Semitism of the grossest kind, which (...) was taken for granted as a state of affairs not only by landlords, but also by local peasants” (Lewin M., 1992, p . sixteen). In imperial Germany, a Jew could not become an officer, take a place in the civil service, or be a landowner. As his daughter, Miriam, writes, as a child, Kurt felt simultaneously positive attitudes towards himself in the family and in the Jewish community, and sharp denial from the outside world. This marginality accompanied him all his life.

When Kurt was fifteen years old, their family moved to Berlin so that the children could study at the gymnasium and receive a classical education. It included subjects such as mathematics, history, science, Latin, Greek and French. In the gymnasium, Kurt Lewin fell in love with Greek philosophy. He received the best marks in drawing, drafting, physics and mathematics. One involuntarily wants to draw a parallel between his gymnasium successes in these subjects and the tendency, already being a scientist, to depict theoretical positions in graphic form, as well as to use physical and mathematical terminology in the field of psychology. As for foreign languages ​​and calligraphy, Levin had only satisfactory marks in them. In the future, when the scientist begins to work in America, the difficulties associated with the language barrier will lead to comical situations.

Levin received a good education at the Universities of Freiburg, Munich and Berlin. Although he started as a medical student, but, according to Miriam Levin, six months later he hated medicine and anatomy and moved to the philosophy department. With particular interest, Kurt Lewin attended the courses "Kant's Philosophy and German Idealism", "The Logic of the Natural Sciences", as well as many psychological disciplines. Only with Professor W. Stumpf he attended fourteen different courses on psychological topics. In Berlin, Levin deeply studied physics and mathematics, which later played a role in the formation of his theory. At that time, German academic psychology was dominated by the methods of experimental study of the human psyche, developed by Wilhelm Wundt. Their "sterility", isolation from the social context caused a feeling of dissatisfaction in the future scientist.

Already in the second year of study at the University of Berlin, Levin decided to choose a career as a university teacher. Not the easiest fate, given its origin! In that Germany, he best case, could become a low-paid Privatdozent. Nevertheless, the Levin family supported this choice (Lewin M., 1992, p. 16).

In 1910, Kurt joined a group of students who actively supported the idea of ​​a democratic transformation of Germany. This group included not only male students, but also girls, since from 1910 women were also admitted to the university. Levin was one of those who participated for free in the implementation educational program for adult workers. The authorities did not welcome such initiatives, but did not prohibit them either. Miriam Levin writes that despite some of her group's Marxist leanings, her father was skeptical of the idea, believing that any social experiments should be well thought out.

Kurt Lewin wrote his doctoral dissertation in psychology under the guidance of the authoritative German psychologist Karl Stumpf and defended it in 1914 at the University of Berlin. "Under the guidance" means that Levin met with his supervisor only once (!!!) - at the defense of his dissertation. Even the plan for future work (which was devoted to the study of the relationship between associations, will and intention) he handed over to Stumpf through an assistant and waited for the professor's decision in the waiting room. Such rigid hierarchical relations were the norm in Germany at the beginning of the century.

The end of the dissertation coincided with the outbreak of the First World War, so Kurt Lewin, like his brothers, was immediately drafted into the army. In the very first battle, the younger brother, Fritz, died, covering his detachment with fire ... Kurt believed that the difficult situation would unite the Germans and many prejudices, including anti-Semitism, would disappear. But, as Miriam Levin writes, it struck her father that, despite the hardships of the war, anti-Jewish sentiments persisted even in the army. Kurt Lewin fought in France and Russia. While on vacation, in February 1918, he married his fellow student, Maria Landsberg, also a doctor of sciences, and from August, having received a serious wound, spent eight months in the hospital.

But even during the period of fierce hostilities, the scientist does not stop studying psychology. In 1917, while on vacation, Kurt Lewin published his article "The Landscape of War", in which he analyzed the attitude of a soldier. Already in this early work, he uses the concepts of "living space", "boundary", "direction", "zone", which later became part of the terminological apparatus of his topological field theory. The article was devoted to a comparative analysis of the living spaces of a soldier and a civilian. For example, a shady path that skirts a picturesque cliff is an ideal corner for a walk or a picnic in the eyes of the layman, but for a soldier it is a place fraught with the danger of a possible ambush (Hothersall, 1995, p. 240).

Kurt Lewin finished the war with several awards, among which was the highest in Germany - the Iron Cross. Immediately after demobilization, Levin returned to work at the University of Berlin. In 1921, he became an assistant, and in 1922, a privatdozent (that is, a lecturer who receives a salary depending on the number of students present in the classes). At this time, Levin publishes two articles on organizational behavior. The first is about the villager's satisfaction with his life, and the second is a critique of Taylor's production management system. Lewin believed that in the future every person will receive satisfaction from his work, and psychologists will be able to help him in this (Lewin M., 1992, p. 22). The study of the living space of people working at the plant convinced Levin of the need to take into account the psychological field of each person when organizing work. He wrote: “We do not live in order to produce, but we produce in order to live” (Hothersall D., 1995).

In 1922, Kurt Lewin published a significant article for his subsequent work, "The concept of causality in physics, biology and the sciences that study human development." This article is considered the first milestone in the creation psychological theory fields. Since Albert Einstein, the creator of the theory of relativity, lived at the same time and in the same place, one might speculate about the possible influence of the famous physicist on the concept of living space. It is also known that Levin's friends - M. Wertheimer and others - were friends with Einstein. Nevertheless, as M. Levin writes, there is no evidence of communication between Levin and Einstein in that period of time (Lewin M., 1992, p. 22). They met several times later - in the United States.

The concept of the psychological field, the charm and leadership style of Kurt Lewin attracted many students to him, including those from other countries. Subsequently, some of them became successors of his ideas. This is Anita Karsten from Finland; J. F. Brown, D. McKinnon, D. Adams, and D. Clark et al. from the United States; T. Dembo, G. V. Birenbaum, B. Zeigarnik, M. Ovsyankina - from Russia; as well as students from Japan. Kurt Lewin always paid special attention to communication with students and throughout his life maintained relationships with all his students, in whatever country they lived. He regularly organized meetings in the form of discussions, which took place in the "Swedish Cafe" located opposite the Berlin Psychological Institute (Hothersall, 1995, p. 241). It was there that the ideas of many experiments were born, which later glorified both the teacher and the students. One of the features of Levin, which is noted by all who worked with him, was the ability to "translate" everyday observations into real research (Zeigarnik B.V., 1981). However, Kurt Lewin's experiments were always carried out on the basis of theoretical conclusions. “There is nothing more practical than a good theory” is probably his most frequently quoted phrase.

Kurt Lewin was distinguished by high erudition in the most various fields human knowledge: biology, physics, mathematics, art and literature. But psychology has always come first. He was in love with this science and could talk about it in the most unsuitable conditions for this. Very often Levin's insights caught him in unexpected places: on the street or in a restaurant. Then he, to the surprise of the people nearby, took out a notebook and wrote down something intently, not paying attention to anyone. The scientist often repeated: “Science does not tolerate laziness, dishonesty and stupidity” (Zeigarnik B.V., 1981). Kurt Lewin spent a lot of time working with his students. The experiments they carried out under the direction of Levin and subsequently received worldwide fame were just a part of their graduation theses!

The family life of Kurt Lewin did not become as bright as that of his parents. The marriage to Maria Landsberg was marred by periods of protracted conflict. It is possible that it was precisely because of this stage of his life that Levin wrote an interesting article entitled “Prerequisites for Marital Conflicts” (K. Levin, 2000b, p. 215). In 1919, the Levins had a daughter, Esther Agnes, and three years later, a son, Fritz Reuven. The boy was born with a hip joint injury that required serious surgical treatment and wearing plaster cast. Kurt Lewin designed a special cart that would help Reuven move during the rehabilitation period. But due to a severe birth injury, the son of a scientist grew up with a developmental delay and could not study according to the usual school curriculum. Frequent family conflicts led to the fact that in 1927 Kurt and Maria divorced. When Nazi pressure on the Jews intensified, Levin's ex-wife emigrated with their children to Israel. Kurt himself was thinking about emigration at that time (Lewin M., 1992, p. 23). Two years later, in 1929, Levin married a second time - to Gertrude Weiss. Their first child was born dead. In 1931, a daughter, Miriam, was born, and in 1933, a son, Daniel (Lewin M., 1992, p. 23).

Like a number of other personality researchers, Lewin believed that a person is a complex energy field, a dynamic system of needs and tensions that determines and directs perception and actions. The concept of field theory is not easy to understand. Kurt Lewin himself wrote that “... psychologists who, like me, adhered to field theory for many years, could not make its essence sufficiently clear. The only justification for this I see is that the task is very difficult. ... In addition, things like field theory can be understood and mastered only in practice” (Levin K., 1980a). Therefore, Lewin's tendency to describe psychological phenomena through drawings and diagrams was a significant help in understanding his theory. Perhaps its inherent visual (associated with visual images) the style of thinking contributed to the creation of an image of living space in the form of an ellipse (Hothersall, 1995). The man himself was represented in the form of a circle located inside an ellipse. It is these ellipses (and Levin's students called them "Levin's eggs (potatoes)") that some psychologists associate with the psychological field theory itself.

For English speaking countries acquaintance with the theories and experiments of Kurt Lewin began with the publication of J. F. Brown, one of his first American students. The article was called "Kurt Lewin's Methods in the Psychology of Action and Affect" and was published in 1929. In the same year, Kurt Lewin spoke at the Ninth International Psychological Congress, held within the walls of Yale University, USA. His report was called "Effects of Environmental Influences". Despite the fact that Levin lectured on German and used terms borrowed from physics, chemistry and mathematics, his "ellipses" were understood by everyone. Accessibility was enhanced by the fact that, as an illustration of their theoretical provisions the scientist showed a short scientific film "Hannah sits on a rock." In this film, it was shown how a one and a half year old girl (niece of Levin's wife) tries to sit on a fairly large stone, but since she cannot do this without turning her back to the stone, the action itself, which consists in sitting on the stone, turns out to be impossible. In terms of field theory, this situation can be explained as follows: "The non-differentiation of the child's internal space does not allow him to turn away from an object that has a strong positive valency for him."

In 1931, Levin was offered to publish an article in the "Guide to Child Psychology", which included the works of well-known psychologists at that time, such as Anna Freud. In this publication, Levin criticizes the statistical approach to the study of childhood. To say that a six-year-old child can do what a three-year-old cannot is to say nothing. In his opinion, the conclusions based on the analysis of the “average child” cannot be considered correct, because “ middle child is a statistical myth and nothing more. Levin believed that it is better to get to know one child deeply enough than all, but only in a number of aspects (Hothersall D., 1995).

After speaking at a psychological congress and publishing in English, Kurt Lewin was invited to Stanford University as a professor. After six months teaching activities Levin returned to Germany, but his path did not run across the Atlantic, but across the Pacific Ocean. This route was due to the invitations of his Japanese and Soviet students. The visits were accompanied by performances and lectures. The visit to Tokyo strong influence to the Japanese scientific community. Levin was even offered to head the department industrial relations at the University of Tokyo. The ideas of management expressed by him in lectures, based on the participation of subordinates in decision-making, began to be introduced in the United States only after forty years, but already as Japanese (Ross L., Nisbett R., 1999).

On the way home, Levin had to hear a lot about the horrors taking place in his homeland, Germany. According to the decrees of the fascist government, Jewish citizens were actually outlawed. Therefore, the reasons why Levin, in order to be able to leave Germany, asked for help from his American colleagues are quite understandable. He said, "I don't want to teach at a university where my children are not eligible" (Hothersall D., 1995).

In August 1933, having settled his affairs, Kurt Lewin, along with his family and two of his students, Tamara Dembo and Jerome Frank, went to the United States. He entered into a two-year contract with the Cornell School of Education, receiving an annual salary of $3,000. Fascism in Germany grew rapidly. Jews who did not have time to emigrate were doomed to humiliation and death. Subsequently, Levin's mother and sister died in concentration camps. The same fate befell some of his students (B. V. Zeigarnik, 1981).

result Germanic period scientific creativity Levin was the development of a holistic approach to the analysis of the phenomena of human behavior, expressed in the psychological field theory. At this time, he and his students created a number of methodological techniques for experimental research of motivational-need and volitional sphere human behavior. Under the leadership of Kurt Lewin, studies were carried out that have now become textbooks: “On forgetting unfinished and completed actions” (B.V. Zeigarnik); “On forgetting intentions” (G. V. Birenbaum); "About frustration" (T. Dembo), "About "mental satiety"" (A. Carsten); "On the level of claims" (F. Hoppe). As a result of the generalization of these experiments, the concept of "topological psychology" appeared. Levin became known for his theoretical developments on the problems of the methodology of psychological knowledge (in particular, the problems of psychological experiment). His theory enriched psychology with such concepts as: quasi-need, psychological valence, living space, time perspective and level of claims.
Despite some fame in the psychological circles of the United States, Levin had to start his career in his new homeland practically from scratch.

His first study in the United States was the study of food habits of children, and it was carried out, of course, within the framework of field theory. The choice of the theme of nutrition was due to the specifics of the activities of the Cornell School. Nor bad possession English language, nor the economic crisis known as the Great Depression prevented Levin from publishing two new papers: Dynamic theory personality” and “Principles of topological psychology”. At the time, they were more than coolly received by the American psychological community. This is due to the difficulty of understanding physical terms in the context of psychology, and, in truth, with the style of presentation. How can one not recall the modest successes of the schoolboy Levin in mastering languages!

Meanwhile, the contract with the Cornell School of Education was coming to an end. I had to look for a new job. For some time Levin seriously considered the possibility of emigrating to Jerusalem. But, fortunately for American social psychology, a place has become available at the Center for Child Health Research at the University of Iowa. Since funding at this center was inconsistent, Levin had to turn to the Rockefeller Foundation for help, where he received a grant for his research. However, for American psychology he was still an outsider at that time, and until the very end of his life. Modern American psychology students may be perplexed: “Could Kurt Lewin not be (!!!) President of the American Psychological Association?!” (Hothersall D., 1995). As is often the case, fame during life can be much less than after death.

Since Levin repeatedly emphasized that field theory as a method can only be tested in practice, it is not surprising that so-called “action research” took on special significance in his work. Action research is defined by two components: systematic, predominantly pilot study social problem and efforts to solve it. This practical area, according to Levin, is characterized by the following parameters:

"one. a cyclical process of planning, action and evaluation;
2. constant feedback regarding the results of the study for all participants in the process, including customers;
3. cooperation between researchers, practitioners and clients from the beginning of the process and throughout it;
4. application of the principles governing social life and decision making in the group;
5. taking into account differences in value systems and power structures all participants included in the process;
6. the use of "active research" both to solve a problem and to create new knowledge" (Heritage of Kurt Lewin, 1992, p. 8).

Together with his students, Levin organized a discussion club, the members of which met on Tuesdays. There, everyone who wanted to devote time to discussing various psychological problems. And, just as in the "Swedish Café", in the course of a casual conversation, psychological phenomena were discussed, experiments were planned. Some phenomena were noted right during the discussions. For example, Levin noticed that the more complex the topic, the more willingly the group took up its decision. True, this group should have been sufficiently cohesive. From this it was concluded: “The more difficult the goal, the higher the indicator of its valence for a person” (Hothersall, 1995). So the question was resolved - what is more attractive for the group, a tit in the hands or a crane in the sky? Levin's role as a stimulator and inspirer of new research has been preserved for him on American soil.

In 1939, the scientist returned for a while to his early studies of people's behavior in a production situation. His student and later biographer, Albert Marrow, invited a teacher to his firm to conduct research to determine best strategy introducing technological innovations into production (Hothersall, 1995).

Kurt Lewin became an American citizen in 1940 (Hothersall, 1995). By that time, he had already conducted a number of studies and published several papers. During the Second World War, the scientist worked at the Center for Strategic Studies (the future of the CIA), where he dealt with the problems of propaganda, military morale, leadership in units and the rehabilitation of wounded soldiers. Together with the famous anthropologist Margaret Mead, Levin investigated the problem of replacing meat with other products in the diet, which was relevant for wartime. In the same years, he organized the Society for Psychological Research. social problems. The publications of this society, in which the President of the United States himself showed interest, were devoted to psychological aspects war and peace, poverty and prejudice, as well as family problems.

Social, including racial, problems have always interested Levin, who has been confronted with the problem of anti-Semitism since childhood. From 1945, he was chairman of the American Jewish Congress' Public Relations Commission, researching the problems of the Jewish community.

After the war, Kurt Lewin was invited to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a proposal to found and head a research center for group dynamics. This time he was no longer part of someone else's structure, but got the opportunity to create his own. The research program developed by Levin and his colleagues was implemented in four main areas: 1) studying ways to increase group productivity and ways to prevent group distraction from the intended goals; 2) research on communications and spread of rumors; 3) the study of social perception and interpersonal relationships (group membership, regulation of the individual, etc.); 4) study of leadership training (the implementation of this direction led to the creation of the National Training Laboratory in Bethel).

Kurt Lewin died suddenly at the age of 56 from a heart attack. It happened in Newtokville, Massachusetts on February 12, 1947. Having put the children to bed in the evening, he felt pain in his heart. The visiting doctor diagnosed the attack and recommended to go to the clinic for examination in the morning. After some time, a second attack followed, which turned out to be fatal.

Among immigrant psychologists, Kurt Lewin was perhaps the only one who made a successful career and at the same time created a school of followers in America (D. Schultz, S. E. Schultz, 1998). Research and theoretical developments scientist devoted to motivation and analysis of human behavior stimulated the development of various branches of both practical and academic psychology. A large part of the methodology of modern social sciences is based on the developments of Kurt Lewin. He can rightfully be called one of the greatest psychologists of the 20th century.

“Levin was able to generalize and harmonize with each other at times contradictory other approaches based on actionable (applied) research” (Hothersall, 1995, p. 253).

“Lewin's topological theory offered a scheme that generated discussion and research. His theoretical approach was not rigid and limited. It was different from the theories of conditioned reflexes and learning...” (Hothersall, 1995).

"Lewin's goal was to reconcile the humanistic concepts of a person who has goals, motives, a sense of self, which is created for the social world and which makes a choice, with a strict philosophy of science, which was based on Cassirer and the New Physicists of that time" (Lewin M., 1992 , p. 15).

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History of Modern Psychology Schultz Duan

Field theory: Kurt Lewin (1890–1947)

Field theory: Kurt Lewin (1890–1947)

Scientific trends late XIX centuries forced to look at thinking process both in terms related to the field and in terms outside of it. These views are reflected in Gestalt psychology. Field theory in psychology arose as a kind of analogue of the theory force field in physics. In modern psychological science, the concept of field theory is usually associated with the ideas of Kurt Lewin. Lewin's views are based on the concept of gestalt, but he managed to develop his ideas and went beyond the positions of orthodox gestaltism, turning to the problems of the individual, her needs and the influence of social relations on her behavior.

Pages of life

Kurt Lewin was born in Germany in the city of Mogilno. He was educated at the universities of Freiburg, Munich and Berlin. He defended his doctoral thesis in psychology with Karl Stumpf in 1914 in Berlin, where he also studied mathematics and physics. During World War I, Levin served in the German army, was wounded in action and awarded the Iron Cross. Subsequently, he returned to the University of Berlin and accepted such Active participation in the work of the group of Gestalt psychologists, which began to be considered, along with its founders, one of the main authorities of the new scientific direction. He conducted research on the problems of association and motivation and began to develop his field theory, which he presented in 1929 in the USA at the International Congress of Psychologists at Yale University.

Field theory is a psychological system of Kurt Lewin that uses the concept of a force field to explain the behavior of an individual in terms of the influence of a field of social influence on him.

Levin was already well known in the United States when, in 1932, he received an invitation to lecture at Stanford University. On the next year he decided to leave Germany because of the Nazi threat. “Now I am convinced that for me there is no other way out than emigration,” he wrote to Koehler, “even if it breaks my life.” Subsequently, Levin's mother and sister died in Nazi concentration camps.

He himself worked for two years at Cornell, and then went to the University of Iowa, where he did research on child social psychology. As a result of this work, he was invited to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a proposal to found and head a new research center for group dynamics. Although he died only a few years after his appointment to this position, his research program was so effective that it remains relevant to the scientific activities of the research center, which is now part of the University of Michigan.

For thirty years of his professional activity Levin devoted a lot of energy to the study of a wide range of issues related to the problems of motivation. His research was based on the analysis of human behavior in the context of the state of his physical and social environment.

Hodological space

The theory of physical fields led Levin to the idea that a person's mental activity occurs under the influence of a psychological field, which is called hodological space. The hodological space contains all the events of the past, present and future that can affect our lives. From the point of view of psychology, each of these events determines the behavior of a person in specific situation. Thus, the hodological space is formed by the personal needs of a person in interaction with his psychological environment.

Hodological space reflects various degrees development as a function of its accumulated life experience. Since there is a lack of experience in childhood, this period has less differentiated sections in the hodological space. Highly educated adults, experienced in everyday affairs, have a more complex and largely differentiated hodological space, reflecting their past diverse experience.

Levin was looking for mathematical model to describe your theoretical presentation psychological processes. Since he was interested in the problems of the individual, and not of groups of the population, the methods of statistics were not suitable for his task. Therefore, in order to display the hodological space, the goals of the individual and the ways to achieve them, he turned to a section of geometry called topology.

Simplified example of a hodological space

On his topological maps, Levin depicted vectors indicating the direction of a person's movement towards the goal. To complete his description of the hodological space for each of the goals - depending on its attractiveness to the individual - he introduced positive and negative valencies.

Thus,<классная доска психологии>, which was used by Levin, included complex schemes reflecting various psychological phenomena. According to Lewin, all forms of behavior can be described using such schemas. The simplest example of behavior is shown in Fig. 12.2. It illustrates a situation in which a child wants to go to the cinema despite the objections of the parents. The ellipse characterizes the hodological space, the letter C denotes the child himself. The arrow is a vector indicating that the child is striving for his goal - to go to the cinema, which has a positive valence for him. The negative line denotes an obstacle to the realization of the goal - the prohibition of parents, which has a negative valence for their son.

Motivation

Lewin suggested the existence of a state of balance or balance between the individual and his psychological environment. When this balance is disturbed, there is tension in the relationship, which causes certain changes leading to the restoration of balance. This was the main meaning of his concept of motivation. According to Lewin's views, behavior is an alternation of cycles of tension and subsequent action to remove it. Therefore, whenever an individual has some kind of need, that is, a state of tension, he tries by his actions to remove this tension and restore internal balance.

The first attempt at an experimental verification of this assumption was made in 1927 under Levin's guidance by his student Bluma Zeigarnik. The essence of the experiment was that the observed subjects were given a set of tasks, and they were given the opportunity to solve only a few of them, because the solution process was artificially interrupted before they could complete the entire task. Before starting the experiment, Levin predicted that

2) when the task is completed, the voltage disappears;

3) when the task is not completed, maintaining tension increases the likelihood that it will be stored in the subject's memory.

Zeigarnik's results confirmed Levin's predictions. Observed subjects whose process of finding a solution was interrupted were more likely to remember the essence of the task than those who managed to complete it to the end. Many subsequent studies have been based on the use of this pattern, called the Zeigarnik effect.

Social Psychology

In the 1930s, Levin began to take an interest in questions of social psychology. He was a pioneer in this unexplored field, and his achievements entitle him to take his rightful place in the history of science.

The main feature of Lewin's social psychology is the introduction of the concept of group dynamics, applicable to both individual and group behavior. According to his views, just as the individual and his environment form the psychological field, so the group and its environment form the social field. Social behavior occurs within a group and is determined by competing subgroups, individual members, constraints, and channels of communication. Thus, group behavior at any given time is a function of the overall state of the social field.

Levin conducted research in various social situations. His classical experiments with a group of boys included the study of different styles of leadership - authoritarian, democratic and laissez-faire - and their influence on work performance and behavior (Lewin, Lippit & White. 1939). Experiments of this kind have opened new page in area social studies and made a significant contribution to the development of social psychology.

In addition, Lewin emphasized the importance of studying collective actions and related problems in order to correct social behavior. Concerned about rising racial tensions, he conducted group studies on a wide range of issues related to cohabitation and the provision of equal employment opportunities for people with different color skin, as well as preventing the appearance of racial prejudice in their children. His approach to the study of these issues led to the development of rigorous experimental methods analysis of social problems.

When conducting classes to reduce intergroup conflicts and increase the potential of each member of society, Levin strongly encouraged training to develop receptivity. His groups are socially psychological training were the forerunners of the conflict resolution groups so popular in the 60s and 70s.

Comments

Programs scientific experiments and the research results of Kurt Lewin received even more appreciated psychologists than his theoretical research. His contribution to social and child psychology was undeniable. Many of his ideas and methods of conducting experiments are widely used in the study of personality problems and the motivation of its behavior. “Among immigrant psychologists, Kurt Lewin was almost the only one who made a successful career and at the same time created a school of followers in America” (Ash. 1992. P. 204).

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What is common between psychology and topology, between mathematics and personality, physics and human behavior? The answers to these questions were given by the psychologist Kurt Lewin.

Kurt Lewin, a friendly, democratic and inspirational psychologist, did not receive outstanding titles and awards, however, many of the concepts he introduced today have become an integral part of psychological science and practices.

Kurt Zadek Lewin (German Kurt Zadek Lewin) was born in the city of Mogilno (now the territory of Poland) in a warm and welcoming Jewish family in 1890. So that the children could get a good education, in 1905 the family moved to Berlin. Kurt does well in physical and mathematical disciplines, but languages ​​are more difficult for him, perhaps that is why in his future scientific work Levin will also prefer the language of graphs and formulas.

Able-bodied and enthusiastic Kurt listens to lectures at the universities of Freiburg, Munich and Berlin, including the psychological courses of the outstanding professor W. Stumpf, under whose guidance he defended his doctoral dissertation in 1914. Despite the limitations associated with Jewish origin Levine chooses a career as a university teacher. However, the first World War, and the young scientist was called to serve in the army. During the war, Kurt managed to get married, spend eight months in hospitals and write a scientific article "The landscape of war", in which he analyzes the attitude of a soldier.

Awarded with several awards, including the Iron Cross, in 1921 Levin returned to the University of Berlin. Personal charm, teaching style and scientific leadership attracts students from different countries. Some discoveries later included in the treasury psychological knowledge, were made by Levin's students only in theses. In 1931, Levin lectured at Stanford University, and in 1933 he finally emigrated to the United States, where he had to start his scientific career almost from scratch. However, following his life principles, Levin works hard, publishes scientific papers, conducts experiments and, ultimately, wins his niche in the scientific community. Although he never became president of the American Psychological Association, his research laid a solid foundation for the development of American social psychology.

Perhaps Kurt Lewin would have been able to do much more if not for the sudden death of a heart attack at just 57 years of age.

Psychology in the language of the exact sciences

Levin created his field theory under the influence of the exact sciences - physics and mathematics. Psychological representations he described in the language of topology, which considers spatial relations, and hodology, the science of paths.

Another source from which Lewin drew scientific inspiration was the views of prominent psychologists Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Köhler and Kurt Koffka, the founders of Gestalt psychology. The very concept of "gestalt" in German refers to the shape and outline of objects (for example, triangular, symmetrical) or an integral object that has a certain shape (for example, a triangle, a circle). As you can see, even the name of the new trend in psychology uses a concept that came from geometry. Gestalt psychology at the beginning of its formation concentrated on the problems of perception and learning. Levin, starting from the idea of ​​a holistic image - gestalt, as an image of the world or a separate phenomenon, created his own original method graphic representation and analysis of personality and its interaction with the environment.

Fundamentals of Kurt Lewin's field theory

Let's mentally imagine a mathematical representation of personality in the way that Kurt Lewin did. You can also take a piece of paper and a pen and, following the description below, draw your own life, using the concepts of field theory.

Draw a small circle near the center of the leaflet - this circle is actually you - the person (person). Levin denoted the circle, meaning the integrity of a person, with the letter P (person). By the way, the figure can be any - a triangle, a square - as you wish, but two factors are important: 1) the figure is closed, it has a solid border (the border of your personality) and 2) the figure is located on the sheet, that is, it does not exist by itself , but is included in a larger space.

A person never exists on his own, he is surrounded by people, things, phenomena, events. Levin depicted this space around a person in the form of an ellipse (the students funny called the ellipses Levin's eggs or potatoes). The circle can fit anywhere within the ellipse, but the boundaries of the ellipse do not intersect the circle or touch the boundaries of the circle. The space between the boundaries of the circle and the ellipse is the psychological (environment), which Lewin referred to as the environment). The space inside the ellipse, including the circle, is life, the living space L(life). Remaining free place on the sheet is the rest of the world.

The circle-in-ellipse is the main and best illustration of all the concepts of field theory, a map of the psychological life of a person. However, this map needs more detail. According to Levin, the more accurate and multifaceted the detailed map is, the better the psychologist will be able to understand human behavior, because behavior (B, behavior) in terms of field theory is a function (f, function) of living space: B = f(L). In other words, a person's behavior is determined not by his inner world and not by the environment, but only and always by a combination of these two factors.

What else do you need to understand when looking at a circle-in-ellipse?

The boundaries that lie between a person and his psychological environment, just like the boundaries that separate the rest of the world, are not absolutely impenetrable.

For example, somewhere on the other side of the world an earthquake occurred (an event outside the psychological environment), but the person who heard this message comes up with thoughts about the finiteness of everything earthly: he worries, he may have thoughts about death (there are changes in the internal world), and the person decides to make a will, for which he visits a notary (an event in a psychological environment). That is, one event, which, it would seem, does not affect the immediate life of a person, entailed a number of changes in his living space. Levin compared borders to a membrane or a network, not to a wall or a rigid barrier. There are people who are more sensitive (field-dependent), their boundaries are characterized by greater permeability, and there are more stable (field-independent) people - the events of the external world have little effect on their internal state.

But the circle denoting the inner world of man is not empty. In the center of the circle, the central or intrapersonal part and the perceptual-motor part are distinguished - the part responsible for perception and response. Levin called this division of the inner world of man differentiation.

The psychological environment is also differentiated - you can select different sectors (areas) anywhere in the ellipse, which will denote things, events, and phenomena that are significant for a person. Levin called such areas regions.

The living space, which includes the inner world (person) and the psychological environment, is not something once created and frozen: the number of facts and regions can decrease and increase, regions can move closer to the boundaries of the inner world, or move away from them, the properties of the boundaries also can change - all this is called the restructuring of living space.

In addition, regions of living space can be real and imaginary, the latter include plans, reflections, dreams and fantasies.

Another important characteristic of living space is the temporal dimension or perspective. Although the facts of the past and future do not in themselves create events, thoughts, feelings and attitudes towards such facts lie in the present and can significant influence on human behavior. So hopes for a better future can be much more important for a person than current difficulties, and the shadows of the past (for example, the betrayal of a friend experienced) can significantly spoil the present (relationship with this person).

Borders of human regions and environment they can be strong or weak, fluid or rigid (frozen), distant or close. That is, some regions may be far from the intrapersonal area and not exert any influence (range), a person may not respond to other regions (strength), and in relation to others he can easily change his attitude (flexibility) and so on.

For example, for a boy in love, the teacher's words in the lesson may be in a region more distant than a note from his sympathy. And, of course, to get the treasured note, it will be much easier for the boy to turn to the girl than to maintain discipline and listen carefully to the teacher's explanations. That is, there is a movement from the region "study" to the region "sympathy". Lewin called such movements between regions locomotions. It's not at all necessary physical movements. We can mentally "run away" to what excites us - this will be locomotion. Locomotion by two regions (facts) forms an event. Events, in turn, are the basis of behavior.

How do all these indicators of the living environment work together? How does a person's behavior arise, and in a broader sense, his whole life proceeds?

First, for Levin, a person is a complex energy system striving for balance. The balance can be disturbed if tension (tension) arises in the intrapersonal region. Tension appears when a person has a need. Needs can be biological (hunger, thirst, sexual desire), or they can be a desire for something (work, marriage), or an intention (complete a task) and so on. That is, needs in field theory are understood as motives, desires, inclinations, motives. Each need is a specific fact that creates tension. To restore balance (reduce tension), a person needs to complete a process - it can be thinking, remembering, feeling, perceiving, acting. The simplest example: you are hungry, and the refrigerator is empty - there is tension in the region of hunger. Then you solve the problem through the process of thinking (think whether to go to a cafe, order a pizza or buy the necessary products and cook at home), then take an action - do what you decide and satisfy the need. As a result, the tension in the "hunger" region is again reduced.

But not all tensions are so easy to balance. For example, getting an education, or completing an important project can take a long time. Therefore, some regions of the living space can be more stressed, others less. Sometimes there is a substitution: the tension in some regions is reduced by actions in others. Classic example substitutions: at work, the boss yelled, at home we yelled at innocent loved ones.

The state of balance does not mean that there is no tension at all: balance is the establishment of a balance of tensions in different regions.

A tense region can be attractive or repulsive to a person - this property Levin calls valency. Valency can be positive, negative or neutral. A simple example of valence would be a hamburger, which has a positive valence if you are hungry, a neutral valency if you are full enough, and a negative valence if you are a staunch vegetarian or once overate those patty buns before being poisoned.

Tension in itself does not generate action, in order for the process of reducing tension to begin, force is needed. The force will be the higher, the higher the voltage level, and the direction of the force and the point of its application depend on the valency of the region. The force will tend to a region with a positive valence and repel from a region with a negative one.

“Things like field theory can only be understood and mastered by practice,” Levin wrote, so let's consider a specific case of behavior, for example, the behavior of a graduate student.

The main component of the living space of a graduate student is, of course, the defense of the diploma itself. The region is very tense for a student, because, firstly, it is unknown, and secondly, significant expectations of the future (getting a good job, etc.) can be associated with defending a diploma. Therefore, the “thesis defense” region simultaneously has both a positive valence (I want to complete my education, move to a new life stage), and a negative one (the uncertainty associated with the defense is frightening). The student tries to reduce the tension caused by the unknown by getting information from others: other students, teachers, relatives, and so on. But the more time the student spends on these locomotions, the less strength he has left for direct preparation for the defense. The time spent during the day trying to reduce tension by obtaining information, the student tries to compensate for by night activities. As a result, the need for sleep and rest increases, and consequently, the overall tension increases even more.

The body does not tolerate the state of stress and is looking for a way out. And now the student, almost unexpectedly for himself, realizing that he does not have extra time at all, agrees to attend a student party. For a while, the party helps to blow off steam: moreover, the higher the student's stress, the more hectic his recreational vacation can be. However, the next day, new regions of tension may appear in the student's living space, for example, feelings of guilt.

The tension in the region of the defense of the diploma is growing, and now it is already acquiring a pronounced negative valence, so the direction of the student's strength can take on the character of avoidance. Outwardly, this can be expressed by a student's behavior that is strange for those around him - as if he deliberately scatters time, is engaged in various other, unimportant things at the moment. The student himself scolds himself for lack of assembly, disorganization, inability. It is clear that the tension continues to grow. It is possible that at this moment the tension will look for alternative ways out, and our student will begin to take it out on relatives, friends and even teachers. Ultimately, if a student manages to gather strength and start preparing, then this is given at the cost of blocking almost all regions that are not related to protection. The student is only able to eat something, sometimes sleep for several hours, and the rest of his time is occupied by not always productive activities, as thoughts continue to slip away, and an unhealthy lifestyle affects overall performance. There is a pronounced conflict in the student's living space.

Kurt Lewin explains why such conflicts arise in a person's living space.

Conflict is opposition equal forces fields.

There are three main types of conflict:
- A person is between two positive valences (when you equally want two things, for example, go on vacation or make some kind of large purchase.)
- A collision with a fact that has both positive and negative valency (“both wanting and scared,” as in the case of our graduate student).
- A conflict between two negative valences (when you need to do unpleasant work under the threat of punishment, for example, the child does not want to wash the dishes, but also does not want to be scolded by his mother).

So, human behavior is determined by:

a) the need that has arisen;

b) tension in the region of need;

c) a process that is started to reduce the voltage;

d) valency (value) of the stressed region;

e) a force that works to reduce stress and restore balance in the living space.

Levin extends field theory to social relations and claims that "a group is something more... something other than the sum of its members." As well as the interactions between regions in the living space, Levin analyzes the relationship between people, based on topological and hodological concepts. His method of graphic modeling of the relationships between group members is firmly entrenched in modern psychology.

Levin and his students carried out a lot of applied research. So, in collaboration with Lippit and White, Levin analyzed the influence of leadership style on the group. As a result of these studies, it was found that an authoritarian leadership style leads to individualism among group members, hostile relations within the group, and compliant behavior towards the leader. A democratic leadership style creates an atmosphere of cooperation. Moreover, the transition from authoritarian to democratic style takes much longer than vice versa - from democratic to authoritarian. Levin commented on these findings: "Autocracy is inherent in man, but democracy must be learned."

Levin's students were engaged in the study of motivation, intentions, claims, situations of frustration and received very interesting facts that are still used by practical psychologists.

For example, Bluma Vulfovna Zeigarnik, Russian student Levina proved that unfinished actions are remembered twice as long as completed ones (this fact is called the Zeigarnik effect).

Another Russian woman, M. Ovsyankina, showed that 86% of the subjects return to unfinished tasks: that is, a person with a high degree of probability will not come to balance until he completes the work he has begun. Ovsyankina's research was continued by A. Mahler and K. Lissier and showed that if an unfinished business is replaced by a similar one, then a return to an unfinished task is unlikely. In subsequent studies, data were obtained that an unfinished action can be completed in an unrealistic way (playing out the situation in the imagination, in the game, etc.). The findings of these studies are now used in the practice of individual and group psychological counseling.

Lewin's American period had a great influence on the development of social psychology. He's the one with the idea group trainings. Levin wrote that "it is usually easier to change the individuals gathered in a group than to change each of them individually." Levin's scientific research gave rise to studies of such social phenomena like social distance, conflict, group dynamics, striving for success and avoiding failure, social perception and others.

Kurt Lewin, in contrast to the behaviorists, who considered human behavior mechanistically (behavior is a reaction to environmental stimuli), returned to psychology the inner world of a person - his needs, plans, intentions and sense of self, while managing to remain within the boundaries of strict scientificity and experimental confirmation theoretical statements.

Kurt Zadek Lewin was born on September 9, 1890, into a Jewish family, in Mogilno, Poland (Mogilno, Poland), at that time the province of Posen, Prussia (Posen, Prussia). He was one of four children born into a middle-class family. His father owned a small supermarket and a farm. The family moved to Berlin (Berlin) in 1905.

In 1909, Kurt entered the University of Freiburg to study medicine, but was transferred to the University of Munich to study biology. At this time, he began to participate in the activities of the socialist movement and defend the rights of women. Levin was serving in the German army when the First World War began. He was discharged after being wounded and returned to the University of Berlin to complete his doctoral dissertation under the guidance of Carl Stumpf.

Levine was initially associated with the school of behavioral psychology before changing direction to scientific research and worked with Gestalt psychologists including Max Wertheimer and Wolfgang Kohler. He also lectured and held seminars on philosophy and psychology at the Institute of Psychology at the University of Berlin.

Quite often, the psychologist associated himself with the early Frankfurt School, which is an influential group of mostly Jewish Marxists from the Institute for Social Research in Germany. But with the coming to power of Hitler in 1933, the members of the institute were forced to first move to England and then to America. That same year, Levin met with Eric Trist, who was impressed by Levin's theories, using them in his research on soldiers during World War II.

Kurt emigrated to the United States in August 1933 and became a citizen in 1940. Previously, he spent six months at Stanford as a visiting professor, but after emigrating he ended up at Cornell University (Cornell University) and subsequently became director of the Center for Group Dynamics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In 1946, the director of the Connecticut State Inter Racial Commission called Levin, asking him to help him find an effective way to combat religious and racial prejudice. And Kurt began to work on the experiment that laid the foundation for what is now known as "group therapy." In 1947, this led to the creation of the National Training Laboratories in Maine (National Training Laboratories, Bethel, Maine). The influential American psychologist Carl Rogers considered group therapy "perhaps the most significant invention of our century."

After World War II, Levin took part in the psychological rehabilitation of former concentration camp inmates with Dr. Jacob Fine of Harvard. medical school(Harvard Medical School). At the suggestion of Eric Trist of the Tavistock Institute, Kurt contributed to the scientific journal Human Relations. He also briefly taught at Duke University.

Levin introduced the concept of "generic identity" (genidentity), which acquired certain value in various space-time theories and related fields. He suggested that neither a person's character (innate qualities) nor upbringing (acquired experience) can explain the behavior of an individual personality, but both of these natures matter, that is, behavior is the result of the interaction of the individual and the situation. This idea was represented by the equation B = f(P, E).

In his works, the psychologist wrote that a person lives and develops in " psychological field", consisting of the objects surrounding it. Moreover, each object has its own valence, a certain energy charge that creates a specific tension in a person. To get rid of it, a discharge is necessary. The behavior itself is divided into "volitional", caused internal needs, and "field", developing under the influence external factors. In field theory, Levin tried to apply topology to create a hodology - geometry psychological description human behavior.

Kurt often characterizes organizational management practices in terms of the leadership style chosen to influence the team climate: (1) authoritarian, (2) democratic, and (3) hands-off. In an authoritarian environment, the leader is not necessarily hostile, often responding with personal praise or criticism for work done within the framework of his attitudes. The diplomatic climate is a strategy in which tasks are derived from collective processes through the decision of the leader. Laissez-faire involves setting attitudes without the involvement of the leader. The leader does not make decisions unless asked to do so, does not participate in the division of labor, and very rarely gives praise.

Lewin's students were Leon Festinger, known for his theory of cognitive dissonance; Roger Barker, environmental psychology researcher; Morton Deutsch, Founder modern theory conflict resolution; and Bluma Zeigarnik.

Kurt Lewin died on February 12, 1947, in Newtonville, Massachusetts, from a heart attack. He was buried in his hometown.

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