1. Kurt Lewin is often recognized as the "founder of social psychology" and was one of the first to study group dynamics and organizational development.
38 Facts About Kurt Lewin
1. 2.
Kurt Lewin was born in 1890 into a Jewish family in Mogilno, County of Mogilno, Province of Posen, Prussia in present-day Poland, a small village with then about 5,000 residents, about 150 of whom were Jewish.
3.
Kurt Lewin was one of four children born into a middle-class family.
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Kurt Lewin's father owned a small general store, and the family lived in an apartment above the store.
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In 1905, Kurt Lewin moved with his family to Berlin, so Kurt Lewin and his brothers could receive a better education.
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From 1905 to 1908, Kurt Lewin studied at the Kaiserin Augusta Gymnasium, where he received a classical humanistic education.
7.
Kurt Lewin wrote a dissertation proposal asking Stumpf to be his supervisor, and Stumpf assented.
8.
Kurt Lewin studied associations, will, and intention for his dissertation, but he did not discuss it with Stumpf until his final doctoral examination.
9.
Kurt Lewin was originally involved with schools of behavioral psychology before changing directions in research and undertaking work with psychologists of the Gestalt school of psychology, including Max Wertheimer and Wolfgang Kohler.
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Kurt Lewin joined the Psychological Institute of the University of Berlin, where he lectured and gave seminars on both philosophy and psychology.
11.
Kurt Lewin served as a professor at the University of Berlin from 1926 to 1932, during which time he conducted experiments about tension states, needs, motivation, and learning.
12.
In 1933, Kurt Lewin had tried to negotiate a teaching position as the chair of psychology and creating a research institute at Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
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Kurt Lewin often associated with the early Frankfurt School, originated by an influential group of largely Jewish Marxists at the Institute for Social Research in Germany.
14.
When Trist and A T M Wilson wrote to Kurt Lewin proposing a journal in partnership with their newly founded Tavistock Institute and his group at MIT, Kurt Lewin agreed.
15.
The Tavistock journal, Human Relations, was founded with two early papers by Kurt Lewin entitled "Frontiers in Group Dynamics".
16.
Kurt Lewin coined the notion of genidentity, which has gained some importance in various theories of space-time and related fields.
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Kurt Lewin proposed Herbert Blumer's interactionist perspective of 1937 as an alternative to the nature versus nurture debate.
18.
Kurt Lewin suggested that neither nature nor nurture alone can account for individuals' behavior and personalities, but rather that both nature and nurture interact to shape each person.
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Kurt Lewin has encouraged researchers to develop theories that can be used to address important social problems.
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Kurt Lewin was increasingly interested in the concepts of Jewish migration and identity.
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Kurt Lewin was confused by the concept of how while an individual distanced themselves from performing the Jewish identity in terms of religious expression and performance, they were still considered Jewish in the eyes of Nazis.
22.
Prominent psychologists mentored by Kurt Lewin included Leon Festinger, who became known for his cognitive dissonance theory, environmental psychologist Roger Barker, Bluma Zeigarnik, and Morton Deutsch, the founder of modern conflict resolution theory and practice.
23.
The approach, developed by Kurt Lewin, is a significant contribution to the fields of social science, psychology, social psychology, organizational development, process management, and change management.
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Kurt Lewin's theory was expanded by John R P French who related it to organizational and industrial settings.
25.
Kurt Lewin often characterized organizational management styles and cultures in terms of leadership climates defined by authoritarian, democratic and laissez-faire work environments.
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Kurt Lewin is often confused with McGregor with his work environments, but McGregor adapted them directly to leadership-theory.
27.
An early model of change developed by Kurt Lewin described change as a three-stage process.
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Kurt Lewin set up a workshop to conduct a "change" experiment, which laid the foundations for what is known as sensitivity training.
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The equation is the psychologist's most well known formula in social psychology, of which Kurt Lewin was a modern pioneer.
30.
Kurt Lewin described this notion as the way that groups and individuals act and react to changing circumstances.
31.
Kurt Lewin theorized that when a group is established it becomes a unified system with supervening qualities that cannot be understood by evaluating members individually.
32.
The most notable of Kurt Lewin's contributions was his development of group communication and group dynamics as major facets of the communication discipline.
33.
Kurt Lewin is associated with "founding research and training in group dynamics and for establishing the participative management style in organizations".
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Kurt Lewin carved out this niche for himself from his various experiments.
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Kurt Lewin was curious as to how perspectives of an individual in relation to the group were solidified or weakened.
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Kurt Lewin tried to come up with the way identity was constructed from standpoint and perspectives.
37.
Kurt Lewin started to become quite interested in how ideas were created and then perpetuated by the mentality of a group.
38.
In 1947, Kurt Lewin died of heart failure in Newtonville, Massachusetts, and was interred in Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.