Chapter 3: Kurt Lewin & Field of Group Dynamics

Question 1

A German psychologist born in September 9, 1890.

Answer 1

Kurt Lewin.

Question 2

In what year did Kurt Lewin join the German army?

Answer 2

1914.

Question 3

In what year was Kurt Lewin awarded a PhD from the University of Berlin?

Answer 3

1916.

Question 4

In what year did Kurt Lewin become a lecturer at the Psychological Institute of the University of Berlin?

Answer 4

1921.

Question 5

In 1933, Kurt Lewin emigrated to what country?

Answer 5

United States.

Question 6

In what year did Kurt Lewin become a professor at the University of Iowa?

Answer 6

1935.

Question 7

In 1935, Kurt Lewin published a book with the title?

Answer 7

A Dynamic Theory of Personality.

Question 8

In what year did Kurt Lewin establish a research center at MIT?

Answer 8

1944.

Question 9

Kurt Lewin died on February 12, 1947 at the age of 56. What did he die of?

Answer 9

Heart attack.

Question 10

_____ is a psychological concept.

Answer 10

Field.

Question 11

This consists of a person and his psychological environment.

Answer 11

Field.

Question 12

This implies the mental world in which a person lives at a defined moment of his life.

Answer 12

Psychological environment.

Question 13

This is a psychological representation of an individual’s environment.

Answer 13

Life space.

Question 14

This includes the person himself and everything in his environment that influences his behavior.

Answer 14

Life space.

Question 15

This includes both the things of which a person is consciously aware of and the factors that influence him even though he is unconscious of them.

Answer 15

Life space.

Question 16

This includes the person, and his drives, motives, beliefs, tensions, thoughts, feelings, and his physical environment which consist of perceived objects and events.

Answer 16

Life space.

Question 17

True or False: The life spaces of two persons in an identical situation may be entirely different.

Answer 17

True.

Question 18

Psychologically, a person is composed of two (2) components, which are?

Answer 18

1. Motor perceptual stratum (abilities).
2. Inner personal stratum (needs).

Question 19

The life space is surrounded by a non-psychological boundary called the?

Answer 19

Foreign hull.

Question 20

This refers to the non-metrical geometry which includes concepts such as inside, outside, and boundary.

Answer 20

Topology.

Question 21

In field psychology, this refers to a force that is influencing psychological movement towards or away from a goal.

Answer 21

Vector.

Question 22

This refers to the attracting or repelling powers of regions. Objects may be either positive or negative of this.

Answer 22

Valences.

Question 23

This refers to objects or goals which satisfy needs or are attractive to the person.

Answer 23

Positive valences.

Question 24

This refers to objects or goals which threatens the individual or are repulsive to the person.

Answer 24

Negative valences.

Question 25

This refers to the state of tension brought in by the presence of two (2) opposing desires in the individual.

Answer 25

Conflicts.

Question 26

The three (3) types of conflict.

Answer 26

1. Approach-approach conflict.
2. Approach-avoidance conflict.
3. Avoidance-avoidance conflict.

Question 27

This arises when the person is caught in between two (2) goals both having positive valences.

Answer 27

Approach-approach conflict.

Question 28

This arises when the person is caught in between a positive and a negative goal.

Answer 28

Approach-avoidance conflict.

Question 29

This arises when the person is caught in between two (2) goals both having negative valences.

Answer 29

Avoidance-avoidance conflict.

Question 30

In life space, this is delineated by a geometrical representation of the selection of alternatives, the examining of possibilities, and the setting out towards the goal.

Answer 30

Locomotion.

Question 31

This refers to a psychological obstruction.

Answer 31

Barrier.

Question 32

This restricts the person’s movement toward their goal, and the path he must follow to reach his goal.

It may be objects, people, social codes, or anything else which threatens the motivated individual as he is moving towards a goal.

Answer 32

Barrier.

Question 33

According to Kurt Lewin’s field theory, he proposed the following formula for behavior:

B = f(P,E)

What does this formula mean?

Answer 33

In the formula B = f(P,E):

This means that the behavior (B) of an individual is based (f) on how they interact (P, interacting person) with the psychological environment (E) around them.

For example, say I am in a stressful psychological environment, and I am annoyed about it. I then get irritated at someone. The behavior of getting irritated at someone was shaped by my being annoyed at my stressful psychological environment.