Chapter 3: Kurt Lewin & Field of Group Dynamics Flashcards
A German psychologist born in September 9, 1890.
Kurt Lewin.
In what year did Kurt Lewin join the German army?
1914.
In what year was Kurt Lewin awarded a PhD from the University of Berlin?
1916.
In what year did Kurt Lewin become a lecturer at the Psychological Institute of the University of Berlin?
1921.
In 1933, Kurt Lewin emigrated to what country?
United States.
In what year did Kurt Lewin become a professor at the University of Iowa?
1935.
In 1935, Kurt Lewin published a book with the title?
A Dynamic Theory of Personality.
In what year did Kurt Lewin establish a research center at MIT?
1944.
Kurt Lewin died on February 12, 1947 at the age of 56. What did he die of?
Heart attack.
_____ is a psychological concept.
Field.
This consists of a person and his psychological environment.
Field.
This implies the mental world in which a person lives at a defined moment of his life.
Psychological environment.
This is a psychological representation of an individual’s environment.
Life space.
This includes the person himself and everything in his environment that influences his behavior.
Life space.
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.
Life space.
This includes the person, and his drives, motives, beliefs, tensions, thoughts, feelings, and his physical environment which consist of perceived objects and events.
Life space.
True or False: The life spaces of two persons in an identical situation may be entirely different.
True.
Psychologically, a person is composed of two (2) components, which are?
- Motor perceptual stratum (abilities).
- Inner personal stratum (needs).
The life space is surrounded by a non-psychological boundary called the?
Foreign hull.
This refers to the non-metrical geometry which includes concepts such as inside, outside, and boundary.
Topology.
In field psychology, this refers to a force that is influencing psychological movement towards or away from a goal.
Vector.
This refers to the attracting or repelling powers of regions. Objects may be either positive or negative of this.
Valences.
This refers to objects or goals which satisfy needs or are attractive to the person.
Positive valences.
This refers to objects or goals which threatens the individual or are repulsive to the person.
Negative valences.
This refers to the state of tension brought in by the presence of two (2) opposing desires in the individual.
Conflicts.
The three (3) types of conflict.
- Approach-approach conflict.
- Approach-avoidance conflict.
- Avoidance-avoidance conflict.
This arises when the person is caught in between two (2) goals both having positive valences.
Approach-approach conflict.
This arises when the person is caught in between a positive and a negative goal.
Approach-avoidance conflict.
This arises when the person is caught in between two (2) goals both having negative valences.
Avoidance-avoidance conflict.
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.
Locomotion.
This refers to a psychological obstruction.
Barrier.
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.
Barrier.
According to Kurt Lewin’s field theory, he proposed the following formula for behavior:
B = f(P,E)
What does this formula mean?
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.
