Kurt Lewin & Field of Group Dynamics Flashcards
A German psychologist born on September 9, 1890.
Kurt Lewin
He eventually completed a doctoral degree at the _____.
University of Berlin
A psychological concept. Consist of a person and his psychological environment.
Field
Every individual has his own field of _____ and _____.
perception & field forces
The mental world in which a person lives at a defined moment of his life.
Psychological environment
8 Important concepts in field theory:
• Life space
• Foreign Hull
• Topology
• Vector
• Valence
• Conflict
• Locomotion
• Barriers
A psychological representation of individual’s environment.
Life space
The person is often represented as a points moving about in his life.
A Person in Life Space
Psychologically a person is composed of two components:
• Motor perceptual stratum (abilities)
• Inner personal stratum (needs)
The life space is surrounded by a non psychological boundary.
Foreign Hull
Non-metrical geometry which includes concepts such as inside, outside and boundary.
Topology
In field psychology, it means a force that is influencing psychological movement towards or away from a goal.
Vector
The attracting or repelling powers of regions. Objects may have either positive or negative.
Valences
The object or goal which satisfy needs or are attractive to the person.
Positive Valence
The object or goal which threatens the individual or are repulsive to the person.
Negative Valence
The state of tensions brought in by the presence of two opposing desires in the individual.
Conflicts
There are three types of conflicts:
• Approach-approach conflict
• Approach-avoidance conflict
• Avoidance-avoidance conflict
- It arises when the person is caught in between two goals both having positive valences.
- It is a conflict between two positive goals which are equally attractive.
Approach-approach conflict
- It arises when the person is caught in between a positive and a negative goal.
- The same object has strong positive valence as well as negative valence.
Approach-avoidance conflict
It arises when a person is caught in between two goals both having negative valences. The person is like “caught in between devil and sea”.
Avoidance-avoidance conflict
_____ in life space is delineated by a geometrical representation of the selection of alternative, the examining of possibilities, the setting out towards the goal.
Locomotion
A psychological obstruction. They restrict the person’s movement towards the goal, and the path he must follow to reach his goal.
Barriers
