See Also: Lewin, Kurt(encyclopedia)
Ludwig, Kurt(medicine)
Waldheim, Kurt(encyclopedia)
Vonnegut, Kurt, Jr.(encyclopedia)
Schwitters, Kurt(encyclopedia)
Schuschnigg, Kurt von(encyclopedia)
Schleicher, Kurt von(encyclopedia)
Kurt (as used in expressions)(encyclopedia)
Jooss, Kurt(encyclopedia)
Eisner, Kurt(encyclopedia)

Lewin, Kurt (sh)




born Sept. 9, 1890, Mogilno, Ger.
died Feb. 12, 1947, Newtonville, Mass., U.S.

German-U.S. social psychologist.

After training and teaching in Berlin, he immigrated to the U.S., where he taught at the University of Iowa (1935-45) and later became director of a group dynamics research centre at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1945-47). He is best known for his field theory of behaviour, which holds that human behaviour is a function of an individual's psychological environment. To fully understand and predict human behaviour, according to Lewin, one must view the totality of events in a person's psychological field, or "lifespace." His works include A Dynamic Theory of Personality (1935) and Field Theory in Social Science (1951).