He is also recognized for his essential contributions to applied psychology and organizational psychology.
He is also known for his famous study that identified major types of leadership styles.
Let’s take a closer look at his life, theories, and contributions to psychology.
Kurt Lewin studied group dynamics.Jack Berman / Moment / Getty Images
He eventually completed a doctoral degree at the University of Berlin.
He originally began his studies with an interest inbehaviorism, but he later developed an interest inGestalt psychology.
He served in the German army and was later injured in combat.
While Lewin emphasized the importance of theory, he also believed that theories needed to have practical applications.
Lewin died of heart failure in 1947.
Essentially, Lewin’s field theory suggests that people are the sum of all of their influences.
Behavior involves the complex effects of many influences and our interactions within our environments.
Behavior emerges as a result of an individual’s personal characteristics and their environment.
It was demonstrated thatdemocratic leadershipwas superior to authoritarian andlaissez-faire leadership.
These findings prompted a wealth of research onleadership styles.
He was a prolific writer, publishing more than 80 articles and eight books on various psychology topics.
Many of his unfinished papers were published by his colleagues after his sudden death at age 56.
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Miller ML.Lewin, Kurt.
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Drs.
Nicholas and Dorothy Cummings Center for the History of Psychology.
Biography of Kurt Lewin.
Smith MK.Kurt Lewin: Groups, experiential learning and action research.
In:The Encyclopedia of Pedagogy and Informal Education.Updated June 20, 2013.
