Kurt Lewin
SchoolField Theory
Lived1890 – 1947
FromGermany / USA
Field Theory

Kurt Lewin

Behavior is the person and the situation

The German-American psychologist widely regarded as the founder of modern social psychology.

There is nothing so practical as a good theory.
— Kurt Lewin

Who they were

Kurt Lewin treated behavior as the product of a person and their environment together, mapping the psychological field of forces — the life space — in which choices actually unfold. He turned abstract theory into experiment, studying how groups make decisions, resolve conflict, and change, and his unfreeze, change, refreeze model still shapes how organizations think about transformation. He brought rigor and humanity in equal measure to the study of prejudice, leadership, and group life. His conviction that there is nothing so practical as a good theory guided generations of researchers.

Famous books

What they left on the shelf

Their big idea

Field Theory

Kurt Lewin proposed that behavior is the product of the whole situation a person is in at that moment, the balance of forces pushing and pulling within their psychological field. Change happens by easing the forces that hold us in place rather than simply pressing harder for something new.

Questions in their spirit

What they’d ask you

Sit with one. Answer online, or in the app.

All questions

Carry the idea forward

Lewin — What they’d ask you

Psipas asks you one small, honest question at a time — and builds the picture from your answers.