Social psychology
Kurt Lewin
1890 – 1947
Field theory keeps attention on conditions rather than character: behaviour is a function of the person and the situation together.
Read alongside: Sense · Shape
- Start with
- Field Theory in Social Science (1951)
- Where they resist the book
- His unfreeze–change–refreeze model is an equilibrium picture — exactly the assumption the first chapter dismantles.
Works worth the time
Field Theory in Social Science · 1951
Behaviour as a function of person and situation together — the argument against character explanations.
Read further
Where Lewin appears
IV. ShapePsychology
Small repeated acts outrun large announced ones.
Weick's small wins argue that a scale of problem people can act on beats a scale they can only admire. Schein's levels of culture explain why the deepest layer is not written anywhere. Lewin's field theory keeps the attention on conditions rather than character.