Kurt Lewin Quote Collection

Kurt Lewin (1890 - 1947) is widely regarded as the founder of modern social psychology. He emphasized both individual traits and the environmental context in driving behavior, drawing heavily from Gestalt psychology. His prolific writing career resulted in over 80 articles and eight books on psychology, many of which continue to influence the field today. Here is a compilation of selected quotes from Kurt Lewin:

Selected Kurt Lewin Quotes

1. "Theory is as practical as it gets."
2. "To truly understand something, try to change it." - Problems of Theoretical Psychology
3. "The prototype of will-action is not intentional action. It exists across all forms of transition, from managed action to unmanaged, drive-like, field-action. ...Accordingly, an act of intending doesn't precede most controlled (will) actions. Intentional actions are quite rare. They're preparatory actions, where a typically controlled act of intending prepares an uncontrolled field-action." - The Complete Social Scientist: A Kurt Lewin Reader
4. "Experience alone doesn't confer knowledge."
5. "The primary methodological approach involves designing actual experiments of change in group settings, either in a laboratory or field environment."
6. "The American cultural ideal of the self-made man, where individuals stand on their own, is as tragic as the initiative-destroying reliance on a benevolent despot. We are interconnected. This interdependence represents the ultimate test of maturity in both individual and group functioning." - The Practical Theorist: The Life and Work of Kurt Lewin

Notable Quotes from Kurt Lewin's Works

A Dynamic Theory of Personality (1935)

1. "The general validity of a law and the concreteness of a specific case are not mutually exclusive...reference should be made to the totality of the concrete situation as a whole rather than to the largest possible historical collection of frequent repetitions."
2. "This implies methodologically that a case's importance and validity as evidence cannot be determined by its frequency. And lastly, for psychology, like physics, it signifies a shift from an abstract classificatory approach to a primarily concrete, constructive approach."
3. "Fortunately, I was exposed to Max Wertheimer's teachings in Berlin and have collaborated with Wolfgang Köhler for over a decade. I need not emphasize my debts to these outstanding figures. The fundamental concepts of Gestalt theory underpin all our investigations in the areas of will, affection, and personality."

Resolving Social Conflicts (1948)

1. "Social action, like physical action, is guided by perception."
2. "Our behavior is purposeful; we exist in a psychological reality or living space that encompasses not only the aspects of our physical and social surroundings that are meaningful to us but also imagined scenarios that do not currently exist."
3. "A successful person typically sets their next objective slightly but not excessively beyond their recent accomplishment. In doing so, they consistently elevate their level of aspiration."

Field Theory in Social Science (1951)

1. "Field theory is a perspective for examining the world that emphasizes the interdependence between objects and the forces acting upon them."
2. "An individual's behavior is determined by the sum of forces acting upon them at any given moment."
3. "The totality of psychological factors that determine an individual's behavior at any given time constitutes their life space."

Kurt Lewin's groundbreaking ideas and theories have had a profound impact on the field of psychology, particularly social psychology, and they remain relevant and studied today.