FIELD THEORY by KURT LEWIN The older sciences of physics and chemistry have often influenced the course

of newer sciences like psychology. As new viewpoints develop on physics and chemistry it is almost inevitable that these discoveries would them affect the young sciences. The field concept of physic, initiated by Faraday, Maxwell and Hertz on electromagnetic fields in the nineteenth century and culminating in Einsteins powerful theory of relativity in the twentieth century, has had impact on the psychological thought. The foremost manifestation of the influence of physical field of theory in psychology appeared in the movement known as Gestalt Psychology that was initiated by three German Psychologist Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Kohler and Kurts Koffka. Gestalt Psychologys idea is that behavior is determined by psychophysical field consisting of an organized system of stresses or strains (forces) analogous to a gravitational or electromagnetic field. How we perceive an object, for example, is determined by the total field in which the object is embedded. Gestalt Psychology is primarily concerned with perception, learning and thinking and not with personality. Kurt Lewins theory of personality is deeply influenced by Gestalt Psychology as well as Psychoanalysis, his theory nonetheless us entirely original formulation. Lewin stood first and foremost for the application of field theory in all branches of psychology. Field theory is not only limited to specific concepts but it is a set of concepts by means of which one can represent psychological reality. These concepts should be broad enough to be applicable to all kind of behavior, and at the same time specific enough to represent a definite person in a concrete situation. Lewin also characterized field theory as a method of analyzing causal relations and of building scientific constructs. The principal characteristics of Lewins field theory may be summarized as follows: (1) behavior is a function of the field that exists at the time the behavior occurs, (2) analysis begins with the situation as a whole from which are differentiated the component parts, and (3) the concrete person in a concrete situation can be represented mathematically. He also emphasizes underlying forces (needs) as determiners of behavior. A field is defined as the totality of coexisting facts which are conceived of as mutually interdependent. Like other personality theorist who turned aside from the problems of the world, Lewin, having a broad humanitarian

sympathies and democratic values , attempted rather directly to ameliorate some the problems facing mankind by undertaking the type of investigation known as action research. Action research has as its objective the changing of social conditions.

THE STRUCTURE OF PERSONALITY Lewin used the spatial representation of a person, an entity set apart from everything else in the world. According to him, spatial representation can be treated mathematically and ordinary verbal definitions cannot be. One important advantage of this type of scientific strategy is that, according to Lewin, mathematical representations require precise formulation whereas verbal definitions are more likely to be inexact and ambiguous. Mathematics is the proper language of a scientific discourse said Lewin. Although, this mathematics is not the type that most are familiar of. It is mathematics for describing interconnections and intercommunications among spatial regions disregarding the shape and size. The separation of the person from the rest of the universe is accomplished by drawing an enclosed figure (Figure 1). The boundary of the figure defines the limits of the entity know as person. Everything lying inside the boundary is P (the person); and everything lying outside the boundary is non-P. It does not make any difference with what the size and the shape of the enclosed figure is. Thus, the only significant feature it portrays is a completely bounded area lying outside a larger area. Two properties of the person are conceptualized by the image. These are (1) separation of the rest of the world by means of continuous boundaries or differentiation, and (2) inclusion in a larger area or part-whole relationship.

Non-P

Non-P

Nonpsychological

Figure 1

Figure 2

The Psychological Environment The enclosed figure known as the entity person would then be enclosed by a larger closed figure (Figure 2). The new figure cannot share any part of the boundary. The larger figure, excluding the portion of the first figure, represents the psychological environment (E) of the person and the space outside the larger figure is considered the nonpsychological aspects of the universe. The larger figure is a map or conceptual representation of reality, and like other maps, its function is to guide its user to unfamiliar territories and in doing so to acquaint the person with new facts about reality.

The Life Space The life spaced is said to be the psychologists world; it is the whole psychological reality in addition with the entity of the person (P + E = Life Space [L]). It contains the totality of possible facts that are capable of determining the behavior of the individual. It includes everything that has to be known in order to understand the concrete behavior of the individual human being in the given psychological environment. Behavior is a function of the life space; B= (L). The task of dynamic psychology is to derive univocally the behavior of a given individual from the totality of the psychological facts that exists in the life space at a given moment. Facts the exists in the region outside and adjacent to the boundary of the life space, a region that Lewin calls the foreign hull of the life space (Figure 3), can materially influence the psychological environment. Foreign Hull

Life Space

Foreign Hull Figure 3 The Differentiated Person

The first figure defining the entity of the person is divided into two parts by drawing a concentric figure within the first figure (Figure 3). That is so, because, according to Lewin, the structure of the person is heterogeneous and not homogenous. The concentric figure is totally surrounded by the first one thus; it has no contact with the things outside the entity. The outer part represents the perceptual-motor regions (P-M), and the concentric second part represents the inner-personal region (I-P). When the direction of the influence is from the environment to the person the region surrounding the inner-personal sphere represents the perceptual regions, and when the direction of influence is from the person to the environment this same regions stands for the motor region. Then the inner-personal regions would be divided into cells (Figure 4), wherein the cells adjacent to the boundary are called the peripheral cells (p), and those in the center are the central cells (c). The motor system acts as a unit since it can ordinarily perform only one action at a time, similar to the perceptual system, wherein a person can only attend and perceive only one thing at a time, although it is considered a unified manner. P-M Perceptual Inner Personal Motor Figure 4 P-M Figure 5 The Differentiated Environment The homogeneous or undifferentiated environment is one which all the facts are equally influential upon the person. In such an environment the person would have perfect freedom of movement since there would be no barriers to impede her or him. Such complete freedom of movement does not represent true state of affairs. Therefore it is necessary to subdivide the environment into part regions (Figure 6).
p

Figure 6

Connections between Regions Regions are said to be connected when a fact the one region is in communication with a fact that another region. For example, a person is said to be connected with the environment can alter, modify, displace and in intensify the facts with the person. There are several ways to represent the extent of influence or accessibility of the region: 1. Nearness-Remoteness Dimension Regions are close together when the influence of one upon the other is great (Figure 7) and weak if the regions are far apart from one another (Figure 8). For example, a region that is buried deeply in the central portion of inner-personal stratum may be many cells away from the perceptual-motor area. Under these circumstances an environmental face will have a difficult time getting to the remote central region.

Figure 7 2. Firmness-Weakness Dimension

Figure 8

The degree of connectedness or interdependence is not only a matter of number of boundaries that must be crossed; it also depends upon the strength of the resistance offered by the boundary. A very thin line represents a weak boundary; a very thick line represents an impermeable boundary (Figure 9). Fluid Rigid Rigid Rigid

Figure 9 3. Fluidity-Rigidity Dimension

Figure 10

A fluid medium is one that responds quickly to the influence that is brought to bear upon it. A rigid medium resist change (Figure 10). To regions that are separated from

one another by a region whose quality is extremely rigid will not be able to communicate within each other.

Number of Regions The number of regions is determined by the number of separate psychological facts that exists at any given moment of time. When there are only two facts, the person and the environment, there are only two regions in the life space.

The Person in the Environment For whatever region it is placed in, the facts of the region are closer to and have more influence on the person than do the facts of any other region. An understanding of a concrete psychological situation requires, therefore, that we know where the person is in his or her psychological environment.

Locomotion and Communication In performing locomotion, the person transverses a path through the environment. The direction of the path is determined through which passes are determined in apart by the strength of the boundaries and fluidity of the regions. Regions of a person are said to communicate with one another, which region will communicate with one another and the path by which the communication is transmitted through a number of regions are determined in part by which structural features as the width of the boundaries and the nature of the medium. THE DYNAMICS OF PERSONALITY ENERGY Lewin, in common with most personality theorists, assumes that the person is a complex energy system. The kind of energy that performs psychological work is called psychical system. Since Lewins theory is exclusively psychological in character, it is not necessary for him to deal with the question of the relation of the psychical energy to the other kinds of energy. Psychical energy is released when the psychic system (the person) attempts to return to equilibrium after it has been thrown into a state of disequilibrium. Disequilibrium is

produced by an increase of tension in one part of the system relative to the rest of the system, either as a result of external stimulation or internal change. When tension throughout the system becomes equalized again, the output of energy is halted and the total system comes to rest.

TENSION Tension is a state of the person, or speaking more precisely, it is a state of innerpersonal region relative to other inner-personal regions. When Lewin refers to the dynamic properties of a region or cell of the inner-personal sphere, he calls the region a system. Tension has two important conceptual properties. The first property is that a state of tension in a particular system tends to equalize itself with the amount of tension in surrounding systems. The psychological means by which tension becomes equalized is called a process. A process may be thinking, remembering, feeling, perceiving, acting, or the like. For instance, a person who is faced with the task of solving a problem becomes tense in one of their systems. In order to solve the problem and thereby reduce the tension, he or she engages in the process of thinking. Thinking continues until a satisfactory solution is found, at which time, the person returns to a state of equilibrium. Although tension always moves toward a condition of equilibrium, this conceptual property applies only to the system as a whole, and not necessarily to all of the part systems. A part system may actually become more and more tense during the time that the whole system is returning to a balanced condition. This happens when a person has to take a circuitous route in solving a problem. During the detour, tension may mount in one of the subregions although the overall process will eventually bring the person back to a state of equilibrium. A state of equilibrium does not mean that the system is without tension. Probably no organism can achieve a completely tension-free state and remain alive. Equilibrium means either that the tension throughout the total system is equalized or that a subsystem in which an unequal amount of tension exists is firmly walled off or isolated from the other inner-personal systems.

A second conceptual property of tension is that it exerts pressure upon the boundary of the system. If the boundary is particularly firm, the diffusion of tension from one system to adjacent systems will be impeded, but if the boundary is weak, tension will flow readily from one system into other systems. Ordinarily, a particular tension system shares its boundary with more than one other tension system. In such cases, the resistance of one part of the boundary may be weaker than that at other parts of the boundary. This will permit tension to pass in certain directions more freely than in other directions. In other words, dynamic communication between systems is a variable condition.

NEED An increase of tension or the release of energy in an inner-personal region is caused by the arousal of a need: A need may be a physiological condition such as hunger, thirst or sex; it may be a desire for something such as a job or a spouse; or it may be an intention to do something such as completing a task or keeping an appointment. A need is, therefore, a motivational concept and is equivalent to such terms as motive, wish, drive and urge. Lewin refrains from systematically discussing the nature, source, number and kinds of needs because he is not at all satisfied with the concept. He feels that eventually, the term need will be dropped from psychology in favor of a more suitable concept, one that is more observable and measurable. Not that he feels that it is worthwhile to set forth a list of needs as so many psychologists do. In the first place, the only thing that really matters in the description of psychological reality is to represent those needs that actually exist in the momentary situation. These are the only needs that are producing effects. On an abstract level, it may be said that everyone is capable of feeling hungry, but it is only when the hunger drive is actually disturbing the equilibrium of a person that it has to be taken into action. Each need is a concrete fact and unless it is described in all of its particularity and detail, one is not able to understand true psychological reality. Lewin also distinguishes between needs and quasi-needs. A need is due to some inner state such as hunger, while a quasi-need is equivalent to a specific intention, like satisfying

ones hunger by eating at a particular restaurant. Lewin feels that the needs of a person are determined to a large extent by social factors.

TENSION AND MOTORIC ACTION What is the relation of tension to action? One might conjecture that energy flowing from an inner-personal region into the motoric would result directly in a psychological locomotion. Lewin, however, rejects such a position. Tension pressing on the outer boundary of the person cannot cause locomotion. Therefore, instead of linking need or tension directly to action by way of the motoric, he links need with certain properties of the environment that then determines the kind of locomotion that will occur. Two additional concepts are required in order to accomplish this purpose. They are valence and force.

VALENCE A valence is a conceptual property of a region of the psychological environment. It is that value of a region for a person. There are two kinds of value, positive and negative. A region of a positive value is one that contains goal object that will reduce tension when the person enters the region. For example, a region that contains food will have a positive valence for a person who is hungry. A region of negative value is one that will increase tension. For a person who is afraid of dogs any region that contains a dog will have a negative valence. Positive valences attract, negative valences repel. A valence is coordinated with a need. This means that whether a particular region of the environment has a positive or negative value depends directly upon a system in a state of tension. Needs impart values to the environment. They organize environment into a network of inviting and repelling regions. However, this network of valences depends also upon alien factors that do not fall within the scope of psychological laws. The presence or absence of the needed objects themselves obviously plays an important part in structuring the psychological environment. Whether food is present and recognizable, what kind of food it is and what

quantity, its availability and its proximity to objects that possess negative valence, are all nonpsychological factors that influence the valence of a region for a hungry person. A valence is a variable quantity; it may be weak, medium or strong. The strength of a valence depends upon the strength of the need plus all of the non-psychological factors mentioned above. A valence is not a force. It steers the person through his or her psychological environment but it does not supply the motive power for the locomotion. As we have already seen, neither does a system in a state of tension produce locomotion. Another concept is needed. This is the concept of force or vector.

FORCE or VECTOR -- A force is coordinated with a need, but it is not a tension. A force exists in a psychological environment while a tension is a property of an inner-personal system. Conceptual Properties of Force: a. direction - The direction in which the vector points. b. strength - The length of the vector. c. point of application - The place where the tip of the arrow impinges upon the outer boundary of the person. A vector is always drawn on the outside of a person and never inside because psychological forces are properties of the environment and not of the person. If there is only one vector (force) acting upon a person, then there will be a locomotion or a tendency to move in the direction of the vector. If two or more vectors are pushing the person in several different directions, the resulting locomotion will be the resultant of all the forces. Now we can see the relation of valence to vector. A region that possesses a positive valence is one in which the forces acting upon the person are directed towards this region. A region of negative valence is one in which the vectors are pointing in the opposite direction. In

other words, the direction of a vector is directly determined by the location of a region with either positive or negative valence. The strength of a vector is related to the strength of a valence, to the psychological distance between the person and the valence, and to the relative potency of other valences.

LOCOMOTION -- A position to represent the specific path that a person will transcribe in moving through his or her psychological environment. In general, it may be said that any locomotion can be fully accounted for by the concepts of need, tension, force, valence, barrier, the properties of the medium, the dimension of reality-unreality, and the time perspective.

Dynamical Restructuring of the Psychological Environment The dynamics of the psychological environment can change in four different ways: -the value of the region may change quantitatively or it may change qualitatively. -vectors may change in strength or in direction or in both respects -boundaries may become firmer or weaker, appear or disappear -the material properties of a region may be altered. Restructuring of the psychological environment may take place as a result of changes in the tension systems of the person, as a result of a locomotion, or as a result of cognitive processes. Restructuring can also result from the intrusion of alien factors from the foreign hull into the psychological environment.

Return to Equilibrium The ultimate goal of all psychological processes is to return the person to a state of equilibrium. This goal can be reached in a number of ways, depending upon the particular process that is engaged. Disequilibrium is defined as a state of unequal tension throughout the various systems of the person. One way in which an equilibrium can be reached is for the tension of system to

diffuse throughout all of the other systems until the tension throughout the inner-personal sphere is equalized. When the boundary of the inner-personal region is no longer able to resist the pressure on it, there will be a sudden breakthrough of energy into the motorium that will produce agitated behavior. This describes what takes place when a person has a temper tantrum or a fit.

If the boundary between the inner-personal system and the perceptual motor area is fairly permeable, the tension can be dissipated in restless activity. This is a fairly primitive mode of tension reduction that is seen chiefly during infancy. The most prevalent method of returning to a state of equilibrium is by performing an appropriate locomotion in the psychological environment. An appropriate locomotion is one that brings the person into the region of a satisfying goal object.

DEVELOPMENTAL CONCEPTS Having set forth some of the important changes that take place during development, namely, changes in variety, complexity, extensity, organization, integration, and realism. Lewin then proceeds to conceptualize these changes. The constructs he uses are the same as those discussed in preceding sections of this chapter, since behavior and development are both deemed to be functions of the same structural and dynamic factors.

Differentiation The key concept in Lewin's theory of personality development that applies to all aspects of the life space. It is defined as an increase in the number of parts of a whole. For example, the number of regions in the inner-personal sphere increases with age. Compare the child and the adult. The adult has many more differentiated tension systems than the child. In a similar manner, the psychological environment becomes increasingly differentiated with age. The time dimension becomes differentiated with age. The time dimension becomes differentiated into a remote past, a near past, a present, a near future, and a far future. Increasing maturity also brings an increasing differentiation of the reality-unreality dimension. By the time a person gets

to be an adult he or she has learned, to some extent, to distinguish not only between the true and false but also between different degrees of possibility and probability.

Boundary Properties Greater differentiation of the person and the psychological environment obviously means an increase in the number of boundaries. But not all boundaries are alike. They vary in strength. In general, the boundaries of the child are less firm than those of the adult. For example, the boundary between the child and its psychological environment is weaker than that between the adult and his or her environment. This accounts for the fact that the child is more subject to influences from the environment and can discharge inner tensions more easily than the adult. The child is more a part of the environment.

Integration Differentiation and changing boundary properties can account for many of the facts of development, but they cannot explain the increasing organization and integration of behavior with age. Another concept is necessary, which Lewin calls organizational interdependence. In order to appreciate what is meant by this concept, it may help to contrast it with the simple interdependence of regions. Consider, for example, two neighboring and interdependent tension systems, a and b. When a is thrown into a state of heightened tension, energy flows from a into b until a state of equal tension exists between the two systems. Similarly, if the tension level of b is raised energy kind of relationship between tension systems that appears to exist in the baby. A disturbance in one region spreads to other regions of the inner-personal sphere and out through the motoric in a massive, diffuse discharge. The hungry baby is restless all over. As the baby matures, the influence of neighboring tension systems upon one another appears to lose the characteristics of being mutual and reciprocal. In place of simple interdependence, the type of relationship that becomes established is that of leader and led. Tension system a leads tension system b in such a manner as to help a discharge its tension

without necessarily leading to any final equality between the two. A simple example of this organizational interdependence is the way in which an inner personal region can subordinate the motoric to its objectives, or when an inner-personal region regulates and controls what will be perceived. Moreover, in organizational interdependence tension does not diffuse from region to region on the basis of proximity alone. Selectivity develops so that systems which are remote from one another may dominate or lead each other. A whole hierarchy of dominate subordinate relationship can become established; region a may rule region b, b may rule c, and so on. This would explain, among other things, the ability of an older person to organize and execute a complicated plan of action, an ability in which children seem to be deficient. Lewin likens the organizational unity of a person to an organization with one head. When the one head breaks up into several heads, unity decreases; when a new central head emerges, unity increases. Thus, the unity of the adult person waxes and wanes instead of developing in a straight manner.

Stages of Development For Lewin, development is a continuous process in which it is difficult to recognize discrete stages. He also points out the different first regions become differentiated in the baby are those that have to do with eating and elimination. Lewin believes that the use of an age scale for describing development is not really adequate for understanding psychological growth. The age scale will eventually have to be dropped in favor of degrees differentiation, organization, integration and the like. Moreover, psychology must address itself to the task of the coexisting and dynamically related facts which represent the conditions for the change at the time the change it takes place.

Regression Lewin has made some important contributions, both theoretical and experimental, to our understanding of regression. In the first place, he distinguishes between retrogression and

regression. Retrogression refers to a return to an earlier form of behavior in the life history of the person whereas regression refers to any change to a more primitive form of behavior, regardless of whether the person had ever behaved in that way previously. It is much easier to study regression than retrogression, as there terms are defined, because it is not necessary to establish whether the behavior took place previously in the lives of the subjects. Moreover, in studying regression, the experiment can make use of age norms that have been established for various activities.