From experiment to concept formation

In the present chapter we have shown how the basic process of psychic activity presented by Lewin in 1926 was transformed into an extended system through the experimental contributions of his students.

Most of the student studies resulted in the formation of new concepts. The student contributions ex-tended the preexisting conceptual system block by block building upon each other. Yet, it was Lewin’s effort for a substantial theoretical underpinning that finally integrated all concepts and related them to each other. In the few publications Lewin published in the investigated period he consolidated the stu-dents’ experimental results and made theoretical assumptions on its basis. For instance, the work of the constitutive stage was consolidated in Lewin’s Über die Struktur der SeeleandVorsatz, Wille und Bedürfnis (1926). 1931 was a particularly productive year, in which Lewin published amongst others Ersatzhandlung und Ersatzbefriedigung, Die psychologische Situation bei Lohn und Strafe, Environ-mental forces in child behavior and development. In these publications he not only theoretically framed the preceding research but also introduced the central themes of his later research, which is the person-environment-interaction. He elaborated a range of topological concepts in this way operationalizing

389For a more detailed elaboration of the concepts “behavior”, “person”, and “environment” in Lewin’s work see [Deutsch, 1954, 189ff.].

the concept of the field. Finally, A Dynamic Theory of Personality (1935) is Lewin’s stock taking and evaluating work that organizes and interrelates the significant results of the BEP while the Principles of Topological Psychology (1936) gives the most complete and theoretically sustained account on his topological theory (s. appendix A).

In the present chapter we investigated how experiments - their analytical part - shape concept formation.

More concretely we observed how experiments conducted by Lewin’s students in Berlin extended his early system knowledge (discussed in the Chapters 6 and 7). As depicted, the interactive part of the experimental procedure was followed by the analytical one, in which the researcher had to translate the experimental experience into new knowledge, i.e. new or more elaborate concepts. To this end he or she needed to identify exact “genetic types” of processes observed in the course of the experiment.

Furthermore, the experimenter had to subdivide the whole construct into process units, whose whole-ness needed to be preserved. He or she then “decoded” these units by getting to their “genetic” type, and identifying their “functional” interrelation with each other. This way - according to Lewin’s theory - the researcher arrives from the real to the pure type of psychic event, which then has to be framed into a concept. However, although the discussed experimental protocols give us certain hints on the implementation of this heuristic procedure, the links between theory and practice of the BEP remain fairly loose. The specifics of concept formation, central announced aim of Lewin’s empirical work, are actually not very well documented. Nonetheless, in the students’ dissertations much attention was given to concepts that emerged as result of experimental investigations.

Expansion and diversification of knowledge resources

The conceptual evolvement of Lewin’s Berlin Experimental Program over the course of about 12 years of its run is reflected below. All works conducted in theconstitutive stagewere densely interlinked and focused on the same group of problems, i.e. resumption and accomplishment of interrupted activities.

In theexpansion stageseveral new research themes emerged (e.g. success vs. failure and the level of aspiration, types of substitution and the exploration of the dynamics of the anger affect). Besides the by then elaborated concepts (e.g. mental equilibrium and substitution) were diversified into more narrowly defined sub-concepts. In the maturity stage an even more substantial diversification of concepts and research themes took place. Eventually, the experimental program incorporated such themes as the duality of psychic reality and irreality and the person-environment-interaction. In this period that most students were involved in the program and most submitted dissertations went to press. In sum, we observe a remarkable expansion and diversification of knowledge resources over the course of the BEP.

Principles of continuity and diversification

As illustrated in figure 14 the central development traits of the program are those of continuity and di-versification. At first roughly defined conceptual structure presented in Lewin’s early publications is increasingly refined, i.e. the original concepts are diversified into more concrete and honed ones. Con-ceptual substructures are elaborated in more and more details (not only up to the end of Lewin’s German career but to the end of his life). Furthermore, in the maturity stage of the BEP, aqualitative diversifi-cationof concepts took place. This diversification entails the perceptibleincrease of complexity of the individual concepts and of Lewin’s theoretical system as a whole. We illustrated this for instance at the example of the concept of “substitution”. While in the early 1920s this concept corresponded to a rather generally defined idea of a replacement of one thing by another, by the middle of 1930s, a whole variety of implementation scenarios was associated with this concept. At the outset, Lewin’s circle used the concept of substitution at different places of Lewin’s model of psychic activity—e.g. to denote a

“substitute activity”, “goal” or “satisfaction”. In the maturity stage the concept was applied to physically existing things—”substitute objects”. Attempts to quantify the value of a substitution were made, which

in turn led to the exploration of its qualities. Eventually, different topological dimensions of this concept were differentiated and specified, i.e. “degrees of reality of a substitution” (cf. figure 14 on page 116).

New concepts were integrated into the theoretical system with respect to the correlations linking these to other variables within the system. Another reviewed example was the diversification of types of psycho-logical equilibria. Speaking of the bigger picture, in the roughly twelve years of experimental research the basic conceptual system evolved to a densely interlinked and complex entity.

Interdisciplinary conceptual layers

The conceptual system we observe being constituted throughout the BEP is a multi-layered one. At the beginning of the constitutive stage we deal with adynamicmodel useful for the analysis of a limited number of psychic processes (in particular, dealing with retained intentions). Starting with the expansion stage the model is complemented with otherdynamicconcepts expanding and diversifying its analytical capacity. Lewin’s spatial concepts point with their topological characteristics back to geometry. Finally, in the maturity stage, concepts with material, topological and metrical properties are included. Finally, Lewin employs the metaphor of (partial) permeability of borders, which he borrowed from the biological discourse about cell membranes, to describe psychic irreality. Using this Lewin’s distinguishes between different material properties of space, which he attributes to different “levels of reality”. Different types of processes are possible in different material environments. Accordingly, in Lewin’s system the mate-riality of spatial constructs is another resource ensuring that psychic processes are grasped exactly, a metaphor used to build up a particular framework, in which psychic events take place following a set of specified rules.

As we have observed, Lewin adopted thought patterns constituted in other disciplines. In sum, every conceptual layer incorporates an own analytical function that is akin to the function of the set of concepts in the original discipline. The analytical challenges of this complex system are closer discussed in the following chapter.

10 The analytical challenge of topology

A central particularity of Lewin’s experimental approach is that this laid strong emphasis on the ana-lytical procedure, which was part of the experiments. Topology played a central role in this anaana-lytical procedure. Lewin gave an extended overview over the device for the representation of psychic activity in two publications in 1934 and 1936.³⁹⁰ Lewin’s topological representations translated psychological processes into a spatial dimension. By 1936, the conceptual system (at times termed “field theory”

and at times as “topological theory”) employed features originating from mathematics, i.e. topological and metrical spatial constructs, and consolidated these with the quasi-physical (i.e. “dynamic”) model underlying the principles of human conduct, which Lewin had presented a couple of years earlier.

Lewin’s topological psychology represents one, but by no means the only, example of a “stormy love affair” between the “young” experimental psychology and mathematics. Back notes that mathematical systems have been the preferred language of scientists,because they have few emotional connotations and therefore seems to allow a most neutral confrontation of the subject. Use of a mathematical form confers scientific legitimacy on a statement in the eyes of many readers. This view is expressed by calling mathematics the universal language. Sciences that fight over scientific legitimacy while lacking a strong theoretical superstructure often exhibit a pressure for some mathematical formulation.³⁹¹ In Lewin’s psychology, too, new mathematics was intended to give it a scientific underpinning.

A peculiarity of Lewin’s topology is itsdouble nature. On the one side, Lewin’s topological system of concepts represents the crowning layer of his theoretical work, the theoretical result of the BEP (also known as “field theory”). On the other side, Lewin and his group conceived topology as an analytical tool that was to be used for the abstraction and analysis of knowledge gained from experiments. This double nature urges us to subdivide the analysis in two parts: first, we elaborate the constitution of the topological ontology, to thereafter explore the functional use, i.e. the experimental application of the topological system. In Lewin’s philosophical agenda “the determination of topological relationships is the fundamental task in all psychological problems” [Lewin, 1936a, 87]. Lewin’s topology is thus a tool helping to grasp these relationships.

With his topological theory Lewin attempted to offer psychology a new dimension and a wider range of topics to explore, such as behavior in terms of social psychology. In the present chapter we shall discuss the design and functions of Lewin’s topology, as well as the perspectives it opened in terms of the construction of psychological knowledge.