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A Personal Assessment of Lewin's Major Contributions
Author(s) -
White Ralph K.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
journal of social issues
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.618
H-Index - 122
eISSN - 1540-4560
pISSN - 0022-4537
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-4560.1992.tb00882.x
Subject(s) - creativity , unconscious mind , psychology , social psychology , epistemology , psychoanalysis , philosophy
The author, a student of Lewin's, views his most important contributions as stimulating scientific creativity in many colleagues, aiding the downfall of stimulus—response theory, suggesting many useful concepts, and initiating experiments on formerly intractable topics. Lewin's limitations included lack of interest in unconscious factors and in social misperception, and less rigorous thinking and use of mathematics than he seemed to claim. In an overall assessment the positives greatly outweigh the negatives.