The Psychology Book (70 page)

222 KURT LEWIN

in the discussion group he had

belief has been proven wrong or

created an environment in which

ineffective, we are naturally

women felt psychologically safe

inclined to replace the old value

enough to express their concerns

system with a new one, filling the

and opinions. Through exploring

uncomfortable void left by the

their beliefs as well as the realities of

unfreezing process. We do this in a

Learning is more effective

the food shortages, he helped them

combination of ways: relying on our

when it is an active rather

change their opinions about which

instinctive feelings, studying role

than a passive process.

meats were edible and guided them

models, and looking more generally

Kurt Lewin

toward a new belief: that offal is

to the vast array of information

acceptable to buy and serve at home.

available. We hope in this way to

expose ourselves to a new piece

Making the change

of information that will solve the

During Lewin’s second stage—the

problem. Once this insight is

actual change process—people are

achieved, we have accepted and

confronted with the daunting and

established a new mindset.

meats in their family meals. During

confusing task of implementing a

In the case of the American

interviews with housewives, Lewin

new system. They must give up

housewives during World War II,

realized that there were both helpful

familiar routines and practices and

Lewin provided the women with

and hindering forces at play. The

master new skills (which itself can

new information by educating them

helpful forces, or incentives, toward

arouse feelings of uncertainty or a

about the good taste and nutritional

changing the housewives’ view of

fear of failure). In an organization,

value of offal (thereby replacing their

organ meat was its high nutritional

the new system will be defined by

old belief that it was an inferior

value. The hindering forces, or

the leadership, and often relates to

meat), and convincing them that

barriers, to change centered around

technology, structure, procedures,

given the reality of wartime food

the women’s view that the meat

or culture. It is important at this

shortages, there was absolutely no

was inappropriate for them and

stage to provide sufficient support

shame in serving it to their families

their families, and to a lesser degree,

for employees and ensure the

(thereby replacing their pre-wartime

that it would not taste good.

elimination of obstacles.

belief that they would be viewed as

Lewin set up a study using two

At the level of personal change,

social inferiors for eating it).

groups of housewives to explore the

people cannot be given a new belief

best ways of initiating change. The

system, but must find and accept

The freezing stage

first group was told repeatedly that

one for themselves. When an old

After change has been implemented

eating offal was beneficial for them,

within an organization, it must

while the other group took part in a

become part of the company’s

small group discussion focusing on

culture (or “frozen”) in order for it to

how the food shortage problem

be successful in the long term. The

could be eased if women like

new thought processes, practices,

themselves could be convinced to

and behaviors adopted during the

take part in a program of using

transition must become routine.

secondary cuts of meat such as

Management can help to ensure

livers, kidneys, and hearts. When

changes become more firmly

around one-third of the women who

established by publicizing the ways

had participated in the discussion

in which change has benefited the

group later served offal for dinner,

company, and by nurturing positive

Lewin concluded that increasing

the level of people’s involvement

Learning to use new technologies

also increases the likelihood of

in place of old ones is made easier by

changing their attitudes and

an increase in driving forces—such as

behaviors. Lecturing to the first

the ability to contact friends and family

group had proved ineffective, but

worldwide, instantly and inexpensively.

SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 223

During World War II
,
housewives

chicken or steak, or if other women

were encouraged to change many of

are criticizing her choice of meat,

their beliefs, from the types of food

she may decide to abandon offal

and clothing that were acceptable

and look for other ways to feed her

to their capability to do “men’s jobs.”

family, starting the unfreezing and

change processes all over again.

ensure compliance to the new

Lewin’s pioneering experimental

priorities) by offering them a $65

work into social systems has led

bonus if the US Department of

him to be widely recognized as the

Transportation rated the company

founder of social psychology. He

among the top five airlines. The use

was the first psychologist to study

of Lewin’s change model marked

“group dynamics” and organizational

Continental’s evolution from being

development in a methodical way.

the poorest-performing airline to

He applied rigorous social science

being named Airline of the Year.

to effect useful social transformation,

At the individual level, the

and his work has been influential

freezing stage marks a time when

across the fields of experimental

new beliefs and practices are tested

and social psychology. ■

through trial and error; this either

feelings toward the change among

reinforces the changes or starts a

employees, perhaps by delivering

new change cycle. For example,

rewards for implementing the new

after a week of serving offal to her

skills or processes. For example,

family, a wartime housewife might

in the 1990s, Continental Airlines

assess whether her family seems to

was forced to file for bankruptcy.

enjoy the meat, whether they seem

There is nothing

In order to stay in business, the

healthy, and whether other families

so practical as

management implemented a major

seem to be judging her positively or

a good theory.

change: they shifted the company

negatively based on her meal choices.

Kurt Lewin

focus from saving costs to putting

If the answers to these questions

out a quality product that met high

are positive, she will continue to

customer standards. They decided

serve offal at dinnertime. If, however,

to reward employees for adopting

her children do not appear to be as

the new policies and practices (to

healthy as they were when eating

Kurt Lewin

German-American psychologist

resign and seek refuge in the

Kurt Lewin was born in 1890 into

US. He began working at Cornell

a middle-class Jewish family in

University, then moved to the

Mogilno, Poland (then Prussia). In

University of Iowa where he

1905, his family moved to Berlin,

became a professor. In 1944, he

where he studied medicine at

became director of the Center

the University of Freiburg before

for Group Dynamics at the

transferring to the University of

Massachusetts Institute of

Munich to study biology. During

Technology, but died of a heart

World War I, he served in the

attack just three years later.

German army, but returned to

Berlin to complete his PhD after

Key works

being injured. He worked at the

Psychological Institute, Berlin,

1935
A Dynamic Theory of

from 1921 to 1933, when

Personality

restrictions on the Jewish

1948
Resolving Social Conflicts

population compelled him to

1951
Field Theory in Social

224

IN CONTEXT

APPROACH

Conformism

HOW STRONG

BEFORE

1880s
Hippolyte Bernheim,

a French physician, uses

IS THE URGE

hypnosis to demonstrate the

concept of “suggestibility.”

1935
Muzafer Sherif’s

conformism experiment

TOWARD

leads Asch to develop the

Asch Paradigm.

AFTER

SOCIAL

1963
Stanley Milgram’s

obedience experiments show

that people conform for an

authority figure despite

SOLOMON ASCH (1907–1996)

CONFORMIT

Y?

experiencing a moral conflict.

1976
Serge Moscovici argues

that a consistent minority can

be influential.

1979
Knud S. Larsen, a

Danish psychologist, shows

that conformity may be tied

to cultural climate.

S
ocial psychologist Solomon

Asch challenged our idea of

ourselves as autonomous

beings when he devised an

experiment to demonstrate our urge

to conform. His famous experiment

showed that when people are

confronted with a majority opinion,

the tendency to conform may be

stronger than their commitment to

what they perceive to be true. He

detailed his findings in his 1955

paper
Opinions and Social Pressure
,

which also discusses the social

influences that shape a person’s

beliefs, judgments, and practices.

Asch wanted to investigate the

effects of group pressure on

individual decision-making, and

SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 225

See also:
Serge Moscovici 238–39 ■ Stanley Milgram 246–53 ■

Philip Zimbardo 254–55 ■ Max Wertheimer 335 ■ Muzafer Sherif 337