This early work of psychology is both expensive and hard to find in its first edition. It contains Lewin s theories on the structure of the mind, child behaviour, education for reality and other factors involved in personality. This is a fascinating work and is thoroughly recommended for anyone with an interest in the history of psychology. Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHOLOGY Davis PSYCHOLOGY OF LEARNING Dorcus and Jones HANDBOOK OF EMPLOYEE SELECTION Dunlap RELIGION ITS FUNCTIONS IN HUMAN LIFE Ghiselli and Brown PERSONNEL AND INDUSTRIAL PSYCHOLOGY Gray PSYCHOLOGY IN HUMAN AFFAIRS Guilford FUNDAMENTAL STATISTICS IN PSYCHOLOGY AND EDUCA TION Guilford PSYCHOMETRIC METHODS Hurlock ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT Hurlock CHILD DEVELOPMENT Johnson ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY Krech and Crutchfield THEORY AND PROBLEMS OF SOCIAL PSY CHOLOGY Lewin A DYNAMIC THEORY OF PERSONALITY Lewin PRINCIPLES OF TOPOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY Maier FRUSTRATION Maier and Schneirla PRINCIPLES OF ANIMAL PSYCHOLOGY Miller EXPERIMENTS IN SOCIAL PROCESS Moore PSYCHOLOGY FOR BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY Morgan and Stellar PHYSIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY Page ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY Pillsbury AN ELEMENTARY PSYCHOLOGY or THE ABNORMAL Reymert FEELINGS AND EMOTIONS Richards MODERN CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY Seashore PSYCHOLOGY OF Music Seward SEX AND THE SOCIAL ORDER Stagner PSYCHOLOGY OF PERSONALITY Wallin PERSONALITY MALADJUSTMENTS AND MENTAL HYGIENE John F. Dashiell was Consulting Editor of this series from its inception in 1931 until January 1, 1950. PRINCIPLES OF TOPOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY BY KURT LEWIN Professo r of Child Psychology, Iowa Child-Welfare Research Station University of Iowa TRANSLATED BY FRITZ HEIDER Assistant Professor, Department of Education, Smith College AND GRACE M. HEIDER FIRST EDITION SDCTEC IMPRESSION McGRAW-HILL BOOK COMPANY, INC, NEW YORK AND LONDON 1936 COPYRIGHT, 1936, BY THE MCGRAW-HILL BOOK COMPANY, INC. PRINTED IN THE UNITED STA1ES OP AMERICA All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof j may not be reproduced in any form without permission of the publishers. THE MAPLE PRESSCOMPANY, YORK, PA, To THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY Jerusalem PREFACE DR. WOLFGANG KOHLER Swarthmore College Swarthmore, Pa. DEAR KOHLER This book is the result of a very slow growth. I remember the moment when more than ten years ago it occurred to me that the figures on the blackboard which were to illustrate some problems for a group in psychology might after all be not merely illustrations but representations of real concepts. Much interested in the theory of science, I had already in 1912 as a student defended the thesis against a then fully accepted philo sophical dictum that psychology, dealing with manifolds of coexist ing facts, would be finally forced to use not only the concept of time but that of space too. Knowing something of the general theory of point sets, I felt vaguely that the young mathematical discipline topology might be of some help in making psychology a real science. I began studying topology and making use of its concepts, which soon appeared to me particularly fitted to the specific problems of psychology. However, this undertaking expanded rapidly, forcing me to consider wider and wider fields of psychology and to face more and more involved problems. That is the reason why this book has seen quite a number of unfinished and unpublished editions, and why it does not yet contain the vector psychology. The main diffi culty has not been the mastering of the mathematical problems as uch, at least insofar as the topological problems are concerned. After several attempts to employ the more complicated concepts of topology, I found it both sufficient and more fruitful to refer to the most simple topological concepts only. Vector psychology will, of course, require a moreelaborate mathematical setup and will in all probability even make it-necessary to enter a somewhat undeveloped field of mathematics. But the main difficulty was the dealing with problems which lie, so to say, between psychology and mathematics...

Die Ausfuhrungen uber das Hauptthema stellen die Erweiterung eines fur den IX. Kongress fur experimentelle Psychologie (Munchen 1925) bestimmten Vortrages dar, den ich infolge einer Krankheit ab- sagen musste. Die "Vorbemerkungen", die einige Grundfragen der Statik und Dynamik des Psychischen betreffen, sind im Zusammen- hang mit noch unveroeffentlichten experimentellen Untersuchungen meiner Mitarbeiter uber das Trieb-, Bedurfnis- und Affektleben er- wachsen. Die vorliegende Arbeit ist in etwas erweiterter Fassung als 1. und 11. der Reihe der oben genannten spezielleren "Untersuchungen zur Handlungs- und Ajjektp8ychologie" in der P8ychologischen For8chung (Bd. 7, 4) erschienen. Redaktion und Verlag bin ich fur ihre freund- liche Einwilligung zur Sonderveroeffentlichung zu Dank verpflichtet. Inhalt. I. Vorbemerkungen uber die psychischen Krafte und Energien und uber die Struktur der Seele. Einleitung: Theorie und Tatsache in der Forschung. 1. Die Gesetzlichkeit des Psychischen (S.9). 2. Das Experiment (S. 10). il. Elementenpsychologie und Geschehensgestalten (S. 12). ila. Die Leistungsbegriffe (S. 16). 3b. Die phanomenologische Begriffsbildung des ausseren und inneren Verhaltens und die konditional-genetische Begriffsbildung (S. 18). 4. uber die Ursachen seelischen Geschehens (S.21). 5. Die seelischen Energien und die Struktur der Seele (S. 29). 6. Die Gleichgewichtstendenz; die dynamische Festigkeit und Abgeschlossenheit der seelischen Systeme (S. 33). 7. Die psychischen Prozesse als Lebensvorgange (S.37). 11. Vorsatz, Wille und Bedurfnis. - Einleitung: Die veranderte Bedeutung des Vorsatzes in der modernen WillenEerziehung (S. 40). 1. Einige Fakten. 1. UEber den Einfluss der Zeit auf die Wirkung des Vorsatzes. Das abrupte Auf- hoeren der Wirkung nach der Erledigungshandlung (S. 43).

Die vorliegende Arbeit ist aus allgemeinen Vberlegungen iiber die Struktur einer Wissenschaft und das Wesen der Wissenschafts lehre erwachsen. Aber die Durchfiihrung stieB bald auf eine solche Fiille spezieller Sachverhalte, die eine begriffliche Fassung verlangten, daB die allgemeinen Fragen hinter der Notwendigkeit einer miih sameren Kleinarbeit zuriicktraten. Ich habe diesen Weg gerne be schritten und schlieBlich den Charakter dieser Arbeit als einer Spezialarbeit aus der vergleichenden Wissenschaftslehre be wuBt hervorgekehrt. Junge Wissenschaften pHegen sich gerne in allgemeinsten Vber legungen iiber ihr Wesen, ihre Methode und iiber die Natur ihres Gesamtgebietes zu ergehen. Wenn solche Diskussionen auch meist zu keiner allzu weitgehenden Klii. rung dieser Probleme selbst fiihren, so pHegen sie doch den Boden dafiir zu bereiten, daB die eigentliche Einzelforschung innerhalb dieser Wissenschaft der mangelnden Kenntnis derallgemeinen Grundlagen zum Trotz krii. ftigemporbliihen kann. DaB in sehr viel Epa. . teren Stadien eine Hypertrophie der un philosophisch "empirischen" Einstellung zur Krisis der Spezialforschung selbst fiihren und eine erneute ernsthafte Nachpriifung der Grund begriffe fordern kann, beweist demgegeniiber nicht, daB die "philo sophische" Grundlegung einer Wissenwhaft vollendet sein muB, bevor die Arbeit in ihr beginnen kann, sondern zeigt nur das enge Auf einander-Angewiesensein beider Untersuchungskomplexe. Auch die Erforschung der Grundlageprobleme einer Wissenscha. ft kann nii. mlich, - wie an dieser Arbeit wiederum deutlich wird, - gewisse Stadien nur schwer iiberschreiten, bevor diese Wissenschaft nicht gewisse Entwicklungsstufen erreicht hat."

Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHOLOGY Davis PSYCHOLOGY OF LEARNING Dorcus and Jones HANDBOOK OF EMPLOYEE SELECTION Dunlap RELIGION ITS FUNCTIONS IN HUMAN LIFE Ghiselli and Brown PERSONNEL AND INDUSTRIAL PSYCHOLOGY Gray PSYCHOLOGY IN HUMAN AFFAIRS Guilford FUNDAMENTAL STATISTICS IN PSYCHOLOGY AND EDUCA TION Guilford PSYCHOMETRIC METHODS Hurlock ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT Hurlock CHILD DEVELOPMENT Johnson ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY Krech and Crutchfield THEORY AND PROBLEMS OF SOCIAL PSY CHOLOGY Lewin A DYNAMIC THEORY OF PERSONALITY Lewin PRINCIPLES OF TOPOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY Maier FRUSTRATION Maier and Schneirla PRINCIPLES OF ANIMAL PSYCHOLOGY Miller EXPERIMENTS IN SOCIAL PROCESS Moore PSYCHOLOGY FOR BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY Morgan and Stellar PHYSIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY Page ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY Pillsbury AN ELEMENTARY PSYCHOLOGY or THE ABNORMAL Reymert FEELINGS AND EMOTIONS Richards MODERN CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY Seashore PSYCHOLOGY OF Music Seward SEX AND THE SOCIAL ORDER Stagner PSYCHOLOGY OF PERSONALITY Wallin PERSONALITY MALADJUSTMENTS AND MENTAL HYGIENE John F. Dashiell was Consulting Editor of this series from its inception in 1931 until January 1, 1950. PRINCIPLES OF TOPOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY BY KURT LEWIN Professo r of Child Psychology, Iowa Child-Welfare Research Station University of Iowa TRANSLATED BY FRITZ HEIDER Assistant Professor, Department of Education, Smith College AND GRACE M. HEIDER FIRST EDITION SDCTEC IMPRESSION McGRAW-HILL BOOK COMPANY, INC, NEW YORK AND LONDON 1936 COPYRIGHT, 1936, BY THE MCGRAW-HILL BOOK COMPANY, INC. PRINTED IN THE UNITED STA1ES OP AMERICA All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof j may not be reproduced in any form without permission of the publishers. THE MAPLE PRESSCOMPANY, YORK, PA, To THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY Jerusalem PREFACE DR. WOLFGANG KOHLER Swarthmore College Swarthmore, Pa. DEAR KOHLER This book is the result of a very slow growth. I remember the moment when more than ten years ago it occurred to me that the figures on the blackboard which were to illustrate some problems for a group in psychology might after all be not merely illustrations but representations of real concepts. Much interested in the theory of science, I had already in 1912 as a student defended the thesis against a then fully accepted philo sophical dictum that psychology, dealing with manifolds of coexist ing facts, would be finally forced to use not only the concept of time but that of space too. Knowing something of the general theory of point sets, I felt vaguely that the young mathematical discipline topology might be of some help in making psychology a real science. I began studying topology and making use of its concepts, which soon appeared to me particularly fitted to the specific problems of psychology. However, this undertaking expanded rapidly, forcing me to consider wider and wider fields of psychology and to face more and more involved problems. That is the reason why this book has seen quite a number of unfinished and unpublished editions, and why it does not yet contain the vector psychology. The main diffi culty has not been the mastering of the mathematical problems as uch, at least insofar as the topological problems are concerned. After several attempts to employ the more complicated concepts of topology, I found it both sufficient and more fruitful to refer to the most simple topological concepts only. Vector psychology will, of course, require a moreelaborate mathematical setup and will in all probability even make it-necessary to enter a somewhat undeveloped field of mathematics. But the main difficulty was the dealing with problems which lie, so to say, between psychology and mathematics...