[DSRP Evidence](https://dsrpevidence.org/)

# Dynamic Theory of Personality

## Details

**Authors** Kurt Lewin

**Year** 1935

**Publisher** Book

**Discipline** Cognitive Science

[Read it](https://archive.org/details/dynamictheoryofp0000lewi)

## In authors' words

### What they set out to do (purpose)

To explore the structure of the mind.

### What they found (results)

The cause of the process b is not to be seen in its rigid coupling with the preceding independent event a. Rather, if a forms a dependent moment of a more comprehensive whole, it carries that whole with it. Thus, indeed, no chain-like coupling of member to member, but the connections of the parts in the whole, is regarded as the "cause" of the event.

## Commentary

### In short

It is not enough to make distinctions and relationships between objects/concepts, but one also has to evaluate the concepts/objects as parts and wholes. This also suggests that relationships are made up of Part-Whole dynamics.

### In more detail

The most common, simple definition of a system is, “a regularly interacting or interdependent group of items forming a unified whole." Kurt Lewin’s A Dynamic Theory of Personality (1935) discusses many aspects of personality, one of the most relevant being the structure of the mind. He wrote, “The cause of the process b is not to be seen in its rigid coupling with the preceding independent event a. Rather, if a forms a dependent moment of a more comprehensive whole, it carries that whole with it. Thus, indeed, no chain-like coupling of member to member, but the connections of the parts in the whole, is regarded as the "cause" of the event.” In other words, it is not enough to make distinctions and relationships between objects/concepts, but one also has to evaluate the concepts/objects as parts and wholes. This also suggests that relationships are made up of Part-Whole dynamics.

**Patterns it shows** S

**How to cite this** Kurt Lewin (1935). Dynamic Theory of Personality. Book.