A Dynamic Theory of Personality

"When my husband was earning his dissertation, I took a course on learning theory and the instructor assigned A Dynamic Theory of Personality . By the time I finished it, I decided to switch career paths. I had wanted to be an archaeologist but Lewin’s work made me see that psychology is much more interesting. I wanted to deal with real life rather than old bones. “In play, children miniaturise the world, reducing it to size within their intellectual grasp.” Lewin is well known for a number of experiments that found people who worked in a democratic way were more productive. He conducted studies in factories that showed groups with autocratic leadership had much more aggression and hostility among workers. So democratic society tends to be more productive. That was one aspect of his work. And he inspired a lot of work on integration, which led to my own dissertation, looking at what educational settings engendered tolerance – all white, all black or integrated schools. I found integrated schools were much more accepting than either all white or all black schools. When children play in a democratic way – in other words, when they share their ideas and decide on the direction of their play together – there is much more acceptance than when one child simply tells the rest what to do. Constructive play is cooperative play. If one child starts to get bossy and doesn’t allow others to voice their opinions, pretty soon the others don’t want to play with that child. Bossiness doesn’t really bode well for the game to continue. But if the leader listens to others and shows more fairness, play continues longer. Teachers can help this democratic play along if they listen and suggest alternative ways to play. Play has so many positive effects. When children play they become much more flexible. If they don’t have a particular object they need in their make-believe, they repurpose what they can find. For instance, if a child needs a horn for a pretend bus, he can grab a ball and make believe. So play builds nimbleness and creativity. A great deal of research shows play enhances vocabulary. When children play they adopt new words. If they’re playing pirates and an adult gives them the words for eye patch, the words will stick with them. The other thing that’s very important, as they play they’re learning self-control. They learn not to hit but instead to use words. They learn delayed gratification. You can’t have a tea party until you boil the water. Pretend preliminary steps teach them patience in real world interactions. So play has scores of positive effects."