Fritz Heider
Encyclopedia
Fritz Heider was an Austrian psychologist
whose work was related to the Gestalt
school. In 1958 he published The Psychology of Interpersonal Relations, which expanded upon his creation of balance theory
and marked the starting point of attribution theory. This book presents a wide-range analysis of the conceptual framework and the psychological processes that influence human social perception(Malle,2008). It had taken 15 years to complete and before it was completed it had already circulated through a small group of social psychologists.
Heider was born in Vienna, Austria in 1896. His approach to higher education was rather casual, and he wandered freely throughout Europe studying and traveling as he pleased for many years. At the age of 24 he received a Ph.D. from the University of Graz, for his innovative study of the causal structure of perception included the work on 'Thing and Medium' which involved perception
, and traveled to Berlin, where he worked at the Psychology Institute under Wolfgang Koehler, Max Wertheimer
and Kurt Lewin
.
In 1927 he accepted a position at the University of Hamburg, whose faculty included the psychologist William Stern and Ernst Cassirer
, the philosopher whose thinking on the role of theory on science had an important influence on Kurt Lewin.
In 1930, Heider was offered an opportunity to conduct research at the Clarke School for the Deaf in Northampton, Massachusetts, which was associated with Smith College
, also in Northampton. This prospect was particularly attractive to him because Kurt Koffka
, one of the founders of the Gestalt school of psychology, held a position at Smith College (Heider, 1983).
It was in Northampton that he met his wife Grace (née Moore). Grace was one of the first people Heider met in the United States. As an assistant to Koffka, she helped Heider find an apartment in Northampton and introduced him to the environs (Heider, 1983). They were married in 1930, and the marriage lasted for more than 50 years, producing three sons: Karl, John, and Stephan (in birth order). Karl Heider
went on to become an important contributor to visual anthropology and ethnographic film. John Heider wrote the popular "The Tao of Leadership."
Heider published two important articles in 1944 that pioneered the concepts of social perception and causal attribution (Heider, 1944; Heider & Simmel, 1944). After this point, however, Heider published little for the next 14 years.
In 1957, Heider was hired by the University of Kansas
, after being recruited by social psychologist Roger Barker
(Heider, 1983). Shortly thereafter, Heider published his most famous work, which remains his most significant contribution to the field of social psychology.
Heider's The Psychology of Interpersonal Relations (1958) was written in collaboration with the uncredited Beatrice Wright, a founder of rehabilitiation psychology. Wright was available to collaborate because the University of Kansas's nepotism rules prohibited her from a position at the University (her husband, Erik Wright, was a professor), and the Ford Foundation
gave Heider funds and assistance to complete the project. (Wright is credited only in the Foreword; she later went on to become an endowed professor of psychology at the University of Kansas).
The Psychology of Interpersonal Relations essentially founded the modern field of social cognition. A giant of social psychology, Heider had few students, but his book on social perception had many readers, and its impact continues into the 21st Century, having been cited nearly 6,800 times.
The Psychology of Interpersonal Relations contains several influential ideas. Heider argued that social perception follows many of the same rules of physical object perception, and that the organization found in object perception is also found in social perception. Because biases in object perception sometimes lead to errors (e.g., optical illusions), one might expect to find that biases in social perception likewise lead to errors (e.g., underestimating the role social factors and overestimating the effect of personality and attitudes on behavior).
Heider also argued that the order people put on their perceptions followed the rule of psychological balance. Although tedious to spell out in completeness, the idea is that positive and negative sentiments need to be represented in ways that minimize ambivalence and maximize a simple, straightforward affective representation of the person. He writes "To conceive of a person as having positive and negative traits requires a more sophisticated view; it requires a differentiation of the representation of the person into subparts that are of unlike value (1958, p. 182)."
But the most influential idea in The Psychology of Interpersonal Relations is the notion of how people see the causes of behavior, and the explanations they make for it—what Heider called "attributions".
Attribution theory (as one part of the larger and more complex Heiderian account of social perception) describes how people come to explain (make attributions about) the behavior of others and themselves. Behavior is attributed to a disposition (e.g., personality traits, motives, attitudes), or behavior can be attributed to situations (e.g., external pressures, social norms, peer pressure, accidents of the environment, acts of God, random chance, etc.) Heider first made the argument that people tend to overweight internal, dispositional causes over external causes—this later became known as the fundamental attribution error (Ross, 1977) or correspondence bias (Fiske & Taylor, 1991; Jones, 1979, 1990).
Heider died at his home in Lawrence, Kansas
, on 2 January 1988 at the age of 91.
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
whose work was related to the Gestalt
Gestalt psychology
Gestalt psychology or gestaltism is a theory of mind and brain of the Berlin School; the operational principle of gestalt psychology is that the brain is holistic, parallel, and analog, with self-organizing tendencies...
school. In 1958 he published The Psychology of Interpersonal Relations, which expanded upon his creation of balance theory
Balance theory
Balance Theory is a motivational theory of attitude change proposed by Fritz Heider, which conceptualizes the consistency motive as a drive toward psychological balance...
and marked the starting point of attribution theory. This book presents a wide-range analysis of the conceptual framework and the psychological processes that influence human social perception(Malle,2008). It had taken 15 years to complete and before it was completed it had already circulated through a small group of social psychologists.
Heider was born in Vienna, Austria in 1896. His approach to higher education was rather casual, and he wandered freely throughout Europe studying and traveling as he pleased for many years. At the age of 24 he received a Ph.D. from the University of Graz, for his innovative study of the causal structure of perception included the work on 'Thing and Medium' which involved perception
Perception
Perception is the process of attaining awareness or understanding of the environment by organizing and interpreting sensory information. All perception involves signals in the nervous system, which in turn result from physical stimulation of the sense organs...
, and traveled to Berlin, where he worked at the Psychology Institute under Wolfgang Koehler, Max Wertheimer
Max Wertheimer
- External links :* * * * *...
and Kurt Lewin
Kurt Lewin
Kurt Zadek Lewin was a German-American psychologist, known as one of the modern pioneers of social, organizational, and applied psychology....
.
In 1927 he accepted a position at the University of Hamburg, whose faculty included the psychologist William Stern and Ernst Cassirer
Ernst Cassirer
Ernst Cassirer was a German philosopher. He was one of the major figures in the development of philosophical idealism in the first half of the 20th century...
, the philosopher whose thinking on the role of theory on science had an important influence on Kurt Lewin.
In 1930, Heider was offered an opportunity to conduct research at the Clarke School for the Deaf in Northampton, Massachusetts, which was associated with Smith College
Smith College
Smith College is a private, independent women's liberal arts college located in Northampton, Massachusetts. It is the largest member of the Seven Sisters...
, also in Northampton. This prospect was particularly attractive to him because Kurt Koffka
Kurt Koffka
Kurt Koffka was a German psychologist. He was born and educated in Berlin and earned his PhD there in 1909 as a student of Carl Stumpf...
, one of the founders of the Gestalt school of psychology, held a position at Smith College (Heider, 1983).
It was in Northampton that he met his wife Grace (née Moore). Grace was one of the first people Heider met in the United States. As an assistant to Koffka, she helped Heider find an apartment in Northampton and introduced him to the environs (Heider, 1983). They were married in 1930, and the marriage lasted for more than 50 years, producing three sons: Karl, John, and Stephan (in birth order). Karl Heider
Karl G. Heider
Karl Heider is an American visual anthropologist.-Early life and education:Heider was born in Northampton, Massachusetts. Heider is the son of psychologists Fritz and Grace Heider. He had two brothers; John and Stephan....
went on to become an important contributor to visual anthropology and ethnographic film. John Heider wrote the popular "The Tao of Leadership."
Heider published two important articles in 1944 that pioneered the concepts of social perception and causal attribution (Heider, 1944; Heider & Simmel, 1944). After this point, however, Heider published little for the next 14 years.
In 1957, Heider was hired by the University of Kansas
University of Kansas
The University of Kansas is a public research university and the largest university in the state of Kansas. KU campuses are located in Lawrence, Wichita, Overland Park, and Kansas City, Kansas with the main campus being located in Lawrence on Mount Oread, the highest point in Lawrence. The...
, after being recruited by social psychologist Roger Barker
Roger Barker
Roger Garlock Barker was a social scientist, a founder of environmental psychology and a leading figure in the field for decades, perhaps best known for his development of the concept of behavior settings....
(Heider, 1983). Shortly thereafter, Heider published his most famous work, which remains his most significant contribution to the field of social psychology.
Heider's The Psychology of Interpersonal Relations (1958) was written in collaboration with the uncredited Beatrice Wright, a founder of rehabilitiation psychology. Wright was available to collaborate because the University of Kansas's nepotism rules prohibited her from a position at the University (her husband, Erik Wright, was a professor), and the Ford Foundation
Ford Foundation
The Ford Foundation is a private foundation incorporated in Michigan and based in New York City created to fund programs that were chartered in 1936 by Edsel Ford and Henry Ford....
gave Heider funds and assistance to complete the project. (Wright is credited only in the Foreword; she later went on to become an endowed professor of psychology at the University of Kansas).
The Psychology of Interpersonal Relations essentially founded the modern field of social cognition. A giant of social psychology, Heider had few students, but his book on social perception had many readers, and its impact continues into the 21st Century, having been cited nearly 6,800 times.
The Psychology of Interpersonal Relations contains several influential ideas. Heider argued that social perception follows many of the same rules of physical object perception, and that the organization found in object perception is also found in social perception. Because biases in object perception sometimes lead to errors (e.g., optical illusions), one might expect to find that biases in social perception likewise lead to errors (e.g., underestimating the role social factors and overestimating the effect of personality and attitudes on behavior).
Heider also argued that the order people put on their perceptions followed the rule of psychological balance. Although tedious to spell out in completeness, the idea is that positive and negative sentiments need to be represented in ways that minimize ambivalence and maximize a simple, straightforward affective representation of the person. He writes "To conceive of a person as having positive and negative traits requires a more sophisticated view; it requires a differentiation of the representation of the person into subparts that are of unlike value (1958, p. 182)."
But the most influential idea in The Psychology of Interpersonal Relations is the notion of how people see the causes of behavior, and the explanations they make for it—what Heider called "attributions".
Attribution theory (as one part of the larger and more complex Heiderian account of social perception) describes how people come to explain (make attributions about) the behavior of others and themselves. Behavior is attributed to a disposition (e.g., personality traits, motives, attitudes), or behavior can be attributed to situations (e.g., external pressures, social norms, peer pressure, accidents of the environment, acts of God, random chance, etc.) Heider first made the argument that people tend to overweight internal, dispositional causes over external causes—this later became known as the fundamental attribution error (Ross, 1977) or correspondence bias (Fiske & Taylor, 1991; Jones, 1979, 1990).
Heider died at his home in Lawrence, Kansas
Lawrence, Kansas
Lawrence is the sixth largest city in the U.S. State of Kansas and the county seat of Douglas County. Located in northeastern Kansas, Lawrence is the anchor city of the Lawrence, Kansas, Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Douglas County...
, on 2 January 1988 at the age of 91.
External links
See also
- Attribution theory
- Balance theoryBalance theoryBalance Theory is a motivational theory of attitude change proposed by Fritz Heider, which conceptualizes the consistency motive as a drive toward psychological balance...