KURT LEWIN, RONALD LIPPITT, AND RALPH K. WHITE

Child Welfare Research Station, State University of Iowa

The present report is a preliminary summary on one phase
of a series of experimental studies of group life which has as its
aim a scientific approach to such questions as the following: What
underlies such differing patterns of group behavior as rebellion
against authority, persecution of a scapegoat, apathetic submis-
siveness to authoritarian domination, or attack upon an outgroup?
How may differences in subgroup structure, group stratification,
and potency of ego-centered and group-centered goals be utilized
as criteria for predicting the social resultants of different group
atmospheres? Is not democratic group life more pleasant, but
authoritarianism more efficient? These are the sorts of ques-
tions to which "opinionated" answers are many and varied to-
day, and to which scientific answers, are, on that account, all
the more necessary. An experimental approach to the phenomena
of group life obviously raises many difficulties of creation and
scientific control, but the fruitfulness of the method seems to
compensate for the added experimental problems

In the first experiment Lippitt organized two clubs of 10-
year-old children, who engaged in the activity of theatrical mask-
making for a period of three months. The same adult leader,
changing his philosophy of leadership, led one club in an authori-
tarian manner and the other club in accordance with democratic
techniques, while detailed observations were made by four ob-

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