The Zeitgeist is the intellectual fashion
or dominant school of thought that typifies
and influences the culture of a particular
period in time.
For example, the Zeitgeist of modernism typified
and influenced architecture, art, and fashion
during much of the 20th century.
The German word Zeitgeist is often attributed
to the philosopher Georg Hegel, but he never
actually used the word.
In his works such as Lectures on the Philosophy
of History, he uses the phrase der Geist seiner
Zeit—for example, "no man can surpass his
own time, for the spirit of his time is also
his own spirit."
Other philosophers who were associated with
such ideas include Herder and Spencer and
Voltaire.
The concept contrasts with the Great Man theory
popularized by Thomas Carlyle, which sees
history as the result of the actions of heroes
and geniuses.
Hegel believed that art reflected, by its
very nature, the culture of the time in which
it is created.
Culture and art are inextricable because an
individual artist is a product of his or her
time and therefore brings that culture to
any given work of art.
Furthermore, he believed that in the modern
world it was impossible to produce classical
art, which he believed represented a "free
and ethical culture", which depended more
on the philosophy of art and theory of art,
rather than a reflection of the social construct,
or Zeitgeist in which a given artist lives.
In the analysis of the arts and culture, the
concept of a "spirit of the age" or zeitgeist
may be problematic as a tool for analysis
of periods which are socially or culturally
fragmented and diverse.
Zeitgeist theory and leadership
As mentioned, zeitgeist theory of leadership
is often contrasted with Thomas Carlyle’s
great man theory.
In his theory, Carlyle stresses that leaders
do not become leaders by fate or accident.
Instead, these individuals possess characteristics
of great leaders and these characteristics
allow them to obtain positions of power.
However, Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy disagreed
with Carlyle’s perspective.
Tolstoy believed that leadership, like other
things, was a "zeitgeist" and was a product
of the social circumstances at the time.
Thus, it was not the characteristics of the
individual that resulted in a leadership,
but societal factors of the time that are
out of the individuals’ control.
Great man theory and zeitgeist theory can
be included in two main areas of thought in
psychology.
For instance, great man theory is very similar
to the trait approach.
Trait researchers are interested in identifying
the various personality traits that underline
human behaviors such as conformity, leadership
or other social behaviors.
Thus, they agree that leadership is primarily
a quality of an individual and that some people
are pre-dispositioned to be a leader whereas
others are born to follow these leaders.
In contrast, situationist researchers believe
that social behavior is a product of society.
That is, social influence is what determines
human behaviors.
Therefore, situationism is of the same opinion
as zeitgeist theory—leaders are created
from the social environment and are molded
from the situation.
The concept of zeitgeist also relates to the
sociological tradition that stems from Durkheim
and recently developed into social capital
theory as exemplified by the work of Patrick
Hunout.
These two perspectives have been combined
to create what is known as the interactional
approach to leadership.
This approach asserts that leadership is developed
through the mixing of personality traits and
the situation.
Further, this approach was expressed by social
psychologist, Kurt Lewin, by the equation
B = f(P, E) where behavior is a function of
the person and the environment.
Examples of zeitgeist in psychology
Errors of illusion are not readily apparent
because the shared beliefs and assumptions
of a particular era that support them come
from the zeitgeist.
An example can be seen with Henry Goddard
and Lewis Terman.
The consensus in the 20th century was that
existing psychology tests adequately measured
basic intelligence in diverse groups of people.
Now it is known that "culture-fair" tests
need to be developed.
But because of the zeitgeist, in those times,
the cross-cultural validity of existing tests
was not questioned.
Failure to question research findings that
agree with prevailing political and philosophical
ideology represents one of the effects of
the zeitgeist.
The zeitgeist does not always have negative
effects.
It can stimulate new ideas and creative solutions
to problems.
An example is seen in the different models
and metaphors chosen to describe behavior
and consciousness.
If Charles Darwin had not lived, his theory
of evolution would still have been published.
The British naturalist, Alfred Wallace, had
come to almost exactly the same theory as
Darwin concerning natural selection.
They jointly presented their idea to the public.
If Darwin had not lived there still would
have been advocates for evolution produced
simply by the zeitgeist of the time period
and the spurring of new thoughts and ideas
outside of the usual biblical explanations
for differential species existence.
The zeitgeist of the time shows that natural
selection would still have been introduced
to the public.
The zeitgeist of the 1920s revolved around
logical positivism.
Due to this, the great men of that time were
able to impact psychology, such as Watson,
Tolman, and Guthrie.
This is important because their work on behavioral
psychology was able to work against eugenics.
Before this time behavioral psychology was
not able to impact the field since it did
not fit with the spirit of the times.
For example, Twitmeyer wrote a paper on knee-jerk
in 1902, but it came too early to have the
impact it deserved.
Skinner being unseated during the cognitive
revolution is another example of the zeitgeist
in psychology.
The zeitgeist was changing during this time,
people wanted to show more interest in humans,
and more people were becoming interested in
personality psychology.
However, in the 1950s his new experimental
approach to psychology using inductive reasoning
and descriptive behaviorism was seen as novel
and practical.
Especially in contrast with psychoanalysts,
whose assertions and interpretations were
largely immune to rigorous, empirical inquiry,
thus making validation a rather problematic
task.
Examples of zeitgeist models in business
Executives, venture capitalists, journalists
and authors have argued that the idea of a
zeitgeist is useful in understanding the emergence
of industries, simultaneous invention and
evaluating the relative value of innovations.
Malcom Gladwell argued in his book Outliers
that entrepreneurs who succeeded often share
similar characteristics—early personal or
significant exposure to knowledge and skills
in the early stages of a nascent industry.
He proposed that the timing of involvement
in an industry and often in sports as well
affected the probability of success.
In Silicon Valley, a number of people have
argued that much of the current innovation
has been shaped by easy access to the Internet,
open source software, component technologies
for both hardware and software, and the ability
to reach thin markets across a global market.
Peter Thiel has commented: "There is so much
incrementalism now."
In a zeitgeist market, the number of new entrants
is high, the ability to launch differentiated
high value products is more difficult to achieve,
and new forms of business model innovation
are required for success.
References
External links
Christian Adolph Klotz
Christian Adolf Klotz in: Meyers Konversations-Lexikon,
4.
Aufl., 1888, Vol. 9, Page 859
Zeitgeist, History of Ideas
