Application of Personal Constructs Theory

• In Kelly’s view, psychologically healthy people validate their personal constructs against their experiences with the real world.

  • They are like competent scientists who test reasonable hypotheses, accept the results without denial or distortion, and then willingly alter their theories to match available data.
  • They not only anticipate events but are also able to make satisfactory adjustments when things do not turn out as they expected.
• • stubbornly cling to outdated personal constructs, fearing validation of any new constructs that would upset their present comfortable view of the world.
  • similar to incompetent scientists who test unreasonable hypotheses, reject or distort legitimate results, and refuse to amend or abandon old theories that are no longer useful.

  Unhealthy People
• • any personal construction which is used repeatedly in spite of consistent invalidation

  Disorder
• A person’s construction system exists in the present and not the past or future.
• Psychological disorders, therefore, also exist in the present; they are caused neither by childhood experiences nor by future events.
• Psychologically unhealthy people, like everyone else, possess a complex construction system
• Psychological disorders result when the child’s construction system rigidly denies the value of any intimate relationship and clings to the notion that either withdrawal or attack is a preferred mode of solving interpersonal problems.
• a construction system that is too loose or flexible leads to disorganization, an inconsistent pattern of behavior, and a transient set of values
• Although Kelly did not use traditional labels in describing psychopathology, he did identify four common elements in most human disturbance: threat, fear, anxiety, and guilt.
• • The anticipation of danger to the stability of one’s personal constructs.

  Threat
• • A specific threat to one’s personal constructs.
  • involves a comprehensive change in a person’s core structures
  • more specific and incidental

  Fear
• • A felt, affective, unpleasant state accompanied by the physical sensation of uneasiness
  • Pathological ? exists when a person’s incompatible constructs can no longer be tolerated and the person’s construction system breaks down.

  Anxiety
• • The sense of having lost one’s core role structure.
  • If the sociality corollary is weakened or dissolved, a person will develop this feeling
  • people feel this when they behave in ways that are inconsistent with their sense of who they are.
  • People who have never developed a core role do not feel this

  Guilt