George Kelly: Psychology of Personal Construct

• Personal Construct Theory


  A theory about how people interpret and make sense of the world around them
• Personal Construct Theory


  • It has been variously called a cognitive theory, a behavioral theory, an existential theory, and a phenomenological theory. Yet it is none of these. Perhaps the most appropriate term is "metatheory," or a theory about theories.
• Constructive alternativism


  The idea that the world around us is always changing, with everything interacting and evolving, and that we constantly try to understand this changing world with our thoughts and perspectives
• People see and interpret the same events in different ways, and even the same person can change their perspective over time
• Personal constructs


  One's way of seeing how things (or people) are alike and yet different from other things (or people)
• Basic postulate of Personal Construct Theory


  A person's processes are psychologically channelized by the ways in which that person anticipates events
• Basic postulate


  • It is not intended as an absolute statement of truth but is a tentative assumption open to question and scientific testing
• Person as a Scientist


  Make observations, construe relationships among events, formulate theories, generate hypotheses, test those that are plausible, and reach conclusions from their experiments
• Scientist as Person


  • Scientists, like all people, can make mistakes and should be questioned critically. Every scientific idea can be viewed differently and improved upon.
• Constructive Alternativism


  • Facts alone don't give us the full truth; it's how we interpret them that matters. Our interpretations can change over time, making something that once seemed true feel false later.
• Similarities among events (Construction Corollary)


  We anticipate future events by understanding how they're similar to past ones
• Differences among people (Individuality Corollary)


  People see and understand the world in unique ways because of their different experiences
• Relationships among constructs (Dichotomy Corollary)


  People organize their thoughts to understand the world by creating a system where they put things in order based on how they see them
• Dichotomy of constructs


  People's way of understanding the world is made up of simple "either-or" ideas called constructs, like good or bad, smart or dumb
• Choice between dichotomies


  People make choices by comparing two options and picking the one they think will lead to more opportunities in the future
• Range of convenience


  Our way of understanding the world is limited to certain situations
• Experience and learning


  We predict what will happen in the future, then adjust our understanding based on what actually occurs. Each new experience shapes our view of the world, either confirming our existing ideas or prompting us to change them.
• Adaptation to experiences


  When our beliefs are flexible, we can incorporate new experiences into them and evolve our perspectives
• Incompatible constructs


  People's "construction system" usually stays pretty consistent, but sometimes different parts of it don't match up
• Adaptation to experiences


  Arlene's ability to adapt her views, as explained by Kelly's ideas, shows that when our beliefs are flexible, we can incorporate new experiences into them
• Example of adaptation


  • If someone thinks women are inferior but encounters successful women, they might change their belief if their ideas are open to change
• Arlene's shift in views

  From seeing independence as doing what she wants to seeing it as being responsibly mature demonstrates how our views can evolve when we're open to new perspectives
• Incompatible constructs


  People's way of understanding the world, or their "construction system," usually stays pretty consistent, but sometimes different parts of it don't match up
• Example of incompatible constructs

  • Someone might be brave in one situation but scared in another
• Reconciling incompatible constructs

  These seeming inconsistencies can often fit into bigger ideas or feelings, like love or self-interest, which can change over time but still keep some stability
• If these conflicting ideas couldn't fit together at all, it would be really hard for people to change or adapt
• Similarities among people


  Kelly's ideas suggest that while people may be different, they can still think similarly if they view the world in comparable ways
• Example of similar thinking despite different experiences

  • Even if two individuals have vastly different life experiences, they can still arrive at similar conclusions because they interpret events through their own lenses
• Social processes


  People belong to the same cultural group because they see and interpret their experiences in similar ways, not just because they act alike or expect similar things
• Understanding others' beliefs and interpretations

  Helps us play different roles in social situations, like being a buyer or a student, based on how we perceive others' expectations
• Psychologically healthy people


  Validate their personal constructs against their experiences with the real world
• Psychologically unhealthy people


  Stubbornly cling to outdated personal constructs, fearing validation of any new constructs that would upset their present comfortable view of the world
• Disorder


  Any personal construction which is used repeatedly in spite of consistent invalidation
• Kelly objected to traditional classifications of abnormalities using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR) as it is likely to result in misconstruing that person's unique constructions
• Psychologically unhealthy people


  Their personal constructs often fail the test of permeability in one of two ways: They may be too impermeable or they may be too flexible
• Threat


  The awareness of imminent comprehensive change in one's core structures
• Fear


  More specific and incidental, compared to threat which involves a comprehensive change in a person's core structures
• Anxiety


  The recognition that the events with which one is confronted lie outside the range of convenience of one's construct system
• Guilt


  The sense of having lost one's core role structure, i.e. people feel guilty when they behave in ways that are inconsistent with their sense of who they are
• Kelly's view of psychotherapy


  Clients, not the therapist, select the goal. Clients are active participants in the therapeutic process, and the therapist's role is to assist them to alter their construct systems in order to improve efficiency in making predictions