George Kelly PDF

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(Personal Construct Theory)OVERVIEW OF PERSONAL CONSTRUCT THEORYTheory of Personal Constructs  Is like no other personality 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  METATHEORY or a...

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George Kelly (Personal Construct Theory) OVERVIEW OF PERSONAL CONSTRUCT THEORY Theory of Personal Constructs  Is like no other personality 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  METATHEORY or a theory about theories According to Kelly  All people anticipate events by the meanings or interpretations (Constructs) they place on those events.  Their behavior is shaped by their gradually expanding interpretation or construction of that world.  Every construction is open to revision or replacement. Constructive Alternativism.  People are not victims of circumstances, because alternative constructions are always available. Kelly called this philosophical position. Postulate assumes:  People are constantly active and that their activity is guided by the way they anticipate events. KELLY’S PHILOSOPHICAL POSITION  Believed that the universe is real, but that different people construe it in different ways  Personal constructs, or ways of interpreting and explaining events, hold the key to predicting their behavior. People’s construction of events  Their personal inquiry into their world.  It is a psychology of the human quest.  How we might go about looking for it Person as Scientist  That is, you ask questions, formulate hypotheses, test them, draw conclusions, and try to predict future events.  Your perception of reality is colored by your personal constructs—your way of looking at, explaining, and interpreting events in your world.  A person’s conclusions, like those of any scientist, are not fixed or final. They are open to reconsideration and reformulation.  People individually and collectively will find better ways of restructuring their lives through imagination and foresight.

Scientist as Person  Every scientific observation can be looked at from a different perspective.  Every theory can be slightly tilted and viewed from a new angle.  This approach, of course, means that Kelly’s theory is not exempt from restructuring Note: Kelly formulated a theory that encourages its own demise. Constructive Alternativism Assumption:  The assumption that the universe really exists and that it functions as an integral unit, with all its parts interacting precisely with each other  universe is constantly changing, so something is happening all the time  people’s thoughts also really exist and that people strive to make sense out of their continuously changing world  Different people construe reality in different ways, and the same person is capable of changing his or her view of the world.  Assumes that the piece-by-piece accumulation of facts does not add up to truth; rather, it assumes that facts can be looked at from different perspectives Constructive Alternativism  Different people construe reality in different ways, and the same person is capable of changing his or her view of the world. Kelly and Adler  He agreed to Adler that a person’s interpretation of events is more important than the events themselves.  Contrast to Adler, he stressed the notion that interpretations have meaning in the dimension of time, and what is valid at one time becomes false when construed differently at a later time Assumption: 1. Person, not the facts, holds the key to an individual’s future. 2. Facts and events do not dictate conclusions; rather, they carry meanings for us to discover 3. We must assume responsibility for how we construe our worlds. 4. We are victims of neither our history nor our present circumstances On the other hand:

George Kelly (Personal Construct Theory) 1. We are “limited by our feeble wits and our timid reliance upon what is familiar” 2. We do not always welcome new ideas. 3. We often find restructuring disturbing and thus hold on to ideas that are comfortable and theories that are well established. PERSONAL CONSTRUCTS Assumption:  People’s interpretation of a unified, everchanging world constitutes their reality. On the other hand:  Some people are quite inflexible and seldom change their way of seeing things.  Some people construe a world that is substantially different from the world of other people.  Kelly (1963) would insist that these people, along with everyone else, are looking at their world through “transparent patterns or templates” that they have created in order to cope with the world’s realities. Abnormal Psychology Applied: 1. Anorexic patients continue to see themselves as fat while their weight continues to drop to a lifethreatening level 2. Psychotic patients in mental hospitals may talk to people whom no one else can see. A Personal construct is:  is one’s way of seeing how things (or people) are alike and yet different from other things (or people).  for example, you may see how Ashly and Brenda are alike and how they are different from Carol. Note: The comparison and the contrast must occur within the same context. BASIC POSTULATE Personal Construct Theory  The basic postulate assumes that “a person’s processes are psychologically channelized by the ways in which [that person] anticipates events Note: This postulate is not intended as an absolute statement of truth but is a tentative assumption open to question and scientific testing. Person’s processes  Life itself accounts for one’s movement.  Not animals, society or any part of person

Channelized  Suggest that people move with a direction through a network of pathways or channels.  The network, however, is flexible, both facilitating and restricting people’s range of action Ways of anticipating events  Suggests that people guide their actions according to their predictions of the future  Nor the future per se determines our behavior Rather, our present view of the future shapes our actions 11 Supporting Corollaries 1. Construction Corollary (Similarities among Events)  States that “Person (1 People) anticipates events (2 or m) by construing their replications.  1 people = 2 events  This allows people to communicate both verbally and nonverbally Individuality Corollary (Differences among People )  States that “Persons (2 People) differ from each other in their construction of events (1 event)”  2 people = 1 event  Due to individual differences, the communication is never perfect. Abnormal Psychology Applied:  Identical twins living in nearly identical environments do not construe events exactly the same Organization Corollary (Relationships among Constructs)  States that “People characteristically evolve, for [their] convenience in anticipating events, a construction system embracing ordinal relationships between constructs  Third emphasizes that different people organize similar events in a manner that minimizes incompatibilities and inconsistencies  We arrange our constructions so that we may move from one to another in an orderly fashion, which allows us to anticipate events in ways that transcend contradictions and avoid needless conflicts.  Also assumes an ordinal relationship of constructs so that one construct may be subsumed under another

George Kelly (Personal Construct Theory) Dichotomy Corollary (Dichotomy of Constructs)  States that “Person’s construction system is composed of a finite number of dichotomous constructs” Choice Corollary (Choice between Dichotomies)  States that “People choose for themselves that alternative in a dichotomized construct through which they anticipate the greater possibility for extension and definition of future constructs.”  People make choices on the basis of how they anticipate events, and those choices are between dichotomous alternatives Range Corollary (Range of Convenience)  States that “A construct is convenient for the anticipation of a finite range of events only  Assumes that personal constructs are finite and not relevant to everything.  A construct is limited to a particular range of convenience. Experience Corollary (Experience and Learning)  States that “A person’s construction system varies as he [or she] successively construes the replications of events.  We look to the future and make guesses about what will happen. Then, as events become revealed to us, we either validate our existing constructs or restructure these events to match our experience. The restructuring of events allows us to learn from our experiences. Modulation Corollary (Adaptation to Experience)  States that “The variation in a person’s construction system is limited by the permeability of the constructs within whose range of convenience the variants lie”  It assumes that the extent to which people revise their constructs is related to the degree of permeability of their existing constructs.  A construct is permeable if new elements can be added to it.  Impermeable or concrete constructs do not admit new elements Fragmentation Corollary (Incompatible Constructs)  States that “A person may successively employ a variety of constructive subsystems which are inferentially incompatible with each other”  At first it may seem as if personal constructs must be compatible, but if we look to our own behavior and thinking, we can easily see some inconsistencies (Moral Agency of Bandura)

Commonality corollary (Similarities among People)  States that “To the extent that one person employs a construction of experience which is similar to that employed by another, [that person’s] processes are psychologically similar to those of the other person”  assumes that people are different from each other, his commonality corollary assumes similarities among people  Two people need not experience the same event or even similar events for their processes to be psychologically similar; must merely construe their experiences in a similar fashion Sociality corollary (Social Processes)  States that “To the extent that people accurately construe the belief system of others, they may play a role in a social process involving those other people”  People belong to the same cultural group, not merely because they behave alike, nor because they expect the same things of others, but especially because they construe their experience in the same way”  They communicate because they construe the constructions of one another. In interpersonal relations, they not only observe the behavior of the other person; they also interpret what that behavior means to that person.  Suggesting that people are actively involved in interpersonal relations and realize that they are part of the other person’s construction system. Role 

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Refers to a pattern of behavior that results from a person’s understanding of the constructs of others with whom that person is engaged in a task Kelly construed roles from a psychological rather than a sociological perspective.

Peripheral roles  Arlene’s roles as student, employee, and daughter would be considered. More central to her existence would be her core role. Core role  We define ourselves in terms of who we really are. It gives us a sense of identity and provides us with guidelines for everyday living. APPLICATIONS OF PERSONAL CONSTRUCT THEORY

George Kelly (Personal Construct Theory) Abnormal Development Psychologically healthy people  Validate their personal constructs against their experiences with the real world.  Competent scientists who test reasonable hypotheses, accept the results without denial or distortion, and then willingly alter their theories to match available data  Anticipate events but are also able to make satisfactory adjustments Unhealthy people  Stubbornly cling to outdated personal constructs, fearing validation of any new constructs  Incompetent scientists, test unreasonable hypotheses Reject or distort legitimate results, and refuse to amend or abandon old theories that are no longer useful  They may be too impermeable or they may be too flexible. Disorder  as “any personal construction which is used repeatedly in spite of consistent invalidation” Note: Person’s construction system exists in the present not the past or future. Psychological disorders, therefore, also exist in the present; they are caused neither by childhood experiences nor by future events Threat  Defined as “the awareness of imminent comprehensive change in one’s core structures”  when they perceive that the stability of their basic constructs is likely to be shaken.

Guilt   

“the sense of having lost one’s core role structure” if that core role is weakened or dissolved, a person will develop a feeling of guilt. That is, people feel guilty when they behave in ways that are inconsistent with their sense of who they are.

Note: People who have never developed a core role do not feel guilty. They may be anxious or confused, but without a sense of personal identity, they do not experience guilt PSYCHOTHERAPY  People should be free to choose those courses of action most consistent with their prediction of events.  In therapy, this approach means that 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. Fixed-role therapy  Is to help clients change their outlook on life (personal constructs) by acting out a predetermined role  It is a creative process that allows clients to gradually discover previously hidden aspects of themselves  Clients are introduced only to peripheral roles; but then, after they have had time to become comfortable with minor changes in personality structure, they try out new core roles that permit more profound personality change

Fear 

is more specific and incidental

Note: Psychological disturbance results when either threat or fear persistently prevents a person from feeling secure Anxiety  “the recognition that the events with which one is confronted lie outside the range of convenience of one’s construct system Pathological anxiety  Exists when a person’s incompatible constructs can no longer be tolerated and the person’s construction system breaks down

Role Construct Repertory (Rep) test.  The purpose of the Rep test is to discover ways in which people construe significant people in their lives. Process: 1. Person is given a Role Title list and asked to designate people who fit the role titles by writing their names on a card. For example, for “a teacher you liked,” the person must supply a particular name. The number of role titles can vary, but Kelly (1955) listed 24 on one version. 2. Next, the person is given three names from the list and asked to judge which two people are alike and yet different from the third.

George Kelly (Personal Construct Theory) 3. They’re both old, and my sister is young,” the examiner will say, “That’s one way they are alike. 4. Reliability and validity of the instrument are not very high, and its usefulness depends largely on the skill and experience of the examiner. Personal Constructs and the Big Five  This means that the repertory grid was capturing aspects of people the Big Five was not and that the Big Five was capturing aspects the repertory grid was not.  Some of the unique aspects captured by the repertory grid were body type, ethnicity, wealth, smoker status, and political affiliation  Big Five is still enormously valuable as a framework for studying personality.  Kelly’s personal construct theory does a very good job at emphasizing the uniqueness of individuals and how individuals define themselves and those around them in their own terms. Note:   

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Most of Kelly’s professional career was spent working with relatively normal, intelligent college students. Made no attempt to elucidate early childhood experiences (as did Freud) or maturity and old age (as did Erikson). To Kelly, people live solely in the present, with one eye always on the future. This view, though somewhat optimistic, fails to account for developmental and cultural influences on personality His avoidance of the problems of motivation, developmental influences, and cultural forces limits his theory’s ability to give specific meanings to much of what is currently known about the complexity of personality. Kelly relied heavily on common sense in this therapeutic practice Motivation plays no part in personal construct theory.

Concept of Humanity 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Optimistic vs Pessimistic Determinism vs free choice Teleological vs Causal Conscious vs Unconscious Biological vs Social influences Uniqueness vs similarities...