PSYC1001 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Personal Construct Theory, Cognitive Science, Psychodynamics
19 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Kelly’s personal construct theory
Dynamic/non-dynamic
• Assumes individuals are constantly changing but at what rate?
• Psychodynamics of interpersonal relationships
• Kelly - "non-dynamic" but does allows for change
Construction of reality
• Personal construct theory
• Not part of mainstream (trait approach to personality) sits on fringe
• Theory: each individual wants to predict what's going to happen, know about and control
environment
• "Man as a scientist" - contradicts idea of self-deception
• Man is rational, cognitive scientist
• Each create own version of reality
• Able to predict what comes next and see the world through patter/schemer/prism template
• Representations of reality = constructs
• Each person has own personal set of constructs, and use them to test predictions against
reality
• 1950s - almost purely cognitive theory
• 1950-70s cognition was "cold" not driven by biological drives
• Humanistic phenomenological
o Humanistic - study of whole person
o Phenomenological - how one experiences others in the world, through the meanings
they attach to significant people
Kelly
• A person's processes are psychologically determined by the ways in which he anticipates
events
• Person anticipates events by constructing their replications
• Persons differ from each other in their constructions of events
• Construction system is composed of a finite number of dichotomous constructs
Fundamental postulates (assumption)
• A person's processes are psychologically channelized by the ways in which he anticipates
events
• Alike scientists
11 corollaries
• A statement/logical implication of an assumption
• Kelly's theory = elaborations on themes
o e.g. person anticipates events by construing their replications, detects repetitive events
• Individuality corollary
o Person's differ from each other in their constructions of events
o Own system of personal constructs determine personality and way one conducts their
life
o Constructs are unconscious when there is low level of cognitive awareness
• Organisation corollary
o Each person characteristically evolves for his convenience in anticipating events
o A construction system embracing and individuals relationships between constructs
o Ordered according to generality
• Dichotomy corollary
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