PSY234 Lecture 5: Personal construct theory
2 Jun 2018
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PSY234 Week 5 Lecture:
Personal construct theory –
• George Kelly = a theorist before his time
• ‘Humanistic’
o ‘We start with a person. Organisms, lower animals, and societies can
wait’ (Kelly, 1966)
o Emphasises unique individual
• ‘Cognitive’
o Emphasizes ‘cognition’
o Phenomenology
o Personal meaning
People as scientists:
• Human beings are forward looking
• Present beliefs shape our expectations
• People are meaning makers: distinction between what happens and how we
make sense of it
• Humans behave similarly to scientists –
o People have expectations (hypotheses)
o People test those expectations (experiment)
o Revise expectations based on experience (theory building)
o The experience cycle
• Experience cycle
o 1. Anticipation of the event
o 2. Investment in the outcome
o 3. Encounter with the event
o 4. Confirmation or disconfirmation of anticipation or hypothesis
o 5. Constructive revision of construct system
Personal constructs:
• ‘Constructed’ ways of understanding the world (‘a representation of the
universe’)
• Creative capacity: we each live in our own constructed ‘alternative realities’
• Constructs guide expectations, perception and behaviour
• We view the world through constructs
• ‘Personal’: each person has unique set of constructs (idiographic focus)
Fundamental postulate – main claim of Kelly’s theory
• 11 corollaries of personal construct psych
• Fundamental postulate = ‘a person’s processes are psychologically
channelized by the way s/he anticipates events’
• Processes = experiences, thoughts, feelings, behaviour
• These processes are influenced by our expectations of the world and of other
people
• E.g. placebo effect
Corollaries:
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find more resources at oneclass.com
• Modulation corollary → experiences make our constructs change, widen,
shrink
• Permeability → changeability of constructs
o Dilation and constriction
o Accommodation
o Assimilation
o Mental flexibility
o Embracing/rejecting new ideas
• Dichotomy corollary:
o “A person’s construction system is composed of a finite number of
dichotomous constructs”
o We tend to view the world in terms of bipolar constructs; opposites;
dualism
o E.g. good/bad, male/female, up/down, happy/sad
o Our judgements of ourselves tend to be dichotomous
o Free will vs. determinism; nature vs. nurture
Constructive alternativism → ‘we take the stand that there are always some
alternative constructions available to choose among in dealing with the world. No one
needs to paint him/herself into a corner; no one needs to be completely hemmed in by
circumstnaces; no one needs to be the victim of his/her biography’
• The meaning that we ascribe to events is a central determinant of our
response,,, but we can change how we see things
• ‘Personal construct psych is a position that sees people as adventurers, capable
of pushing the boundaries of their lives as they experiment with alternative
interpretations of their changing worlds in an attempt to increase
predictability’
• We are free to choose alternative constructs
• Changing constructs: changing experience e.g. ‘plenty more fish in the sea’
• Kelly rejects free will/determinism debate (result of limited dichotomous
constructs)
• Pragmatism = beyond dualism
• Implicit account of free will: humans ‘may exercise control and gain freedom
for themselves’
Assessing personal constructs:
• Repertory Grid Technique
o Several visions
• Role construct repertory test (REP)
o Identifying similarities and differences between known people e.g.
friendly/unfriendly
Personal constructs and therapy –
• Kelly: primary clinical focus
• “From the standpoint of psychology of personal constructs, psychological
disorders can be traced to a person’s construction system”
• Therapy = trying to understand how people see the world; avoiding diagnostic
categories
• Importance of changing present constructs
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Personal construct theory : george kelly = a theorist before his time. Cognitive": emphasizes cognition", phenomenology, personal meaning, we start with a person. Organisms, lower animals, and societies can wait" (kelly, 1966: emphasises unique individual. Confirmation or disconfirmation of anticipation or hypothesis: 5. Constructed" ways of understanding the world ( a representation of the universe": creative capacity: we each live in our own constructed alternative realities", constructs guide expectations, perception and behaviour, we view the world through constructs. Personal": each person has unique set of constructs (idiographic focus) Constructive alternativism we take the stand that there are always some alternative constructions available to choose among in dealing with the world. Implicit account of free will: humans may exercise control and gain freedom for themselves". Assessing personal constructs: repertory grid technique, several visions, role construct repertory test (rep, identifying similarities and differences between known people e. g. friendly/unfriendly. Importance of changing present constructs: past events/causes irrelevant for change.
