Deck 11: George Kelly: Personal Construct Theory

Question 1

Constructs

A) need constant revision.
B) apply to all situations.
C) rigidly bind our behavior.
D) are influenced by physiological forces.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

According to Kelly, the freedom to revise constructs is called

A) channelizing.
B) constructive revisionism.
C) constructive alternativism.
D) constructive dichotomy.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

George Kelly's approach to personality is called

A) psychoanalysis.
B) positive construct theory.
C) individual psychology.
D) personal construct theory.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Kelly's personality theory is based on the importance of

A) the unconscious.
B) our interpretation of our environment.
C) motivation.
D) drives.

Question 5

Kelly's early clinical work dealt with

A) psychotic children.
B) students who were referred by their teachers for counseling.
C) severely neurotic adults.
D) institutionalized psychotic adults.

Question 6

If Kelly had worked with schizophrenics in a mental institution in his formative professional years,

A) his theory would also apply to neurotic patients.
B) Kelly would have made good use of his cognitive information -processing abilities.
C) Kelly would have stayed in the U.S. Navy.
D) his theory might not have depended so heavily on cognitive information-processing abilities.

Question 7

For Kelly, the only way to understand people is to understand their

A) childhood experiences.
B) unconscious desires.
C) interpretations of events and their social relationships.
D) past patterns of reinforcement.

Question 8

According to Kelly, a construct is

A) an innate drive.
B) our way of explaining or interpreting the world.
C) a result of past reinforcement.
D) the need to actualize the self.

Question 9

Personal constructs are oriented toward the

A) reconstruction of past events.
B) anticipation of future events.
C) actualization of unconscious desires.
D) release of psychic energy.

Question 10

Far more than the other theorists, Kelly's approach emphasizes ____ functioning.

A) intellectual
B) biological
C) unconscious
D) irrational

Question 11

A construct is a

A) group of shared family experiences that shape an individual in a certain direction.
B) set of early experiences in childhood that constricts our personality in adulthood.
C) distorted interpretation of the world that is not in accord with reality.
D) person's way to devise intellectual hypotheses to explain or interpret events.

Question 12

Once formed, constructs tend to

A) last only a short time.
B) allow no possibility for change.
C) weaken as we grow older.
D) guide our behavior.

Question 13

A person makes hypotheses and tests them against

A) cultural norms and taboos.
B) fictional goals.
C) experiences.
D) unconscious fears and wishes.

Question 14

Kelly's cognitive approach to personality

A) was based on previous theories, such as humanistic theory.
B) suggests a person functions solely on the emotional level.
C) aims to examine personal constructs.
D) was to study subjects as incapable of rational functioning.

Question 15

Once we have formed a construct, we

A) take it on faith.
B) test it against reality.
C) make it a permanent part of our personality.
D) all of the answers

Question 16

Kelly's personality theory derived from

A) his experience as a clinician.
B) the laboratory.
C) observations of infants and children.
D) interpretations of social and historical factors.

Question 17

In developing his theory, Kelly drew heavily on

A) psychoanalysis.
B) behaviorism.
C) trait theory.
D) Kelly's theory is not based on any of these theories.

Question 18

Like scientists, all of us construct theories, which Kelly called

A) emotional and illogical assumptions.
B) scientific comparisons of data.
C) personal constructs.
D) insights from our unconscious.

Question 19

According to Kelly, he was ____ committed to a particular therapeutic technique and a specific theory about the nature of personality.

A) heavily
B) not
C) neutrally
D) decidedly

Question 20

The cognitive revolution in psychology

A) was not consistent with the movement's subject matter and methods.
B) had run its course by the time Kelly proposed his theory.
C) was greatly influenced by Kelly's theory.
D) was greatly influenced by Maslow's and Roger's theories.

Question 21

A construct's range of convenience is the

A) range of events to which it can be applied.
B) number of needs it satisfies.
C) number of people who hold the same construct.
D) applicability to normal and abnormal behavior.

Question 22

The test of a construct system is how well it

A) softens harsh reality.
B) duplicates reality.
C) predicts events.
D) explains past events.

Question 23

Kelly believed we are motivated by

A) being alive.
B) instinctual perceptions.
C) past events.
D) a hierarchy of needs.

Question 24

Choices that help define the construct system

A) have a high predictive efficiency.
B) reject the secure choice.
C) represent the high risk/high reward choice.
D) reject intellect in favor of emotion.

Question 25

According to the individuality corollary,

A) different people perceive the same event in different ways.
B) constructs reflect an event's objective reality.
C) people differ in their physiological drives.
D) people differ in what they find reinforcing.

Question 26

Kelly viewed human nature as

A) genetically determined.
B) rational.
C) determined by childhood events.
D) a hierarchy of needs arranged as constructs.

Question 27

The ____ corollary explains how we construe the constructions of others.

A) individuality
B) commonality
C) fragmentation
D) sociality

Question 28

In a dichotomized construct, the alternative we select is determined by

A) past reinforcements.
B) how exactly it reflects past events.
C) how well it predicts future events.
D) unconscious forces.

Question 29

The more permeable his or her construct system is, the more a person

A) tends toward neurotic behavior.
B) vacillates from one construct to another.
C) sticks to tried-and-true behavior.
D) is open to new experiences.

Question 30

To anticipate events correctly, constructs must be

A) based on exact replications of past events.
B) dichotomous or bipolar.
C) general enough to encompass various events.
D) focused on the similarities among events.

Question 31

The only way a construct system can remain rigid is if the person

A) is self-actualizing.
B) has a wide range of convenience.
C) encounters no new experiences.
D) is extremely self-confident.

Question 32

When we select the high risk/high reward alternative in a dichotomized construct, we are

A) extending the construct system.
B) defining the construct system.
C) discarding old constructs and forming new ones.
D) reinforcing the construct system.

Question 33

If people construe an experience similarly, then their cognitive processes will be

A) similar.
B) identical.
C) dissimilar because of the individuality corollary.
D) unaffected.

Question 34

In a dichotomized construct, we choose between each of the following except

A) security and adventure.
B) self-actualization and stagnation.
C) definition and extension of the construct system.
D) high risk and high reward.

Question 35

The ____ corollary says that people perceive events in different ways.

A) range
B) modulation
C) sociality
D) commonality

Question 36

Kelly's theory is based on the idea that

A) people in a culture construe events in identical ways.
B) future events duplicate past events.
C) personality is unchanging.
D) themes from the past will appear in the future.

Question 37

The idea that two constructs may be consistent in one situation and inconsistent in another situation is the

A) congruence corollary.
B) fragmentation corollary.
C) successive modulation corollary.
D) situational corollary.

Question 38

The main characteristic of the organization corollary is that

A) ordinary constructs are formed early in life.
B) constructs are arranged in a hierarchy with the physiological ones at the bottom.
C) some constructs are subordinate to others.
D) the system is more rigid than the individual constructs.

Question 39

Why does poor Jim continue to act in a hostile manner, even when rebuffed for it, instead of being friendly? Kelly would say Jim

A) makes a low risk choice because at least he can predict how others will react to it.
B) has never tried friendliness, so he cannot predict what will happen.
C) suffers from uncertainty, even though the rewards for friendliness are greater.
D) all of the answers

Question 40

The dichotomy corollary says that

A) we modify our constructs as a function of new experience.
B) constructs are bipolar.
C) we try to understand how other people think, and modify our behavior accordingly.
D) people perceive events in different ways.

Question 41

The REP Test is scored

A) like all self-report inventories.
B) by computer.
C) subjectively.
D) by determining its validity coefficient.

Question 42

All of the following are criticisms of Kelly's theory except which?

A) It omits motivation and emotion.
B) It is based on an unrepresentative sample.
C) The concept of the unconscious lacks empirical support.
D) The rational image of human nature does not coincide with reality.

Question 43

Persons high in cognitive complexity are also

A) likely to score high on the REP Test.
B) likely to have authoritarian parents.
C) low in empathic ability.
D) able to predict the behavior of others better than persons low in cognitive complexity.

Question 44

Kelly's primary assessment technique is the

A) free-association test.
B) Rorschach Inkblot Test.
C) interview.
D) Q sort.

Question 45

Kelly's theory of personality is more popular in ____ than in the United States.

A) Russia and China
B) Europe, Canada, and Australia
C) Central and South America
D) South Africa and Egypt

Question 46

The results of the REP Test

A) are objective.
B) depend on the skill and training of the psychologist giving it.
C) depend on the client's story.
D) are quantified through summations on the repertory grid.

Question 47

Kelly promoted a form of psychotherapy called ____ therapy.

A) client-centered
B) construct revision
C) fixed role
D) corollary

Question 48

Kelly's main contribution to assessment is the

A) Role Construct Repertory (REP) Test.
B) Q-Sort.
C) Thematic Apperception Test (TAT).
D) Word Association Test.

Question 49

The REP Test

A) is restricted to clinical use.
B) has been used in market research.
C) is useful only for personality research.
D) cannot be used with schizophrenics.

Question 50

Research on Kelly's theory has shown that

A) constructs measured by the REP Test are stable over time.
B) the REP Test is unreliable.
C) brief social interactions lead to changed constructs.
D) all of the answers

Question 51

Friendships among college students are likely to endure when their constructs are

A) permanent.
B) opposite.
C) similar.
D) formed in childhood.

Question 52

Today, Kelly's theory of personality is

A) considered the leading candidate to replace Freudian ideas.
B) the cause of raging controversy among psychologists.
C) almost totally forgotten.
D) much broader and supported more elsewhere, than in the United States.

Question 53

Adults high in cognitive complexity are likely to be

A) products of diverse influences in childhood.
B) products of authoritarian parenting.
C) politically conservative.
D) rigid and inflexible in their thinking.

Question 54

The self-characterization sketch is used to determine

A) specific neuroses.
B) the accuracy of the repertory grid.
C) the corollaries dominating the client's life.
D) how people perceive themselves in relation to others.

Question 55

The Role Construct Repertory (REP) Test is used to

A) uncover complexes.
B) determine the person's roles.
C) reveal the development of anticipations.
D) uncover the pattern of constructs.

Question 56

Kelly's approach to psychotherapy

A) is called fixed role therapy.
B) involves changing undesirable constructs.
C) has the client act the role of a fictitious person.
D) all of the answers

Question 57

Kelly believed that a therapist should

A) focus on childhood experiences.
B) accept what the client says at face value.
C) focus on emotional, not rational factors.
D) find the unconscious conflicts among constructs.

Question 58

REP test research shows that schizophrenics are unstable and inconsistent in construing

A) objects.
B) other people.
C) both people and objects.
D) Schizophrenics cannot respond to REP Test questions.

Question 59

All of the following are important aspects of Kelly's image of human nature except

A) optimism.
B) free will.
C) pessimism.
D) rationality.

Question 60

Kelly's theory has been criticized because his theory

A) focuses on the emotional aspects of human functioning rather than intellectual and rational aspects.
B) focuses on intellectual and rational aspects of human functioning to the exclusion of emotional aspects.
C) focuses equally on both intellectual and emotional aspects of human functioning.
D) focuses on explicit emotions.

Question 61

According to Kelly, each of us desires to predict the future with the highest possible degree of certainty.

Question 62

Give your opinion on whether or not the following people would be able to fill out and score The Role Construct Repertory Test (REP):

Question 63

In the Commonality Corollary, people from the same culture may show a resemblance in their behaviors and characteristics even though they are exposed to different life events.

Question 64

In the Dichotomy Corollary, our constructs are bipolar, mutually exclusive alternatives.

Question 65

Kelly believed that the hostile person does not know how people will react to friendliness because he or she has rarely tried it.

Question 66

In your opinion, what can be done to reduce confrontation at the personal level between people? Give at least a five point detailed answer, in relation to Kelly's theory.

Question 67

Kelly's theory could be considered as very similar to contemporary cognitive psychology.

Question 68

To what extent do you feel arguments, even wars, result because people construe events with different construct systems? Defend your answer with Kelly's Personal Construct Theory.

Question 69

Compare the usefulness or utility of Kelly's 11 constructs for life events with Erikson's 8 lifespan phases. What are at least two things that are similar for both of these theories and what are at least two dissimilarities between the two?

Question 70

For Kelly, freedom of choice could not be obtained by people at any stage of life.

Question 71

The Choice Corollary describes similarities among repeated events, according to Kelly.

Question 72

Kelly proposed that the way to understand someone's personality is to examine them physically, emotionally, and intellectually.

Question 73

Kelly treated severely disturbed psychotics in mental hospitals and neurotics with troublesome emotional problems.

Question 74

(A) Give the definition for Dichotomy Corollary, in your own words. (B) Using a real-life example of a person you know, explain how all constructs are bipolar or dichotomous.

Question 75

A construct is a person's unique way of looking at life, like an intellectual hypothesis devised to explain or interpret events.

Question 76

A permeable construct is one where people are exposed to new experiences every day, therefore the process of testing the fit of a construct to see how well it predicted the event is ongoing.

Question 77

Kelly's personality theory is much the same as other approaches in the text.

Question 78

According to Kelly, it is the operation of our mental processes and not the specific events that influence the formation of personality.

Question 79

The Organizational Corollary describes relationships among constructs.

Question 80

Over the course of life, we become rigid and uncompromising in our constructs.