Deck 11: George Kelly: Personal Construct Theory

Question 1

What did Kelly mean when he suggested that we all function like scientists in trying to predict and control the events in our lives?

Answer 1

Mr. K says that every human act like scientists to know and control their future life:
Personal construct theory is cognitive way of describing one's personality. It delivers a thought that an individual can interpret events and behaviors understanding ways to guide and forecast his/her behavior. This helps them to predict behavior of another person.
Mr. K developed personality theory based on his own experience as a clinician. He interpreted clinical experiences in an unusual way from other theorists and Mr. F. Mr. K developed a personality model respect with human nature and his clinical expertise.
He stated that people act in similar way of scientists. The process of scientists is listed below:
• Construction of theory and hypothesis
• Testing theories through lab experiments against real-time situations
• If experimental results support theory it will be retained
• If results fail to support theory, then it will be modified, rejected, and retested
Likewise, the psychologists proceed and do not attribute subjects to intellectual and rational functioning they might ascribe regard to themselves. Thereby, psychologists are considered to follow two different theories connected to human nature. One would connect to scientists and other towards common man.
This is corresponding to the logical and rational conflicting drives. In addition, there are cognitive processes related to educational experiences.

Question 2

How does Kelly's approach to personality differ from the other approaches we have discussed?

Answer 2

Mr. K's approach in regard to personality varies from other approaches:
Personal construct theory is cognitive way of describing one's personality. It delivers a thought that an individual can interpret events and behaviors understanding ways to guide and forecast his/her behavior. This helps them to predict behavior of another person.
Mr. K's theory was unique and did not derive or was build from other theories. This emerged from interpreting a person's own constructive system and data provided with clinical practice. In personal view, its originality exhibits parallel message capable to develop life's framework.
Mr. K's system was criticized with number of viewpoints due to its focus on rational and intellectual aspects of human functioning excluding emotional aspects. In addition, these facts did not coincide with differential samples psychologists faced on human behavior in an everyday basis.
In such cases, they consider Mr. K's rational to be in abstract and not in reality. Though, Mr. K fails to deal with emotionally explicit theory, it is recognized through personal construct theory that he was in line with the formation.
Mr. F's theoretical view on personality was derived with exposure in respect to neurotic V patients. These patients were presented due to distortion and unrepresentative human nature. Certain other theorists also are criticized similarly.
Likewise, Mr. K's view was considered to be unrepresentative limited with MWest adults in process of defining construct system helping cope with life in college.

Question 3

What is the relationship between Kelly's cognitive theory and modern cognitive psychology?

Answer 3

Mr. K's approach in regard to personality:
Personal construct theory is cognitive way of describing one's personality. It delivers a thought that an individual can interpret events and behaviors understanding ways to guide and forecast his/her behavior. This helps them to predict behavior of another person.
Mr. K's theory was unique and did not derive or was build from other theories. This emerged from interpreting a person's own constructive system and data provided with clinical practice. In personal view, its originality exhibits parallel message capable to develop life's framework.
Relationship between cognitive theory and modern cognitive psychology:
K's cognitive theory:
K's cognitive theory or approach is a social learning that stresses how people think and view about reality. This theory is not constant with the subject methods of the cognitive movement.
K's modern cognitive psychology:
Cognitive psychology shows more interest on cognitive behavior and cognitive variables. This psychology is not limited to personality. Cognitive psychologists learn to manage in social situations. They believe that learning influence the response of individual to a stimulus situations.

Question 4

How might Kelly's theory have been influenced by the kinds of clients he treated?

Question 5

What is Kelly's definition of the term construct? Why must constructs be dichotomous?

Question 6

Why did Kelly believe that we must always be revising our constructs?

Question 7

What factors influence the ways we anticipate those events that are similar to past events?

Question 8

How do we choose between the two alternatives offered by a construct?

Question 9

How does our anticipation of events, and of how other people will behave, influence our personality?

Question 10

Explain how the individuality corollary differs from the organization corollary.

Question 11

What is a construct's range of convenience?

Question 12

In your construct system, what is the range of convenience for the construct cheerful versus sad?

Question 13

What mechanism did Kelly propose to account for changes in a construct's range of convenience?

Question 14

How is it possible to hold incompatible or inconsistent constructs?

Question 15

Why is it important to construe the constructs of other people in our daily lives?

Question 16

What is Kelly's position on the issue of free will versus determinism?

Question 17

What is a self-characterization sketch? How is it used in therapy?

Question 18

Describe how the Role Construct Repertory Test works with clients.

Question 19

What is fixed role therapy? How does it relate to role playing?

Question 20

How do people high in cognitive complexity differ from people high in cognitive simplicity?

Question 21

How do people who are high in attributional complexity view the behavior of those around them, compared to people who are low in attributional complexity?

Question 22

Discuss some of the criticisms that have been made of Kelly's approach to personality.