Chapter 11 Flashcards
Life of George Kelly
1905-1967
- born in Kansas
- Parents fundamentalists
- only child
_adopted an intellectual attitude in the counseling process
-major force in clinical psychology
Kelly: Personal Construct Theory
Construct
- intellectual hypothesis we use to interpret life events
- bipolar in nature
Construct Alternativism
-we are free to revise or replace our constructs as needed
Kelly: Ways of Anticipating Life events
Fundamental Postulate:
- psychological processes are directed by how we anticipate events
- we use constructs to predict future
Kelly: Corollaries
- construction
- individuality
- Organization
- dichotomoy
- choice
- range
- experience
- modulation
- fragmentation
- commonality
- sociality
Kelly: 1. Construction Corollary
- similarities among repeated events
- since repeated events are similar, we can predict or anticipate how we will experience such an event in the future
- Individuality Corollary
- individual differences in interpreting events
- people perceive events in different ways
- Organization Corollary
- relationships among constructs
- we arrange our constructs in patterns, according to our view of their similarities and differences
- Dichotomoy Corollary
- 2 mutually exclusive alternatives
- constructs are bipolar
- -eg. honestly vs. dishonestly
- choice corollary
- freedom of choice
- we choose the alternative for each construct that works best for us
- choose the one that allows us to predicts the outcome of anticipated events
- Range Corollary
- the range of convenience
- our constructs may apply to many situations or people, or they may be limited to a single person or situation
7.Experience Corollary
- exposure to new experiences
- we continually test out constructs against life’s experiences to make sure they remain useful
- Modulation Corollary
- adapting to new experiences
- our constructs may apply to many situations or people, or limited to a single person or situation
- Fragmentation Corollary
- competition among constructs
- we may have contradictory or inconsistent subordinate constructs within our overall construct system
- Commonality Corollary
- similarities among people in interpreting events
- Although our individual constructs are unique to us, people in compatible groups or cultures may hold similar constructs
- Sociality Corollary
- interpersonal relationships
- we try to understand how other people think and predict what they will do, and we modify our behaviour accordingly
Kelly: Questions about Human Nature
- free will
- Nature and Nurture influence
- present focus
- uniqueness and universality
- growth process
- optimistic
Kelly: Assessment
- interview
- self characterization sketch
- role construct repertory test (REP)
- -constructs we apply to important people in our lives
Fixed role therapy: client acts out constructs of a fictitious person
Kelly: Research
REP studies
cognitive complexity:
-ability to perceive differences
Cognitive simplicity
-inability to perceive differences
Kelly: Contributions
- unique theory
- a very personal view
- broad support in europe, canada, and asia
Kelly: Criticisms
- theory focuses too much on the intellectual and rational, exclusion of the emotional
- based on midwestern young adults
- leaves many unanswered questions
- too difficult from prevailing ideas
- his writing is too scholarly
