Personal Constructs

George A. Kelly
Type of psychology: Personality
Field of study: Behavioral and cognitive models
Personal construct theory examines the way each person thinks about the world; it attempts
to provide avenues for understanding and making use of one’s subjective experiences.
It demonstrates how cognitions change when one incorrectly predicts the future
on the basis of those cognitions.
Key concepts
• construct
• constructive alternativism
• dichotomy
• fixed role therapy
• fundamental postulate
• role
• Role Construct Repertory Test
Personal construct theory maintains that all people are motivated to reduce
uncertainty in their lives. In this manner, each person is like a scientist who is
attempting to solve complex problems. Instead of dealing with complex
equations in chemistry and physics, however, one is attempting to unravel
the complexities of one’s own life and the relationships that one has developed.
Just as scientists are constantly making changes in their theories and
research claims based on the availability of new evidence, people change the
way they look at their subjective worlds on the basis of new evidence. That evidence
appears in the form of new interactions with significant others in
people’s lives, such as spouses, children, parents, and bosses. When new evidence
is made available, a person will alter his or her thought patterns in order
to reduce uncertainty in the future. This view forms the basis of George
A. Kelly’s principle of constructive alternativism—the view that people are
entitled to their own views of the world and that they will make use of those
views in order to reduce uncertainty in the future.
Kelly became involved in personal constructs theory late in his career.
Ironically, his early experiences as a psychologist did not even involve the
study of personality. It was only in 1955, twelve years prior to his death, that
he published The Psychology of Personal Constructs: A Theory of Personality. In
this work, he defined and discussed the concept of a construct. For Kelly, a
construct is a thought that a person has for the purpose of attempting to interpret
events; these interpretations may prove to be accurate or inaccurate.
In those situations in which a construct leads to an incorrect prediction of
an event, the person is likely to change the construct. All of Kelly’s constructs are dichotomous in nature; that is, they are made of pairs of polar opposites
that cannot be simultaneously correct when referring to the same
person. For example, one cannot view one’s boss as both intelligent and unintelligent
at the same time. Similarly, one’s boyfriend or girlfriend cannot
be seen as cruel and kind at the same moment.