Fundamental Postulate - The psychological process that make up our personality

are naturally active, and are molded into patterns by the ways in which we
anticipate the future

Construction Corollary - Our anticipation of the future are based on our
constructions of previous events

Individuality Corollary - Different people construe events differently

Organization Corollary - Organization of personal constructs into a hierarchical
systems

Dichotomy Corollary - Every personal construct is bipolar

Choice Corollary - We value more highly the pole of dichotomous personal
constructs that enables us to predict the future more accurately

Range Corollary - A construct is convenient for the anticipation of a finite range of
events only

Experience Corollary - We frequently revise our system of personal constructs in
order to improve its ability to anticipate the future

Modulation Corollary - Some personal constructs less readily admit new elements to
their range of convenience, which limits the extent to which the system can be
revised

Fragmentation Corollary - The same person may use contradictory personal
constructs at different times

Commonality Corollary - We are psychologically more similar to those people who
personal constructs have more in common with our own

Sociality Corollary - To relate effectively to another person, we must understand
how that person construes the world

Preemptive Constructs - Construct that prohibits any other constructs form
applying to its elements

Constellatory Constructs - Construct that limits the ways in which other constructs
are used, as with prejudiced beliefs

Propositional Constructs - Construct that does not limit other constructs from
applying to its elements

The Self Construct - Construct that distinguishes those elements that relate to
oneself from those that involve other people

Anxiety - The awareness that important events fall mostly outside the range of
convenience or every personal construct in one's system, making it impossible to
anticipate the future

Construct System - The hierarchical organized collection of personal constructs that
an individual uses to anticipate the future.

Constructive Alertnativism - The principle that there are always alternative
constructs that we can use to interpret the world, no one need be a victim of
childhood events or current circumstances

Core Construct - A construct so super-ordinate that it dominate one's behavior.

Core Role - Subordinating the "self" pole of the self-construct to constructs that
involve important people in one's life

Elements - The things described by a personal construct

Fixed Role Therapy - Clients act out a predetermined role for several weeks

Focus of Range of Convenience - The particular aspects of behavior for which a
person construct or a scientific theory, is maximally and generally suited

Guilt - The sense of having lost one's core role structure

Impermeable Construct - A construct that is closed to new elements

Loose Construct - A construct that leads to varying, contradictory predictions

Peripheral Construct - A construct that can be revised without greatly altering any
core constructs because it is relative subordinate

Poles - Two opposites that define a personal construct

Preverbal Construct - A construct that is not associated with a verbal label, usually
because it was learned prior to the development of language skills and is therefore
difficult to identy and communicate

Role - A specific pattern of behavior that is determined by construing the personal
constructs of other people,

Rep Test - A measure defined to provide preliminary information about a client's
personal constructs and psychological problems.

Submergence - Difficulty in becoming aware of one pole of personal construct,
usually because it has intolerable implications

Super-ordinate Construct - A personal construct that includes another constructs
among its elemts

Threat - The perception that one's basic constructs may be drastically changed;
Awareness of imminent, widespread changes in one's core constructs

Tight Construct - A construct that leads to unvarying, clear cut predictions.

Psychopathology - Clinging to hypotheses that have been dis-confirmed; any
personal construction which is used repeatedly in spite of consistent invalidation

Causes of Psychopathology - Personal constructs that are too faulty to accomplish
their primary objective of anticipating the future, typically evoking anxiety,

George Kellys
Psychology of Personal Constructs

Constructive Alternativism
-There is no objective reality; no facts
-There are only constructs or interpretations
-Constructs are ways of interpreting the world
-People are Scientists, with Private Personality Theory
-We all try to make sense of the events around us
-We all use constructs to interpret events, anticipate or predict them,
and control them
-We all want to explain more and more of our experiences, or expand
our construct systems
-There are many alternative ways to construe or interpret the events that occur
around us
-Different constructions of events lead to
-Different predictions and anticipations
-Different courses of action
-Convenience of Constructs
-Constructs are not right or wrong; they are useful or not
-If not useful, or convenient, the construer must
-Modify the existing construct, or
-Find a new construct that predicts better and leads to
better outcomes
Personality Theorists have become stuck because
-They viewed Traits and states as parts of people forgetting they are
merely constructs
-So, psychologists need to establish the invitational mood, and be open to
many alternative interpretations of events in order to develop hypotheses &
theories
-Theories are hypotheses about events. Each theory has
-Range of Convenience: limits of what it covers
-Focus of Convenience: what it covers best
-Theories are not right or wrong; only useful or not
-Useful means theory predicts outcomes well
-If not useful (convenient), theory is meant to be changed or
abandoned for a better fitting theory
Constructs
To make sense out of the world, people observe and find similarities and
differences. This leads to constructs.
Kelly thought constructs are formed from 3 elements:
-Two of the elements must be perceived as similar
(The Similarity Pole of the construct)
-The third element must be perceived as different
(The Contrast Pole of the construct)
Both Similarity and Contrast Poles are necessary to understand a construct.
Types of Construct
Verbal: Can be expressed in words
Preverbal: Without words to express it
Submerged: An end of a construct is not available for verbalization (though
person must know it exists
because needed two poles to form construct)
Core Constructs: central to construct system & hard to change
Peripheral Constructs: less basic; easily changed
Hierarchies of Constructs
Superordinate Constructs: Most inclusive constructs
Subordinate Constructs: Narrow constructs

Personality is made up of a persons construct system:
-Constructs are interrelated and organized into a whole
-Behavior reflects the construct system as a whole
-Changes in one part of the construct system leads to changes in other parts
-Constructs in one part of the system can be in conflict with other constructs:
creates strain
People differ in the content and organization of their construct systems.
To understand a person, you must understand
-The constructs the person uses
-The events explained by those constructs
-The ways the constructs function
-The ways the constructs are organized and interrelated
The Role Construct Repertory (REP) Test
-Kellys way to measure a persons personal constructs
-Person lists people who fit various constructs
-Person then compares people on various constructs: how two are alike and
different than a third person
Motivation
Kelly saw no need for special motivational constructs
-Being alive makes us active
-How we construe events determines how we act
Kelly: A persons processes are psychologically channelized by the ways in
which he anticipates events.
-Our constructs are based on our experiences with the world.
-So, our constructs lead us to anticipate that things will happen as we expect,
based on our past experience.
-We continuously modify our constructs so they predict more accurately and we
can act more effectively.
-We anticipate and predict based on our constructs about what will be the most
effective course of action.
-If a prediction is incorrect, we change our constructs.
So, Kelly believes people do not act to obtain reinforcement or to avoid pain, but to
validate and expand their construct systems.
Malfunctioning of Construct System
-Anxiety: The experience of facing an event that is outside the range of
convenience of ones construct system. That is, facing an event a person
cant construe.
-Handled by Submergence of one pole of construct
-Fear: The experience of realizing a new construct is about to enter the
construct system.
-Threat: The awareness that imminent comprehensive change is about to occur
in ones core structure. A shake-
up of the construct system.
Psychopathology
-Broadening a construct, permitting it to apply to a greater variety of events;
excessively permeable constructs
-Narrowing constructs and focusing on details; excessively impermeable
constructs
-Excessive tightening of constructs: making the same predictions, regardless of
circumstances: the compulsive person who rigidly expects
life to be the same regardless of changes in circumstances
-Excessive loosening of constructs; predicts everything from the same
construct, so predictions are random: the psychotic person who cant
communicate because of a chaotic construct system
Conditions Favoring Change
-Creating an atmosphere of experimentation
-Creating the invitational mood & accepting the language of
hypothesis
-Therapy is experimentation; atmosphere of make-believe
-Provision of new elements
-Therapy is a protected environment, where
-Clients can try new constructs
-Making validating data available
-Invalidating old constructs
-Validating new constructs by responding to client
Fixed-Role Therapy
People are the roles they play: what they represent themselves to be and what
they do.
Fixed-role therapy encourages clients to
-represent themselves in new ways
-behave in new ways
-construe themselves in new ways, and thereby
-become new people
Dealing with transference issues
This is accomplished by
-Giving clients a new personality sketch
-Checking to see if sketch is too threatening
-Asking client to act as the new person
-Rehearsing the new person with therapist
-Therapist supports changes in construct system
Critique
Strengths
-Influenced the importance of cognitive functions in personality theory
-Emphasized the uniqueness of the individual
-Emphasized the lawfulness of people
-Developed a new test, the Rep test
-Links constructs and behavior

Weaknesses
-Relies excessively on words, which can be inadequate to convey constructs
because of things like submersion
-Process theory is not well specified: How do people select which construct to
apply in a situation?
-Motivation theory not well specified: Why do people select a particular
construction and act in certain
ways based on that construction?
-Has not been applied to some parts of human functioning, e.g., depression.
-Doesnt address human emotions adequately
-Link between constructs and behavior not well studied