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Personal construct theory - Wikipedia

Personal construct theory

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Personal construct theory or personal construct psychology (PCP) is a theory of personality and cognition
developed by the American psychologist George Kelly in the 1950s.[1] From the theory, Kelly derived a
psychotherapy approach and also a technique called the repertory grid interview that helped his patients to
analyze their own constructs (schemas or ways of seeing the world) with minimal intervention or interpretation
by the therapist.[2] The repertory grid was later adapted for various uses within organizations, including
decision-making and interpretation of other people's world-views.[3]
Kelly explicitly stated that each individual's task in understanding their personal psychology is to put in order
the facts of his or her own experience. Then the individual, like the scientist, is to test the accuracy of that
constructed knowledge by performing those actions the constructs suggest. If the results of their actions are in
line with what the knowledge predicted, then they have done a good job of nding the order in their personal
experience. If not, then they can modify the construct: their interpretations or their predictions or both. This
method of discovering and correcting constructs is simply the scientic method used by all modern sciences to
discover the truths about the universe we live in.
Kelly proposed that every construct is bipolar, specifying how two things are similar to each other (lying on the
same pole) and different from a third thing, and they can be expanded with new ideas.
The UK Council for Psychotherapy, a regulatory body, classies PCP therapy within the experiential subset of
the constructivist school.

Contents
1 Principles
2 Therapy approach
3 The repertory grid
3.1 Organizational applications of the repertory grid technique
4 See also
5 Notes
6 Further reading
7 External links

Principles
A main tenet of PCP theory is that a person's unique psychological processes are channeled by the way s/he
anticipates events. Kelly believed that anticipation and prediction are the main drivers of our mind. "Every man
is, in his own particular way, a scientist," said Kelly, in that he is always building up and rening theories and
models about how the world works so that he can anticipate events. We start on this at birth (for example, a
child discovers, "if I cry, mother will come") and continue rening our theories as we grow up. We build
theoriesoften stereotypesabout other people and also try to control them or impose on others our own
theories so that we are better able to predict their actions.
All these theories are built up from a system of constructs. A construct has two extreme points, such as "happy
sad" and we tend to place people at either extreme or at some point in between. Our mind, said Kelly, is lled
up with these constructs, at a low level of awareness. Kelly did not use the concept unconscious; instead, he
believed that some constructs are preverbal. A given person or set of persons or any event or circumstance can
be characterized fairly precisely by the set of constructs we apply to it and the position of the thing within the
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range of each construct. So Fred for instance may be just half between happy and sad (one construct) and
denitively clever rather than stupid (another construct). The baby above may have a preverbal construct
"Comes... doesn't come when I cry".
Constructs are applied to anything we put our attention to, including ourselves, and also strongly inuence what
we x our attention on. We construe reality constructing constructs. Hence, determining a person's system of
constructs would go a long way towards understanding him, especially the person's essential constructs that
represent very strong and unchangeable beliefs; and also the constructs a person applies to him/herself.

Therapy approach
Kelly believed in a non-invasive approach to psychotherapy. Rather than having the therapist interpret the
person's psyche, which would amount to imposing the doctor's constructs on the patient, the therapist should
just act as a facilitator of the patient nding his or her own constructs. The patient's behavior is then mainly
explained as ways to selectively observe the world, act upon it and update the construct system in such a way as
to increase predictability. To help the patient nd his or her constructs, Kelly developed the repertory grid
interview technique.

The repertory grid

To build a repertory grid (a sort of matrix) for a patient, Kelly would rst ask the patient to select about seven
elements whose nature might depend on whatever the patient or therapist are trying to discover. For instance,
"Two specic friends, two work-mates, two people you dislike, your mother and yourself", or something of that
sort. Then, three of the elements would be selected at random, and then the therapist would ask:"In relation to
(whatever is of interest), in which way are two of these people alike but different from the third"? The answer is
sure to indicate one of the extreme points of one of the patient's constructs. He might say for instance that Fred
and Sarah are very communicative whereas John isn't. Further questioning would reveal the other end of the
construct (say, introvert) and the positions of the three characters between extremes. Repeating the procedure
with different sets of three elements ends up revealing several constructs the patient might not have been fully
aware of.
The repertory grid itself is a matrix where the rows represent constructs found, the columns represent the
elements, and cells indicate with a number the position of each element within each construct. There is software
available to produce several reports and graphs from these grids.
In the book Personal Construct Methodology, researchers Brian R. Gaines and Mildred L.G. Shaw noted that
they "have also found concept mapping and semantic network tools to be complementary to repertory grid tools
and generally use both in most studies" but that they "see less use of network representations in PCP studies
than is appropriate".[4] They encouraged practitioners to use semantic network techniques in addition to the
repertory grid.[5]

Organizational applications of the repertory grid technique

PCP has always been a minority interest among psychologists. During the last 30 years, it has gradually gained
adherents in the US, Canada, the UK, Germany, Australia, Ireland, Italy and Spain. While its chief elds of
application remain clinical and educational psychology, there is an increasing interest in its applications to
organizational development, employee training and development, job analysis, job description and evaluation.
The repertory grid is often used in the qualitative phase of market research, to identify the ways in which
consumers construe products and services.

See also
Cognitive analytic therapy
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Decisional balance sheet ABC model

Idios kosmos
Relational frame theory
Schema therapy

Notes
1. For example: Kelly 1991 (rst published 1955); Kelly
& Maher 1969; Bannister 1970; Bannister &
Fransella 1986 (rst published 1971)
2. For example: Fransella, Bell & Bannister 2004 (rst
published 1977); Jankowicz 2004; Caputi et al. 2011
3. For example: Stewart, Stewart & Fonda 1981; Gaines
& Shaw 1993; Bradshaw et al. 1993; Simpson, Large
& O'Brien 2004; Carrillat et al. 2009

& O'Brien 2004; Carrillat et al. 2009

4. Gaines & Shaw, "Computer-aided constructivism" (ht
tp://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.
1.1.414.1037&rep=rep1&type=pdf), in Caputi et al.
2011, pp.183222
5. On constructivist multimethodology see also, for
example: Bradshaw et al. 1993

Further reading
Winter, David A.; Reed, Nick, eds. (2016). The Wiley handbook of personal construct psychology.
Chichester, UK; Malden, MA: John Wiley & Sons. doi:10.1002/9781118508275. ISBN9781118508312.
OCLC913829512.
Salla, Marta; Feixas, Guillem; Balln, Cristina; Muoz, Dmaris; Compa, Victoria (January 2015). "The
couple's grid: a tool for assessing interpersonal construction in couples". Journal of Constructivist
Psychology. 28 (1): 5366. doi:10.1080/10720537.2013.859110.
Winter, David A.; Procter, Harry (2014). "Formulation in personal and relational construct psychology:
seeing the world through clients' eyes". In Johnstone, Lucy; Dallos, Rudi. Formulation in psychology and
psychotherapy: making sense of people's problems (2nd ed.). London; New York: Routledge. pp.145
172. ISBN9780415682305. OCLC894506578.
Caputi, Peter; Viney, Linda L.; Walker, Beverly M.; Crittenden, Nadia, eds. (2011). Personal construct
methodology. Malden, MA: John Wiley & Sons. doi:10.1002/9781119953616. ISBN9780470770870.
OCLC730906380.
Carrillat, Franois A.; Riggle, Robert J.; Locander, William B.; Gebhardt, Gary F.; Lee, James M. (2009).
"Cognitive segmentation: modeling the structure and content of customers' thoughts". Psychology and
Marketing. 26 (6): 479506. doi:10.1002/mar.20284.
Neimeyer, Robert A. (2009). Constructivist psychotherapy: distinctive features. The CBT distinctive
features series. Hove, East Sussex; New York: Routledge. ISBN9780415442336. OCLC237402656.
Gabalda, Isabel Caro; Neimeyer, Robert A.; Newman, Cory F. (December 2009). "Theory and practice in
the cognitive psychotherapies: convergence and divergence". Journal of Constructivist Psychology. 23
(1): 6583. doi:10.1080/10720530903400996.
Leitner, Larry M.; Thomas, Jill C., eds. (2009). Personal constructivism: theory and applications. New
York: Pace University Press. ISBN0944473946. OCLC434613248.
Winter, David A. (September 2008). "Cognitive behaviour therapy: from rationalism to constructivism?".
European Journal of Psychotherapy & Counselling. 10 (3): 221229. doi:10.1080/13642530802337959.
Stein, Miriam (June 2007). "Nonverbal techniques in personal construct psychotherapy". Journal of
Constructivist Psychology. 20 (2): 103124. doi:10.1080/10720530601074689.
Caputi, Peter; Foster, Heather; Viney, Linda L., eds. (2006). Personal construct psychology: new ideas.
Chichester, UK; Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. doi:10.1002/9780470713044. ISBN0470019433.
OCLC694910981.
Milton, Nick R.; Clarke, David; Shadbolt, Nigel (December 2006). "Knowledge engineering and
psychology: towards a closer relationship" (PDF). International Journal of HumanComputer Studies. 64
(12): 12141229. doi:10.1016/j.ijhcs.2006.08.001.
Fransella, Fay, ed. (2005). The essential practitioner's handbook of personal construct psychology.
Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN0470013230. OCLC694910981. This is a concise (abridged)
paperback version of Fransella (2003).
Simpson, Barbara; Large, Bob; O'Brien, Matthew (January 2004). "Bridging difference through dialogue:
a constructivist perspective". Journal of Constructivist Psychology. 17 (1): 4559.
doi:10.1080/10720530490250697.
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Jankowicz, Devi (2004). The easy guide to repertory grids. Chichester, UK; Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley &
Sons. ISBN0470854049. OCLC51984819.
Winter, David A. (2003). "The constructivist paradigm". In Woolfe, Ray; Dryden, Windy; Strawbridge,
Sheelagh. Handbook of counselling psychology (2nd ed.). London; Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage
Publications. pp.241260. ISBN0761972072. OCLC52594976.
Fransella, Fay, ed. (2003). International handbook of personal construct psychology. Chichester, UK:
John Wiley & Sons. doi:10.1002/9780470013373. ISBN0470847271. OCLC51178396.
Raskin, Jonathan D.; Bridges, Sara K., eds. (2002). Studies in meaning: exploring constructivist
psychology. Studies in meaning. New York: Pace University Press. ISBN0944473571. OCLC48390934.
Neimeyer, Greg J.; Neimeyer, Robert A., eds. (2002). Advances in personal construct psychology: new
directions and perspectives. Wesport, CT: Praeger Publishing. ISBN0275972941. OCLC50434439.
Neimeyer, Robert A.; Mahoney, Michael J., eds. (1995). Constructivism in psychotherapy. Washington,
DC: American Psychological Association. ISBN1557982791. OCLC31518985.
Bradshaw, Jeffrey M.; Ford, Kenneth M.; Adams-Webber, Jack R.; Boose, John H. (1993). "Beyond the
repertory grid: new approaches to constructivist knowledge acquisition tool development". In Ford,
Kenneth M.; Bradshaw, Jeffrey M. Knowledge acquisition as modeling. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
pp.287333. ISBN0471593680. OCLC26851198.
Epting, Franz R.; Probert, James S.; Pittman, Stephen D. (January 1993). "Alternative strategies for
construct elicitation: experimenting with experience". International Journal of Personal Construct
Psychology. 6 (1): 7998. doi:10.1080/08936039308404333.
Gaines, Brian R.; Shaw, Mildred L. G. (March 1993). "Knowledge acquisition tools based on personal
construct psychology". The Knowledge Engineering Review. 8 (1): 4985.
doi:10.1017/S0269888900000060.
Winter, David A. (1992). Personal construct psychology in clinical practice: theory, research, and
applications. London; New York: Routledge. ISBN0415005272. OCLC23082076.
Fransella, Fay; Dalton, Peggy (2000) [1990]. Personal construct counselling in action (2nd ed.). London;
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. ISBN0761966145. OCLC44502510.
Soldz, Stephen (October 1988). "Constructivist tendencies in recent psychoanalysis". International
Journal of Personal Construct Psychology. 1 (4): 329347. doi:10.1080/10720538808412783.
Mahoney, Michael J.; Lyddon, William J. (April 1988). "Recent developments in cognitive approaches to
counseling and psychotherapy". The Counseling Psychologist. 16 (2): 190234.
doi:10.1177/0011000088162001.
Fransella, Fay; Thomas, Laurie F., eds. (1988). Experimenting with personal construct psychology.
London; New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul. ISBN0710210620. OCLC15855887.
Epting, Franz R.; Landeld, Alvin W., eds. (1985). Anticipating personal construct psychology. Lincoln:
University of Nebraska Press. ISBN0803228627. OCLC11290933.
Bannister, Donald, ed. (1985). Issues and approaches in personal construct theory. London; Orlando, FL:
Academic Press. ISBN0120779803. OCLC10996166.
Epting, Franz R.; Neimeyer, Robert A., eds. (1984). Personal meanings of death: applications of
personal construct theory to clinical practice. Series in death education, aging, and health care.
Washington, DC: Hemisphere Pub. Corp. ISBN0891163638. OCLC9557799.
Reason, Peter; Rowan, John, eds. (1981). Human inquiry: a sourcebook of new paradigm research.
Chichester, UK; New York: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN0471279358. OCLC7206012.
Stewart, Valerie; Stewart, Andrew; Fonda, Nickie (1981). Business applications of repertory grid.
London; New York: McGraw-Hill. ISBN0070845492. OCLC8061567.
Gaines, Brian R.; Shaw, Mildred L. G. (July 1980). "New directions in the analysis and interactive
elicitation of personal construct systems". International Journal of ManMachine Studies. 13 (1): 81
116. doi:10.1016/S0020-7373(80)80038-1.
Fransella, Fay, ed. (1978). Personal construct psychology, 1977. Second International Congress on
Personal Construct Theory. London; New York: Academic Press. ISBN0122654609. OCLC5674889.
Bannister, Donald, ed. (1977). New perspectives in personal construct theory. London; New York:
Academic Press. ISBN0120779404. OCLC10274182.
Fransella, Fay; Bell, Richard; Bannister, Donald (2004) [1977]. A manual for repertory grid technique
(2nd ed.). Chichester, UK; Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN0470854901. OCLC52587457.
Bannister, Donald; Fransella, Fay (1986) [1971]. Inquiring man: the psychology of personal constructs
(3rd ed.). London; Dover, NH: Croom Helm. ISBN0709939507. OCLC12583609.
Bannister, Donald (1970). Perspectives in personal construct theory. London; New York: Academic
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Kelly, George; Maher, Brendan A. (1969). Clinical psychology and personality: the selected papers of
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External links
The PCP Portal (http://www.pcp-net.de/info/centre.html)
Centre for Personal Construct Psychology (https://www.centrepcp.co.uk/)
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Categories: Constructivism (psychological school) Personality theories
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