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George Kelly: Personal Construct Theory Discussion.

According to the psychologist George Kelly, a person’s view of reality is largely dependent

on the person’s personality. Furthermore, a person’s personality is made up several constructs of

the mind about how the world functions. Since these constructs of the mind are largely personal—

their basis being a person’s unique experiences and observations subject to personal prejudices,

arguments and wars—to a significant extent—consequence because of the difference in how

people construe the various events that happen around them.

When personal confrontations result from this fundamental differences in personal

constructs, the following strategies may be employed to reduce, or even, resolve the conflict:

1. Accommodating: sometimes, it is prudent to subordinate our own interests with the

interests of the other party in the confrontation. This strategy involves a little of sacrifice whereby,

instead of powering your own way to defend your stand or even win an argument, you let the other

party have their way. This strategy involves constructive alternativism, whereby one party agrees

to revise and/or replace his/her personal constructs with alternatives as may be required.

2. Competing: this is typically a contradictory strategy to accommodating. Strong heads

may resolve to power their way to defend their stand and win an argument. If both parties are
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strong heads, then the argument may escalate to fierce confrontations and even war as the involved

parties try to outdo each other.

3. Avoiding the confrontation: one can decide to refute the existence of a conflict or, in

some cases, chose to completely withdraw from it. Either way, the confrontation is avoided.

However, the aftermath of this strategy is a strained relationship between the parties involved as

there exist unsettled issues in their hearts.

4. Collaborating to find the best solution: this is the opposite of avoidance of a

confrontation, and arguably the most constructive way of handling arguments. People with strong

cognitive complexities usually adopt this strategy whereby they engage and work together to come

up with a solution to the conflict.

5. Compromising: this involves agreeing on a middle ground which involves settling for

a partly acceptable solution.

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References

Chiari, Gabriele. "Hermeneutic constructivist psychotherapy: A narrative elaboration of George

A. Kelly’s ideas." Costruttivismi (2016): 148.

Ngai, Eric WT, Spencer SC Tao, and Karen KL Moon. "Social media research: Theories,

constructs, and conceptual frameworks." International Journal of Information

Management35.1 (2015): 33-44.