Neil Franco E.

Abad

George Alexander Kelly was an American Psychologist, Therapist, Educator and Personality Theorist. He is also considered as the
father of cognitive clinical psychology.

Personal Construct Theory suggests that people develop personal constructs about how the world works. People the use these
constructs to make sense of their observations and experiences. The world we live in is the same for all of us, but the way we
experience it is different for each individual. According to George Kelly, personality is composed of the various mental constructs
through which each person views reality.

The CPC Cycle

1. Circumspection Phase. A person tries a number of prepositional constructs which are possible interpretations that can be
labeled cognitive trial and error.
2. Preemption Phase. A person chooses a number of constructs that seem especially relevant to the situation.
3. Control Phase. A choice is actually made, and a course of action is established. Constructs chosen are those believed to
best define and extend one’s construct system.

In Kelly’s Theory, the individuals do not seek reinforcement or avoidance of pain. They seek validation of their construct systems.
One’s primary goal in life is to reduce uncertainty. Kelly believed that we start by first developing a set of personal constructs,
which are essentially mental representations that we use to interpret events. These constructs are based on our experiences and
observations. Kelly believed that people play an active role in how they collect and interpret knowledge. “Behavior is not the
answer to the psychologist’s question; it is the question. If our experiments work, they strengthen our current beliefs. When they
don’t, we are able to change our views. Kelly believed that constructs are bipolar; each consists of two opposing sides. Emergent
Pole is the side that the person applies to an event and the side that is not actively applied is the Implicit Role. Each person’s set
of constructs is unique.

Constructive Alternativism George Kelly posited that our experiences of the world around us, including events that take place or
our understanding of people, including ourselves, are open to an immense variety of interpretations. We can always create
alternative constructs to better explain or represent that which we observe. A revised construct can increase our ability to
comprehend the world around us and help us feel that we can predict or control it. Skilled therapists can use constructive
alternativism to help clients who are depressed or anxious live happier lives by reconsidering the way the clients have appraised
their lives. In the spirit of constructive alternativism, helps the client to see that they need nit interpret their difficulties as they
do, and that they may instead choose a different interpretation that alleviates their depression. Constructive Alternativism can
undoubtedly be used to create a less depressing interpretation, but might this client be well served by also addressing her own
contributions to the problem.

Fundamental Postulates. This postulate maintains that each person directs thoughts and cognitions in a way that permits the
most accurate prediction of the future events. While the fundamental postulate is critical to Kelly’s attempts to predict and
explain behavior, it is not sufficient to cover all aspects of a person’s behavior and the choices that are made which cause that
behavior. These corollaries are supporting statements that provide a detailed analysis of thoughts and behaviors which cannot be
directly derived from the fundamental postulate.

11 Corollaries

1. Construction Corollary. A person anticipates events by construing their replications (similar events in the past)
2. Individual Corollary. No two individuals are exactly alike in their judgement of all things.
3. Organization Corollary. Each person characteristically evolves, for his convenience in anticipating events, a construction
system embracing ordinal relationships between constructs.
4. Dichotomy Corollary. An individual’s constructs consist of pairs of opposites.
5. Choice Corollary. A person chooses for himself that alternative in a dichotomized construct through which he anticipates
the greater possibility for extension and definition of his system.
6. Range Corollary. When we cannot construe an event, we experience anxiety. A construct is convenient for the
anticipation of a finite range of events only.
7. Experience Corollary. Humans are active organisms. A person’s construction system varies as he successively construes
the replication of events.
8. Modulation Corollary. Permeability refers to the degree in which a construct is open to the interpretation of new events.
The variation in a person’s construction system is limited by the permeability of the constructs within whose range of
convenience the variance lies.
9. Fragmentation Corollary. A person may successively employ a variety of construction subsystems which are inferentially
incompatible with each other.
10. Commonality Corollary. To the extent that one person employs a construction of experience which is similar to that
employed by another, his psychological processes are similar to those of the other person.
11. Socially Corollary. To the extent that one person construes the construction processes of another, he may play a role in
social process involving the other person.

Essence

We experience the world the world through the lens of our constructs. These constructs are used to predict and anticipate
events, which in turn determines our behaviors, feelings and thoughts. It is used in therapies to make the interpretation of
problems be less problematic or depressing.
 Personal Construct Theory

11 Corollaries
 Construction
 Range
Fundamental Postulates 

Individual
Organization
 Dichotomy
 Choice
 Experience
 Modulation
 Fragmentation
 Commonality
Personal  Socially

Construct Theory

Constructive Alternativism Self-construct and Role