Personal Construct Theory

Description
People develop internal models of reality, called constructs in order to understand and explain the
world around them in the same way that scientists develop theories. Like scientists, they develop
these constructs based on observation and experimentation. Constructs thus start as unstable
conjecture, changing and stabilizing as more experience and proof is gained.
Constructs are often defined by words, but can also be non-verbal and hard to explain, such as the
feeling you get when your football team just won the championship.
When constructs are challenged or incomplete the result is emotional states such as anxiety,
confusion, anger and fear.
Constructs are often polar in that they have opposites (and are hence dichotomous). Thus the
construct of good implies another of bad. Polar constructs create  one another: thus 'good' cannot
exist without 'bad'. When poles are denied, they are said to be submerged.
Although we share the idea of constructs through words, the detail of constructs are particular to
the individual and hence are called personal constructs.
Constructs that are important to the person are core constructs, whilst others are
called peripheral constructs.
Constructs may be expanded (dilated) to accommodate new ideas or constricted to become more
specific.
Kelly's (1955) basic postulate  is that 'A person's processes are psychologically channelized by
the ways in which he anticipates events'. He followed this with eleven corollaries.
 The construction corollary: We conservatively construct anticipation based on past
experiences.
 The experience corollary:  When things do not happen as expected, we change our
constructs (thus reconstructing). This changes our future expectations.
 The dichotomy corollary: We store experience as constructs, and then look at the
world through them.
 The organizational corollary: Constructs are connected to one another in hierarchies
and network of relationships. These relationships may be loose  or tight.
 The range corollary: Constructs are useful only in limited range of situations. Some
ranges are broad, whilst other ranges are narrow.
 The modulation corollary: Some construct ranges can be 'modulated' to
accommodate new ideas (e.g. 'big'). Others are 'impermeable'.
  The choice corollary: We can choose to gain new experiences to expand our
constructs or stay in the safe but limiting zone of current constructs.
 The individuality corollary: As everyone's experience is different, their constructs are
different.
 The commonality corollary: Many of our experiences are similar and/or shared,
leading to similarity of constructs with others. Discussing constructs also helps to
build shared constructs.
  The fragmentation corollary: Many of our constructs conflict with one another.
These may be dictated by different contexts and roles.
 The sociality corollary: We interact with others through understanding of their
constructs.

Example
I look at a teenager and consider him uncouth, arrogant and thoughtless. All of these are
constructs that I have created or learned in order to explain the behavior of teenagers I have met.

So what?
Using it
Listen to people. Hear the constructs they use. Then talk to them using their constructs. They will
be amazed at how much you understand them.
You can also lead them in building new constructs.
To destabilize the other person, attack their constructs.
Defending
When you are building new ideas, consider where these have come from. Was there a
conversation with an influential other person involved?

Personal construct theory suggests that people develop personal constructs about how
the world works. People then 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. For example, imagine that you and your friend are going for a
walk in the park and you spot a large brown dog. You immediately see a graceful and
adorable animal that you would like to pet. Your friend, on the other hand, sees a
threatening animal that she wants to avoid. How can two people have such a different
interpretation of the same event?
According to psychologist George Kelly, personality is composed of the various
mental constructs through which each person views reality. Kelly believed that each
person was much like a scientist. Just like scientists, we want to understand the world
around us, make predictions about what will happen next, and create theories to
explain events.

How Exactly Does Personal Construct Theory Work?

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.
During the early 1950s, the behavioral and psychoanalytic perspectives were still
quite dominant in psychology. Kelly proposed his personal construct theory as an
alternative view that departed from these two prominent points of view.
Rather than viewing human beings as passive subjects who were at the whims of the
associations, reinforcements, and punishments they encountered in their environments
(behaviorism) or their unconscious wishes and childhood experiences
(psychoanalysis), Kelly believed that people take an active role in how they collect
and interpret knowledge.
“Behavior is not the answer to the psychologist’s question; it is the question,” he
suggested.
As we live our lives, we perform "experiments" that put our beliefs, perceptions, and
interpretations of the test. If our experiments work, they strengthen our current
beliefs. When they don't, we are able to change our views.
What makes these constructs so important? Because according to Kelly, we
experience 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.
Kelly also believed that all events that happen are open to multiple interpretations,
which he referred to as constructive alternativism. When we are trying to make sense
of an event or situation, he suggested that we are also able to pick and choose which
construct we want to use. This sometimes happens as an event unfolds, but we can
also reflect back on our experiences and then choose to view them in different ways.

How Do We Use Constructs?

Kelly believed that the process of using constructs works in much the same way that a
scientist utilizes a theory. First, we begin by hypothesizing that a particular construct
will apply to a particular event. We then test this hypothesis by applying the construct
and predicting the outcome. If our prediction is correct, then we know that the
construct is useful in this situation and we retain it for future use.
But what happens if our predictions don't come true? We might reconsider how and
when we apply the construct, we might alter the construct, or we might decide to
abandon the construct altogether.
Recurrences play an important role in personal construct theory. Constructs emerge
because they reflect things that frequently recur in our experience. Kelly also believed
that constructs tend to be organized in a hierarchical fashion. For example, more basic
constructs might lie and the base of the hierarchy, while more complex and abstract
constructs lie can be found at higher levels.
Kelly also believed that constructs are bipolar; essentially, each construct consists of a
pair of two opposing sides. Some examples include "active versus passive," "stable
versus changing," and "friendly versus unfriendly." The side that a person applies to
an event is known as the emergent pole. The side that is not being actively applied is
the implicit pole.
It is essential to remember the emphasis on individuality in personal construct theory.
Constructs are inherently personal because they are based on each person's life
experiences. Each person's system of constructs is unique, and it is the individual
nature of these experiences that form the differences between people.

Observations

 "Might not the individual man, each in his own personal way, assume more of
the stature of a scientist, ever seeking to predict and control the course of
events with which he is involved? Would he not have his theories, test his
hypotheses, and weigh his experimental evidence? And, if so, might not the
differences between the personal viewpoints of different men correspond to
the differences between the theoretical points of view of different scientists?"
 (Kelly, 1963)
 "Kelly believed that people have a fundamental need to predict the events that
they experience. They do so by developing a system of personal constructs,
which they use to interpret or construe new events. Constructs are derived
from recurring elements in one's experience, but because they're developed
separately by each person, each person's system of constructs is unique."
 (Carver & Scheier, 2000)