Kelly's Personal Construct Theory

• Kelly's personal construct theory prioritizes cognitive constructs, differing from cognitive social learning's focus on environmental factors in behavior.
• Kelly's theory emphasizes understanding what a person might have done, not just predicting actions.
• Kelly's personal construct theory was detailed in his 1955 two-volume work and later expanded by Brendan Maher in 1969.

Constructive Alternativism

• Kelly suggests that everyone theorizes and tests their life circumstances, similar to psychologists studying behavior.
• Kelly uses the term "man-the-scientist" to explain how all people approach and understand the world around them
• Representations of the environment are constructs.
• Constructs are patterns to fit over the realities of the world, continuously modified and tested for predictive ability.
• Constructive alternativism: present interpretations are open to revision with alternative constructs evaluated for predictive efficiency.
• Individuals test constructs to predict and control their lives.

Basic Theory of Personal Constructs

• The fundamental postulate of the personal construct theory states that a person’s processes are psychologically channelized by the ways in which they anticipate events.
• The fundamental postulate emphasizes individuality, constant mental motion, psychological pathways, anticipation, and real-life events.

Construction Corollary

• People anticipate events by interpreting replications, construing what new events will be like based on past similarities and differences.
• Construing is placing an interpretation upon an event.
• This process is largely preverbal and automatic.

Individuality Corollary

• People differ in their construction of events due to their unique roles and subjective interpretations, even when sharing similar experiences.

Organization Corollary

• People develop constructs systematically, ranking them with some preferred over others (e.g., intelligent constructs over stupid ones).
• Contradictory constructs may exist, and people will usually prefer the better construct.

Dichotomy Corollary

• Every construct has positive and negative aspects.

Choice Corollary

• People choose the alternative in a dichotomized construct that best extends and defines their system, even if the best choice is not obvious.

Range Corollary

• Each construct has a limited range or focus, and may not apply to all events.

Experience Corollary

• People reconstruct their constructs and learn from unexpected outcomes, as man-the-scientist is always a work in progress.

Modulation Corollary

• The ease of modifying constructs varies among individuals, emphasizing the difference between psychological processes and scientific processes.
• People constantly test and reconstruct constructs to facilitate their own lives, unlike scientific theories meant to apply universally.

Fragmentation Corollary

• People may use incompatible construction subsystems, especially when resisting change or in the process of changing constructs.
• Dramatic behavior changes are reasonable progressions in the desire for predictability and control.

Commonality Corollary

• Similar psychological processes occur when people employ similar constructions of experience, facilitating shared experiences.
• Unlike behavioral perspectives, the cognitive perspective emphasizes that each person experiences events uniquely.

Sociality Corollary

• The ability to predict and control life is based on predicting others, making it important to construe others' thoughts and behaviors to play a role in their lives.

Dimensions of Transition

• Problems arise when individuals cannot transition from ineffective to effective constructs.
• Threat: awareness of imminent comprehensive change in core structures.
• Fear: awareness of a new incidental construct emerging.
• Guilt: perception of dislodgment from one's core role structure.
• Anxiety: recognition that events lie outside the range of one's construct system.
• Aggressiveness: actively elaborating one's perceptual field.
• Hostility: continued effort to extort validational evidence for a failed social prediction.

C-P-C Cycle

• A cycle of transition involving circumspection, preemption, and control.
• Circumspect: Being wary and precise in construct development.
• Preempt: Exclusive membership in a realm that fits what individuals try to predict and control.
• Choice is a natural consequence.

Creativity Cycle

• A cycle that begins with loose constructions and leads to tightened, validated constructions.
• Individuals experiment with various constructs and seize upon the most promising, tightening and testing it.
• Creativity requires beginning with loose constructions because tight constructions may limit productivity.
• Creativity is essential for well-being and healthy psychological development.