fei75766_ch19_610-639.indd 621  02/06/20 01:53 PM
Chapter 19     Kelly: Psychology of Personal Constructs621
objects having extended height andexcludes allother concepts, eventhose that
areoutside itsrange ofconvenience. Therefore, fastorindependent ordarkareall
excluded from theconcept  tallbecause theydonothaveextended height. Butsuch
exclusions arebothendless andneedless. Theideaofconstruct contrasts tallwith
short, thuslimiting itsrange ofconvenience. “That which isoutside therange ofcon-
venience oftheconstruct isnotconsidered partofthecontrasting fieldbutsimply an
areaofirrelevancy” (Kelly, 1955, p.69).Thus, dichotomies limitaconstruct’s range 
ofconvenience.
Experience and Learning
Basic topersonal construct theory istheanticipation ofevents. Welooktothefuture 
andmake guesses about what willhappen. Then, asevents become revealed tous,we
either validate ourexisting constructs orrestructure these events tomatch ourexperi -
ence. Therestructuring ofevents allows ustolearn from ourexperiences.
Theexperience corollary states: “A person’s construction system varies as he [or she] 
successively construes the replications of events” (Kelly, 1955, p.72).Kelly usedtheword 
“successively” topoint outthatwepayattention toonlyonething atatime. “Theevents 
ofone’s construing march single filealong thepathoftime” (p.73).
Experience consists ofthesuccessive construing ofevents. Theevents them -
selves donotconstitute experience—it isthemeaning weattach tothem thatchanges 
ourlives. Toillustrate thispoint, return toArlene andherpersonal construct ofinde-
pendence. When heroldcar(ahighschool graduation giftfrom herparents) broke 
down, Arlene decided toremain inschool rather thantoreturn tothesecurity and
dependent status ofliving athome. AsArlene subsequently encountered successive 
events, shehadtomake decisions without benefit ofparental consultation, ataskthat
forced hertorestructure hernotion ofindependence. Earlier, shehadconstrued inde-
pendence asfreedom from outside interference. After deciding togointodebtfora
usedcar,shebegan toalterhermeaning ofindependence toinclude responsibility 
andanxiety. Theevents themselves didnotforce arestructuring. Arlene could have
become aspectator totheevents surrounding her.Instead, herexisting constructs were
flexible enough toallow hertoadapt toexperience.
Adaptation to Experience
Arlene’s flexibility illustrates Kelly’s modulation corollary .“The variation in a per son’s 
construction system is limited by the permeability of the constructs within whose range 
of convenience the variants lie” (Kelly, 1955, p.77).Thiscorollary follows from and
expands theexperience corollary. Itassumes thattheextent towhich people revise 
theirconstructs isrelated tothedegree ofpermeability oftheirexisting constructs. A
construct ispermeable ifnewelements canbeadded toit.Impermeable orconcrete 
constructs donotadmit newelements. Ifamanbelieves thatwomen areinferior to
men, thencontradictory evidence willnotfinditswayintohisrange ofconvenience. 
Instead, hewillattribute theachievements ofwomen toluckorunfair social advan -
tage.Achange inevents means achange inconstructs onlyifthose constructs are
permeable.
Arlene’s personal construct ofindependence versus dependence wassufficiently 
permeable totakeinnewelements. When, without parental consultation, shemade Final PDF to printer