fei75766_ch19_610-639.indd 629  02/06/20 01:53 PM
Chapter 19     Kelly: Psychology of Personal Constructs629
whoarerated shyareseldom rated asconfident, thentheperson believes these two
constructs aredifferent. 
There areseveral versions oftheReptestandtherepertory grid,butallare
designed toassess personal constructs. Forexample, awoman canseehowherfather 
andbossarealikeordifferent; whether ornotsheidentifies withhermother; howher
boyfriend andfather arealike; orhowsheconstrues meningeneral. Also, thetestcan
begiven early intherapy andthenagain attheend.Changes inpersonal constructs 
reveal thenature anddegree ofmovement made during therapy.
Kelly andhiscolleagues haveusedtheReptestinavariety offorms, andnoset
scoring rules apply. Reliability andvalidity oftheinstrument arenotveryhigh, and
itsusefulness depends largely ontheskillandexperience oftheexaminer (Fransella 
&Bannister, 1977).
Related Research
Even though George Kelly wrote onlyoneseminal work (1955, 1991), hisimpact on
personality psychology isremarkable. Hispersonal construct theory hasgenerated 
asizable number ofempirical investigations, including nearly 600empirical studies 
onhisrepertory test,which suggests thathistheory hasfared quite wellingenerat -
ingresearch. Because hewasamong thefirstpsychologists toemphasize cognitive 
sets,suchasschema, Kelly’s ideaofpersonal constructs inaveryrealsense was
instrumental informing thefieldofsocial cognition, oneofthemost influential 
perspectives insocial andpersonality psychology today. Social cognition examines 
thecognitive andattitudinal bases ofperson perception, including schemas, biases, 
stereotypes, andprejudiced behavior. Social schemas, forinstance, areordered men-
talrepresentations ofthequalities ofothers andareconsidered tocontain important 
social information. Although many researchers inthefieldofsocial cognition use
conventional questionnaires, some havefollowed Kelly’s leadandusephenomeno -
logical oridiographic measures suchastheReptestorsome modified version ofit
(Neimeyer &Neimeyer, 1995). More recent applications oftheReptestmethodol -
ogy,forinstance, haveanalyzed thedifferent construct systems ofsexually abused 
andnon-abused individuals (Lewis-Harter, Erbes, &Hart, 2004).
Inthefollowing three sections, wereview some research ontheuseoftheRep
Testtoexplore teens withAutism Spectrum disorder andtheirrelationships, under -
standing internalized prejudice through personal construct theory, andhowpersonal 
constructs relate toBigFivemeasures ofpersonality.
The Rep Test and Teens with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Research hasshown thatpeople withAutism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) often have
difficulties establishing andmaintaining close personal relationships, which canlead
toloneliness anddepression (Bauminger &Kasari, 2000). Theadolescent years can
beespecially challenging forthose withASD, because theirdifficulties informing 
appropriate andsupportive peerrelationships atschool putsthem atincreased riskfor
experiencing peerbullying andthecascade ofnegative mental health consequences 
thatfollow suchtreatment (Wainscot, Naylor, Sutcliffe, Tantam, &Williams, 2008). 
Importantly, however, those withASD maynotshare thesame beliefs andvalues Final PDF to printer