PERSONAL CONSTRUCT THEORY
George Kelly ’s approach to personality begins with a unique conception of hu-
mankind. He called it a man-the-scientist perspective. Like scientists, people
constantly generate and test hypotheses about their world. Just as scientists try
to predict and control the things they study, we all want to predict and control
as many events in our lives as possible. Not knowing why things happen or
how the people around us might act can be unsettling. So to satisfy our need
for predictability, we engage in a process Kelly compared to template matching.
That is, our ideas about the world are similar to transparent templates. Weplace these templates over the events we encounter. If they match, we retain
the templates. If not, we modify them for a better prediction next time. For ex-
ample, based on past observations, you may have generated a few hypothesesabout one of your instructors. One hypothesis is that this man is stuffy and
arrogant. Whenever you see this instructor, you collect more information and
compare the new data with your hypothesis. If it is verified (the instructor actsthe way stuffy people act), you continue using it. If not (outside of the class-
room he is warm and charming), you discard the hypothesis and replace it
with a new one. The process resembles the one used by scientists who retainand reject hypotheses based on empirical findings.
Kelly called the cognitive structures we use to interpret and predict events
personal constructs . No two people use identical personal constructs, and no
two people organize their constructs in an identical manner. What do these
constructs look like? Kelly described them as bipolar. That is, we classify rele-
vant objects in an either or fashion within our constructs. When I meet
someone for the first time, I might apply the personal constructs friendly –
unfriendly, tall –short, intelligent –unintelligent, and masculine –feminine in
constructing an image of this person. I might decide that this person isfriendly, tall, intelligent, and feminine. But this does not mean that we see
the world as black and white with no shades of gray. After applying our first
construct, we often use other bipolar constructs to determine the extent ofthe blackness or whiteness. For example, after determining that this new
acquaintance is intelligent, I might then apply an academically intelligent –
commonsense intelligent construct to get an even clearer picture of what this
person is like.
How can personal constructs be used to explain personality? Kelly main-
tained that differences in personality result largely from differences in the way
people “construe the world. ”If you and I interact with Jacob, I might use
friendly –unfriendly, fun –boring, and outgoing –shyconstructs in forming my
impression. But you might interpret Jacob in terms of refined –gross, sensitive –
insensitive, and intelligent –unintelligent constructs. After we both talk to Jacob
for a while, I might act as if I ’m interacting with a friendly, fun, and outgoing
person. You might respond to Jacob as if dealing with a gross, insensitive, andunintelligent person. We ’re both in the same situation, but because we interpret
that situation very differently, we respond in very different ways. In addition,because I tend to use these same constructs when meeting other individuals, Iprobably have a characteristic way I interact with people that is different from“Id on o tr e g a r dm y
career in psychology
as a ‘calling. ’
Everything aroundus‘calls, ’if we
choose to heed. Itwas I who got myselfinto it and I who have
pursued it. ”
George Kelly412 CHAPTER 15 The Cognitive Approach