George
Kelly born April 28, 1905-March 6, 1967 was an American psychologist,
therapist, educator and personality theorist. He is considered the father of
cognitive clinical psychology and best known for his theory of personality,
Personal Construct Psychology.
During his school years and his early professional career, he dabbled in a wide
variety of jobs, but he eventually received a Ph.D. in psychology from the
State University of Iowa. He
began his academic career at Fort Hays State College in Kansas, then after
World War II, he took a position at Ohio State. He remained there until 1965
when he joined the faculty at Brandeis. He died two years later at age 61.
Kelly believed that people interpret events
according to their personal constructs rather than reality. Person as a
scientist , these are the people attempt to solve problems in much same as the
scientists. They observe , ask questions , formulate hypothesis and making
conclusions.Scientist as a person , Because scientists are people, their pronouncements
should be regarded with the same skepticism as any other data. Every scientific
theory can be viewed from an alternate angle, and every competent scientist
should be open to changing his or her theory. Constructive Alternativism , Kelly
postulate that our experiences of the world around us, including events that
take place or our understanding of people, including ourselves, are open to an
immense variety of interpretations. Kelly argued that no one construct a final
or definitively accurate way of grasping the world. Instead, we can always
create alternative constructs to better explain or represent that which we
observe. He also developed shape
behavior that they create and attempt to fit over realities of the world. First
is Basic Postulate , it assumes that human behavior is shaped by the way people
anticipate to future and it has 11 supporting corollaries.
·
The
construction corollary: "a person anticipates events by construing their
replications." This means that individuals anticipate events in their
social world by perceiving a similarity with a past event (construing a
replication).
•
The
experience corollary: "a person's construction system varies as he
successively construes the replication of events."
•
The
dichotomy corollary: "a person's construction system is composed of a
finite number of dichotomous constructs."
•
The
organization corollary: "each person characteristically evolves, for his
convenience in anticipating events, a construction system embracing ordinal
relationships between constructs."
•
The
range corollary: "a construct is convenient for the anticipation of a
finite range of events only."
•
The
modulation corollary: "the variation in a person's construction system is
limited by the permeability of the constructs within whose range of convenience
the variants lie."
•
The
choice corollary: "a person chooses for himself that alternative in a
dichotomized construct through which he anticipates the greater possibility for
extension and definition of his system."
•
The
individuality corollary: "persons differ from each other in their
construction of events."
•
The
commonality corollary: "to the extent that one person employs a
construction of experience which is similar to that employed by another, his
psychological processes are similar to the other person."
•
The
fragmentation corollary: "a person may successively employ a variety of
construction subsystems which are inferentially incompatible with each
other."
•
The
sociality corollary: "to the extent that one person construes the
construction processes of another, he may play a role in a social process
involving the other person."
After
many years in his clinical experienced he enabled to evolve the concepts of
Abnormal development and psychotherapy , and REP test Role Construct Repertory.
Abnormal Development
A. Abnormal Development
Kelly saw normal people as analogous to competent scientists who test reasonable hypotheses, objectively view the results, and willingly change their theories when the data warrant it. Similarly, unhealthy people are like incompetent scientists who test unreasonable hypotheses, reject or distort legitimate results, and refuse to amend outdated theories. Kelly identified four common elements in most human disturbances: (1) threat, or the perception that one's basic constructs may be drastically changed; (2) fear, which requires an incidental rather than a comprehensive restructuring of one's construct system; (3) anxiety, or the recognition that one cannot adequately deal with a new situation; and (4) guilt, defined as "the sense of having lost one's core role structure."
Kelly saw normal people as analogous to competent scientists who test reasonable hypotheses, objectively view the results, and willingly change their theories when the data warrant it. Similarly, unhealthy people are like incompetent scientists who test unreasonable hypotheses, reject or distort legitimate results, and refuse to amend outdated theories. Kelly identified four common elements in most human disturbances: (1) threat, or the perception that one's basic constructs may be drastically changed; (2) fear, which requires an incidental rather than a comprehensive restructuring of one's construct system; (3) anxiety, or the recognition that one cannot adequately deal with a new situation; and (4) guilt, defined as "the sense of having lost one's core role structure."
B. Psychotherapy
Kelly insisted that clients should set their own goals for therapy and that they should be active participants in the therapeutic process. He sometimes used a procedure called fixed-role therapy in which clients act out a predetermined role for several weeks. By playing the part of a psychologically healthy person, clients may discover previously hidden aspects of themselves.
Kelly insisted that clients should set their own goals for therapy and that they should be active participants in the therapeutic process. He sometimes used a procedure called fixed-role therapy in which clients act out a predetermined role for several weeks. By playing the part of a psychologically healthy person, clients may discover previously hidden aspects of themselves.
C. The Rep Test
The purpose of the Rep test is to discover ways in which clients construe significant people in their lives. Clients place names of people they know on
a repertory grid in order to identify both similarities and differences among
these people.
The purpose of the Rep test is to discover ways in which clients construe significant people in their lives. Clients place names of people they know on
a repertory grid in order to identify both similarities and differences among
these people.
Interpretations are always available to people.