Personality Theorist - Research Paper Example

? Personality Theorist- George Kelly This paper aims to highlight the works of George A. Kelly. Kelly made fundamental break through the field of psychology throught his Personal Construct Theory. This theory helps explain the behavious of people and the meanings which they attach to the events and daily activities. He also favoured the psychotherapy approach and introduced his own method called The Repertory Grid Interview. From these he aimed to revolutionize the field of psychology and this has resulted in a new face of the subject. Personality Theorist- George Kelly Biography Kelly, George A. (1905-1967) was a very renowned American psychologist. Born in Perth, Kansas, Kelly belonged to a very strict religious family. They were constantly on the move from one area to another. As a result much of the schooling which he had was mostly either home or from a variety of schools. Finally, when he was thirteen he was sent to a boarding school in Wichita. He studied for three years at Friends University and a final year at Park College, graduating with a degree in Physics and Mathematics. However, during these years Kelly’s interest started moving towards debates and discussions, developing into a popular orator. Later he studied at a variety of institutions such as Universities of Kansas, Minnesota, and Edinburgh, before graduating with a Ph. D. in psychology from University of Iowa in 1931. After completing his education Kelly entered the job market during the time of the Great Depression. During this time period he worked at Fort Hays Kansas State College and developed his theory and techniques. Kelly worked hard on his clinic and it was then when he developed most of his future ideas. When the Second World War broke out Kelly accepted a post in Aviation psychology branch of the US Navy and served there throughout the war. After the war he spent some time teaching in the University of Maryland. In 1946 he joined Ohio State University where he made important contributions to his theory. Because of his important theoretical contributions and hard work in the profession of clinical psychology, Kelly was made the president of clinical and consulting divisions of American Psychological Association for 1954-55 and 1956-7. In 1965, he started research in Brandeis University and died soon after in March 1967. The Theory Kelly developed a theory of personality known as the Personal Construct theory. It is this theory which became the foundation of the field Personal Construct Psychology. The main focus of this theory is the way in which individuals construct and reconstruct the meanings of their lives. This theory was first founded in 1955 discussed in detail in his book, ‘The Psychology of Personal Constructs.’ Although the implementation of this theory has expanded over the years, it still predominantly focuses on individuals, families and social groups. The prime aspect or the foundation idea of Kelly’s theory is that people are like scientists. “A person's processes are psychologically channelized by the way in which he anticipates events.” (Kelly, 1955, p.46) . This means that people to create the meaning of things or events themselves. They are constantly doing this so efficiently that according to Kelly they are like scientists constructing meanings. Thus, the individuals are making hypotheses which are called as constructs. What are constructs? Constructs are the ideas or meanings which people attest to the events or things in the society. They differ from person to person. These constructs indicate the meaning which the individual construct of events or happenings of the surroundings. Constructs also indicate the view a person is likely to construe of a certain event. Thus, these define the individual himself and indicates how his brain functions like a scientist. A construct has two extreme points like happy-sad etc. An individual normally places eventsor people between these scales and retains such ideas about them. These constructs are formed in the very early stages of life and develop from time to time. The may even be preverbal indicating the lack of verbal labels (Winter, 1993, pg.244). Kelly points out to a series of formal postulates and corollaries which amplify the construction of ideas. There are elven corollaries which extend the process of construction and the way people conceive the meaning of things around them. These eleven corollaries are: construction, individuality, organisation, dichotomy, range, experience, modulation, fragmentation, and sociality. It is through these that the process of construction expands. Coming back to the core of the theory each and every person in this world construe and construct their own methods and ways of explaining human behaviours and attitudes. Thus, when we give our own separate meanings to things we are actually all formulating our own ideas and giving way to our own beliefs. This reaffirms Kelly’s claim that every individual in their own specific way is a scientist. Constructivism is actually a learning process thereby everone create their own meanings according to their own mental activity. It is the premise that we are creating our own understanfing of the world by reflecting on our experiences. Initially these may be naive or simple but with time and increasing social interaction these become stronger, detailed and more complex. The meanings which our mind creates works in pairs. These are vital core constructs which enable us to uunderstand the meanings of our surroundings and how our mind relates to them. Our mind interprets meanings as a matter of contrast- meaning that it construes not only the meaning of an event but also of what it is not. For instance if we consider happiness then it will not only be that we are happy but also that we are not sad. The constructs are established privately and then blend with those of our families and significant ones. Personal Construct Theory like other cognitive theories aims to analyse the psychology of individuals and try to interpret their behaviours. However, unlike other theories it gives more weightage to emotional experiences. It is these emotional experiences that help people to to face the society as it is giving their own meaning to it. At times individuals go through such a phase of life where these constructs are in a transitional stage. For example, when individuals are going through time periods of emotional upheaval they experience changes in their core constructs. These are times when Psychologists can help them using the Personal Construct Theory. Applications of Personal Construct Theory Kelly believed in an unconventional method relating to psychotherapy. He believed that the therapist should not try to analyse and investigate the psyche of the patient. This usually turns out to be detrimental for the patient because the doctor/therapist ends up enforcing hisown constructs oveer the patient. Instead of this the therapist should act as a facilitator in this process helping the patient to figure out their own constructs. Therefore, the therapist is taught to observe the patient and act by his constructs rather than his own. For this Kelly devised his own method known as the Repertory Grid Interview technique. Kelly had some important criticisms of interviews which were performed in clinical psychology and it is due to these that he devised the Repertory Grid technique. He had some major methodological concerns regarding the interviews which were normally carried out. One of his major concerns was interviewer bias. Kelly had experienced that it was the interviewer that contributed more to the diagnosis than the interviewee. This resulted in the interviewers constructs influencing the situation. There was a problem of specificity as well when it came to understanding individuals or small groups. Each individual was separate with different problems and different constructs. The other traditional methods ensured over dependence on the expert. Clinical psychology was supposed to be different and therby, Kelly believed that people should try to understand their own problem and the role of the therapist should only be like a skilled mirror. Kelly explained the idea that a therapist should try to understand the world of the patient and work on it. Through this way the therapist will not act as an expert forcing his rational or objective way of thinking on the patient. Instead they will act as a guide for the patient helping them to analyse their own constructs and articulating them. Kelly’s Repertory Grid technique has turned out to be very useful for clinical psychologists. The essence of the grid technique was quite plain. A set of elements is to be selected. These elements should be the domain or range of the themes which we wish to study. Then through a set of questions the extreme points of the the constructs are figured out and then given the shape of a grid. The essence of the grid and its greatest strength is that it is a powerful and content free procedure. The interviewer sets up the grid but none of the data is his own. It is just the perceptions of the interviewee that have come out in the form of the grid. This technique is free from any type of interviewer bias and thereby, meeting the requirements of an effective technique. Assessment Initially after Kelly there was not a great deal of enthusiasm regarding these break throughs in clinical psychology. Psychologists were not too over zealous to adapt his technique of Repertory Grid Interviews so easily. It can be said that Kelly was a couple of decades ahead of his time and as a result, his new ideas were not implemented over night. However, with the coming of the cognitive revolution Kelly’s ideas were adapted more enthusiastically. As it has become more influential Kelly’s work has been related to other fields such as the post modern approach and its ideas. However much of Kelly’s theory is actually phenomenological. He himself gave credit of his work to the phenominological theoried of Carl Rogers, Donal Snygg and Arthur Combs. The work of Kelly over the years has gained influence in many countries of the world like US, UK, Canada, Gerany, Italy and Spain. He is the first constructivist psychologist and has laid the foundations for personal construct psychology. His works have brought about and entire new look in clinical psychology and these contributions have been essential for mankind. References Fransella, F. (1996). George Kelly.  Kelly, G. A. (1955). The psychology of personal constructs. Pg 46 Neimeyer, R. A., & Raskin, J. (Eds.). (2001). Constructions of disorder:  Meaning making Frameworks in psychotherapy. Neimeyer, R. A. & Neimeyer, G. J. (Eds.), (2002).  Advances in Personal Construct Psychology. Raskin, J. D. & Bridges, S. K. (Eds.).  (2002).  Studies in meaning:  Exploring  constructivist psychology. Winter, D. A. (2003). The constructivist paradigm. Read More