Personal Construct Psychology - Adelaide Fringe - Coursework Example

Executive Summary The city of Adelaide hosted thousands of people during the 2014 Adelaide Fringe festival. It featured over 4,000 artists from Australia and across the globe. In total, there were 6,500 performances at 922 events. The main reasons behind the success of the event included diversity and quality of the shows, a large increase in the number of artists who participated in the event, and the addition of new special events as well as venues. However, in spite of such additional features, the experiences of various members of the audience differed because they had different expectations concerning the festival. For instance, while some attended the festival to be entertained, others expected to discover new art forms, to socialize or make new friends. The personal construct theory asserts that people perceive environments based on the meanings they apply to them. In many instances, the meanings are based on experiences. Therefore, in the case of the Fringe festival, the effectiveness of the management team to deliver positive experiences to audiences depended on how well it met their expectations. According to Wach and Gosling (2004), aligning events with the predictions and expectations of audiences offers numerous benefits such as more satisfied participants, increased participation, as well as income growth. This paper proposes the use of focus group discussions and survey methodologies when capturing participant feedback. 1.0 Introduction On February14, 2014, thousands of people flocked the city center to witness the opening ceremony of the Adelaide Fringe. That hot summer evening, King William Street sparkled as everyone welcomed various artists who would participate in the festival. The 2014 program broke previous records by featuring over 4,000 artists from Australia and across the globe in more than 6,500 performances that would be showcased in 922 events (V.T. 2014). Some of the factors that contributed to the success of the festival included diversity and quality of presentations, the addition of new special events, the creation of brilliant, new venues, and a rise in the number of artists who participated in the festival. The aim of this report is to discuss how the festival’s management team created various experiences for its audiences based on personal construct psychology. Adelaide Fringe has experienced considerable growth over the last few decades. With more than 360 venues taking part in Adelaide Fringe 2014, the management team devised new strategies to motivate audiences to discover Fringe shows and venues located across the city. The team also developed the theme “Tour of the Unexpected” with the intention of encouraging people to explore the attractive Fringe landscape (V.T. 2014). Through the support of Transfield Services and the BankSA, the festival introduced free buses that circumnavigated the entire city transporting members of the audience at various Fringe venues. Another notable strategy implemented by the management team was selling of tickets online, one month before the commencement of the festival. By January 2014, the festival had already sold more than 14,000 tickets. 2.0 Discussion 2.1 Key Concept: Personal Construct Psychology Personal Construct Psychology (PCP) refers to a theory of cognition and personality developed by George Kelly, a notable American psychologist, in 1955. From the theory, he established a psychotherapy approach that enabled patients to discover their constructs (ways of viewing the world). The method involved very little intervention or interpretation by therapists. The approach was adopted by organizations for various uses such as interpretation of people’s worldviews and in decision-making after some time. The central message of the PCP theory is that individuals perceive an environment based on whatever meaning they apply to it. People are free to interpret meanings in whatever manner they want. Kelly called the phenomenon ‘alternative constructivism’ because people it enabled people to apply alternative meanings or constructions to past, present, as well as future events. The theory challenges existing divisions between action, cognition, and affect and proposes that they be defined together to develop deeper understanding of human behavior (Wach and Gosling 2004). In addition, it maintains that people’s unique psychological processes are influenced by how they anticipate events. For Kelly, prediction and anticipation are the main factors that influence how people think. People may at times play the role of scientists who continually refine models and theories about how their environments work with the intention of anticipating events. They often build theories concerning other people and try to control or impose on them during this process with the aim of predicting their actions. According to Kelly, the theories emerge from a set of constructs. Since each construct bears two extreme points, individuals end up placing people in between or at either extreme. Even though people’s minds are filled with such constructs, they often exist at a lower level of awareness. Wright (2004) asserts that such constructs are applicable to all objects and events within people’s environments and they strongly influence their preferences. As a result, determining their construct systems, especially those representing strong and unchangeable beliefs, plays an essential role in understanding them. Kelly was a proponent of non-invasive psychotherapy. Instead of having therapists attempting to interpret people’s psyches, he argued that they only needed to facilitate the process of patients finding their personal constructs. Through the application of this approach, patients’ behaviors would be explained as ways of selectively observing the environment, acting upon it, and updating the construct system to enhance predictability (Wach and Gosling 2004). While only a few psychologists implemented the PCP theory, it has rapidly gained adherents in Canada, Spain, UK, Australia, Italy and the US over the last three decades (Wright 2004). Currently, institutions apply it when designing job descriptions and during evaluations, job analysis, employee training and development, as well as organizational development even though its main fields of application used to be educational and clinical psychology,. 2.2 The Application of the Concept to the Experience Indeed, Kelly’s PCP theory can be used to interpret audience experiences during the 2014 Adelaide Fringe Festival. A 2013 study conducted by Richards, Brito, and Wilks (2013) shows that people have different experiences after attending social events because they possess disparate anticipations. For instance, even though many people attend Fringe festivals expecting to be entertained, others expect to socialize, discover new art forms, or make business connections. Additionally, others attend the events merely to escape from their busy work schedules. Therefore, their experiences are bound to vary based on the festival’s ability to meet their expectations. The Fringe management team incorporates diversity and convenience in all festivals to ensure that it satisfies as many people as possible. For instance, the 2014 festival featured numerous free events produced in-house with the intention of enhancing the Fringe experience for participants and audiences. Some of the events included Fringe Club, Fringe Awards, Fringe Goolwa, Desert Fringe in Port Augusta, Fringe Street Theatre Festival, and the Fringe Parade. Since such events attracted like-minded individuals, they provided audiences with the opportunity of socializing, making new friends, and establishing new connections (Meenaghan 2011). Furthermore, the management team collaborated with Transfield Services and BankSA to transport audiences quickly between Fringe venues. The initiative enhanced convenience, because people did not have to compete for public means of transport. Despite such achievements, Fringe organizers encounter various challenges when handling large crowds. For instance, in the process of transporting audiences between venues, some parents and guardians lost their children. Additionally, there were cases involving pick pocketing and bag snatching. Since security was a common expectation among audiences and artists, the Fringe management team ensured that there were adequate police officers patrolling the city. In addition, the team insures all festivals from any losses that may occur. For instance, during the 2014 occasion, the City Rural Insurance Brokers negotiated an all-inclusive liability policy with the aim of protecting audiences (V.T. 2014). In many cases, Fringe venues do not provide people with liability covers. Therefore, in case of damaged property, the venues or their insurers are compelled to seek reimbursement. The policy aimed to provide cover in case any member of the audience suffers injury at the festival. However, it did not cover performers against injury. Through such initiatives, the Fringe management team addressed most people’s constructs concerning the experiences modern arts festivals should deliver. By doing that, it succeeded in enhancing the experience of most people. 2.3 The Significance for Visitors Aligning the festival with the expectations of the visitors enhances their overall experience. For instance, visitors are also presented with safer environments, in addition to the presentation of events that are more relevant. Owing to such factors, more like-minded visitors are likely to participate, a factor that would greatly facilitate networking. By offering the visitors relevant events as well as the opportunity of socializing with people who have similar interests and expectations, the festival would play a critical role in facilitating information sharing and personal development (Drengner, Gaus, and Jahn 2008). 2.4 The Significance for Event Organization By taking into consideration the expectations and constructs of audiences, it becomes possible for the management team to organize relevant events, to offer meaningful services, and invite the right artists. For instance, the 2014 Adelaide Fringe festival featured over 900 events and about 6139 unique performances (V.T. 2014). While over 90 shows received four stars from members of the audience, 12 of them were awarded five star reviews. They included theatre productions such as Angry Young Man and Leo, ‘smash hit’ circus shows such as Freefall and Limbo, and comedians such as Danny Bhoy and Arj Barker (V.T. 2014). Apart from delivering relevant content, meeting the expectations of audiences enables the management team to attract more visitors. For instance, after the 2013 festival, the Fringe website (adelaidefringe.com.au) received very many hits worldwide as people accessed the Fringe website and purchased gift vouchers as well as FringeTIX tickets. For that reason, the number of tickets sold online for the 2014 event increased by over 71% (V.T. 2014). More audiences translated to the receipt of more revenue by the management team. According to customer expectations, the 2014 booking fee was incorporated into the new ticket price. This ensured that visitors would not encounter surprises after completing their transactions. As a result, more than 400,000 tickets were sold and this translated to about $11.6 million (V.T. 2014). Since Fringe was an open access festival, such financial achievements encouraged more self-presenting promoters and artists to participate because they received most of the ticketing income. Furthermore, an increased attendance of the festival increases the significance and popularity of the Fringe festival to audiences, artists, and other stakeholders in the industry. In 2014, hospitality events for businesses and sponsors included the entertaining visitors at Fringe Club before they attended the main Fringe presentations. This led to the sale of over 2,280 tickets, which generated more than $69,000 in ticket revenue for artists (V.T. 2014). Additionally, over 100 artists and festival directors attended the function under the Honey Pot program. They included international festival directors from Manila, Seoul, Singapore, London, Edinburgh, Prague, Taiwan, Macau, and Hong Kong. Owing to the magnitude of the 2014 Adelaide Fringe festival, the event secured its position as the leading arts festival in the world. Figure 1: A Representation of Audiences based on Profession Source: V.T. (2014, p. 56). Figure 2: A Representation of Audiences based on Age Group Source: V.T. (2014, p. 56). Figure 3: A Representation of Audiences based on Income Source: V.T. (2014, p. 56). Figure 4: A Representation of Audiences based on Origin Source: V.T. (2014, p. 56). 3.0 Recommendations Even though the Fringe management team has made efforts to collect feedback from audiences, comprehensive strategies are required to obtain deeper knowledge concerning their predictions and expectations. Gaining such knowledge will play a critical role in ensuring that future Fringe festivals attract even more visitors and yield better experiences. A focus group discussion (FGD) is one of the strategies of capturing visitor feedback. According to Doz (2011), FGDs are qualitative research approaches whereby groups of people are asked questions concerning their attitudes, beliefs, opinions, and perceptions towards a service, product, idea, advertisement, or concept. The questions are asked in interactive group settings where participants are permitted to talk freely with other group members. Benefits of the FGDs include: Since the discussions involve qualified moderators, conversations are always on track and participants’ engagement is enhanced without few individuals dominating the meeting. When participants are encouraged to interact with one another, group dynamics generate new thinking concerning the issues in question, which resulting in deeper discussions. Nonverbal behavior can be used as a research input. Researchers can easily perceive the intensity of the discussions or attitudes of the participants and use the information to alter their decisions. Since all participants are under constant observation by the moderator and everyone knows that the process is being recorded, full engagement can be achieved quickly. The main challenge associated with FGDs is that one or two individuals can dominate the discussion affect the quality of the output. Other than that, FGDs are not ideal when dealing with sensitive topics. Despite such challenges, the Fringe management team can rely on FGDs to obtain quality information concerning the expectations of audiences. The survey methodology is another strategy of capturing visitor feedback. Doz (2011) asserts that surveys involve the sampling of individuals from a population with the intention of administering data collection tools such as interviews and questionnaires. While statistical surveys enable researchers to make statistical inferences concerning the population, the entire process depends on the type of survey questions used. Polls about public opinion, censuses, as well as market research surveys are examples of quantitative research that rely on contemporary survey methodologies to answer various questions concerning the population. Benefits of surveys include: They are relatively easy to administer. They are cost-effective. Compared to other data collection methods, the development of surveys consumes lesser time. They can be administered remotely through email, mobile phones, or the telephone. When conducted remotely, they minimize or avert geographical dependence. They are capable of gathering data from many respondents. The main challenge associated with the survey methodology is that respondents may feel uncomfortable providing answers that depict them in an unfavorable manner. Regardless of the challenge, the festival’s management team can still gather valuable data concerning the constructs of audiences using surveys. 4.0 Conclusion In conclusion, the personal construct theory helps to explain why people have different experiences after taking part in social events. Individuals continually refine models and theories about how their work environments with the aim of anticipating events. For instance, before attending the 2014 Adelaide Fringe festival, numerous participants expected to be entertained while others expected to discover new art forms and have the opportunity of making new friends. In contrast, others expected the event to take place in a safe environment free from fatal accidents and petty thieves (Barker, Page, and Meyer 2003). According to the theory, the ability of the festival to deliver positive experiences to audiences depended on how well it met their expectations. Event managers can gain deeper understanding of their visitors’ constructs by conducting focus group discussions or survey methodologies. Word Count: 2254. Reference List Barker, M., Page, S. and Meyer, D., 2003. Urban visitor perceptions of safety during a special event. Journal of Travel Research, 41, 355-361. Doz, Y., 2011. Qualitative research for international business. Journal of International Business Studies, 42(5), 582-590. Drengner, J., Gaus, H. and Jahn, S., 2008. Does flow influence the brand image in event marketing? Journal of Advertising Research, 48(1), 138-147. Meenaghan, T., 2001. Understanding sponsorship effects. Psychology & Marketing, 18(2), 95 112. Richards, G., Brito, M. and Wilks, L., 2013. Exploring the social impacts of events. London: Routledge. V.T., 2014. Beauty of Adelaide Australia. Virginia: V.T. Wach, M. and Gosling, P., 2004. Values, interests, and attitudes within vocational behavior. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 19(3), 223-226. Wright, R., 2004. Mapping cognitions to better understand attitudinal and behavioral responses in appraisal research. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 25(3), 339-374. Appendix I: Event Experience Log Name of event Adelaide Fringe Festival Type of event Art festival Location of event Adelaide, South Australia Date of event experience February 14, 2014 to March 16, 2014 With whom did you go to the event? Alone Experience Log 1. Briefly describe your event experience. (150 words) The Adelaide Fringe is among the largest arts festivals in the world. Since this year’s event lasted for four weeks, audiences had the opportunity of enjoying more Fringe shows. The main factors that enhanced the success of the festival included unique free events, brilliant venues, attractive shows, and strong support from artists and audiences. I enjoyed various contemporary art forms such as circus, visual art, physical theatre, design, comedy, puppetry, and many other forms of presentations. My experience during the event greatly surpassed my expectations. For instance, apart from witnessing various art forms, I was dazed by the ability of the festival to attract numerous people from Australia, and other parts of the world. The socio-economic impact of the event was unprecedented as a result of the large number of people who attended the event. Besides creating jobs and boosting local businesses, it attracted visitors and enhanced Adelaide’s national as well as international reputation. 2. How would you rate your level of satisfaction on your event experience? Extremely unlikely 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Extremely likely 3. How likely is it that you will return to this event? Extremely unlikely 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Extremely likely 4. How likely would be to recommend this event to a friend? Extremely dissatisfied 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Extremely satisfied 5. What exactly made you feel this way (Explain what your emotional response was and why it was elicited)? (150 words) From my perspective, the 2014 Adelaide Fringe festival was great success because it was entertaining, educational, supported personal development, and delivered positive socio-economic impacts to the residents of Adelaide. Before attending the festival, I had various expectations. For instance, in line with the concept of value for money, I expected to be entertained, have the opportunity of socializing, and experience new art forms. In addition to that, I expected to be in a safe environment that guaranteed my personal security. By the end of the festival, all expectations had been met. On the first day, the festival kicked off with an opening night parade that lit up King William Street. The opening ceremony attracted numerous people that lined the street to observed choreographed extravaganzas that featured community groups and Fringe artists gliding on decorated floats. The ceremony, which ended in fireworks displays, enabled me to make new friends, feel entertained, and witness unique art forms. 6. Identify a relevant concept (from the list of concepts) and briefly explain how the relevant concept is applicable to this experience (argue for it). (200 words) Personal construct theory is the most relevant concept when it comes to explaining my experience. The theory asserts that even though the world is the same for each individual, people perceive it differently because they have different mental constructs that influence how they view reality. Numerous psychologists believe that individuals are continuously attempting to understand the world around them, make predictions about future events, and in developing theories to explain the events. Before attending the Adelaide Fringe festival, I developed personal constructs, which were essentially mental representations that I used to interpret the events of the festival. The constructs were largely based on my experiences and observations. Since the festival did not conflict with them, it succeeded at yielding a positive experience. However, by not allowing audiences to socialize and failing to guarantee their security, the festival would have conflicted with some of my constructs and yielded a negative experience. Rather than viewing individuals as passive subjects driven by reinforcements, punishments, and associations encountered in their childhood experiences (psychoanalysis) and environments (behaviorism), the personal construct theory argues that people take active roles in the way they gather and interpret knowledge. For that reason, the ability of the 2014 Adelaide Fringe festival to entertain and educate did not influence my experience. Instead, it was influenced by the alignment of the entire festival with my personal constructs. Read More