The Thought And The Theoretical Construction Of Personal Construct Psychology

Personal Construct Psychology is a psychological system founded by GeorgeAlexander Kelly (1905-1967), who was a great psychologist from America.Personal Construct Psychology is both a cognitive theory of personality, and a kind ofmethod and technique of mental consulting and treatment. To some extent, Kelly alsois a humanist psychologist. Personal Construct Psychology mainly lies in the works ofKelly, and the most famous work is 《Personal Construct Psychology》. Kelly’sstudents and his successors are abiding by his studying route and extending thestudying content. So far, the basic thought and theory of Personal ConstructPsychology is still established by Kelly. As a creative psychologist, who led to theinnovation of paradigm of psychology, Kelly’s psychology is seldom studied in china,which is a pity. This study tries to regard Personal Construct Psychology as aindependent and united psychological system, examming the thought and theoreticalconstruction from the angle of history and thought.First of all, this study explores the development process and the source ofthought of Kelly’s Personal Construct Psychology. Any psychological thought isclosely related to the experience of the author, and Kelly is not the exception. Kelly’sPersonal Construct Psychology is related to his living experience、religion、education、realm of his interest、choice of career and his clinical practice. Through theexamination, Kelly’s Personal Construct Psychology can be better understood. Tosome extent, Personal Construct Psychology embodies Kelly’s life、study and attitudetoward life. His whole life is the process practising and understanding the PersonalConstruct Psychology.The product of Personal Construct Psychology is not a single and occasionalacademic phenomenon, and the foundation is multiple, which includes the conditionof American society, the inner cause of psychology, and the awakening of somephilosophical thought and trend, such as logical positivism、phenomenology、pragmatism and “as if” philosophy of Vaihinger. Secondly, the study illustrates the theoretical standpoints of Personal ConstructPsychology. The function of “Construct” is to predict the events in order that theindividual can keep a good certainty for future. The construct for predicting can bechoosed by individuals, but the individual should achieve the goal of communicationwith others through the constructs. So, Personal Construct Psychology sticks to theholism and finalism, and holism and finalism are the two main theoretical standpointsand principles.Thirdly, the study explores the theoretical structure of Personal ConstructPsychology. Kelly’s Personal Construct Psychology is a theory as a whole. In order tounderstand and grasp the basic theoretical structure of Personal Construct Psychology,the Personal Construct Psychology system is divided into four parts: the theory ofindividual difference, the theory of personality, the theory of mental treatment, and themethodology about mental treatment. Of those, the theory of individual differenceillustrates that the individuals differ not because the events, but the difference ofconstructs for explaining the events. The difference displays the following aspects: thequantity of constructs, permeability, and the relation among constructs. The theory ofpersonality illustrates that although the choice of constructs is free, but the choiceshould be understood and accepted by others, and so, the individual can understandand accept others. The personality of one person is shaped like this. The theory ofmental treatment illustrates that if the constructs of one person have trouble, hispersonality will also have trouble. The trouble mainly embodies the following aspects:the singleness of constructs, the aging of constructs and the confusion of relationamong constructs. The aim of mental treatment is to help the client to reconstruct hissystem of construct, and strengthens the predicting validity of client. Themethodology about mental treatment deals with the methods on treatment. Kellydoesn’t agree with the conventional classification and diagnosis pattern, andsuggested that the consultor should accommodate the construct system of the client,and based on which, the consultor can use any methods so long as he thought it wasfit for the client.Finally, the study explores the theoretical response. Kelly was a creative andcritical psychologist, and his thought was ahead of the psychologists of his time. Due to this reason, his thought failed to attract the attention from the beginning. ButKelly’s attention to cognition proved his foresight for cognitive psychology. Kellynever tried to erect the permanent position of Personal Construct Psychology, hebelieved that all the theories, including his own, would be displaced by other theoriessooner or latter, and this view was in accordance with postmodernism. Kellysuggested that the individual should shape his personality through the mutualinteraction among persons, and which embodied the ecological angle of psychology.Kelly didn’t try to establish some definite studying methods, on the contrary, heopened the boundary of methodology, and the methods can be freely choosed byconsultor so long as he thought that the method was fit for the client. To some extent,Kelly’s such suggestion led to the innovation of paradigm and methodology ofpsychology study. Although Kelly didn’t realize that his thought was beginning theeffort to remedy the conflict of opposed methodology, his view was still reflected inthe shift of methodology of psychology.