Kellys Theory of Personality - Research Paper Example

Kelly’s Theory of Personality According to the writer of this paper, cultural background is the most significant factor that determines the personal integrity of every individual. It includes one’s heritage, family environment, socio-economic status, religion, customs, beliefs, neighborhood, education, and many more. Evidently this perspective is closely related to the personality theory of George Kelly (1905-1967). Kelly’s theory of personality is based on the maxim, as Kelly says, ‘Man is a Scientist’. The theory says that each man is a scientist at his consciousness. Everyone is trying to make sense out of what one experiences around and forms a hypothesis about the world, and constantly tests its practicality. As an individual becomes an adult, he would have made a complex replica about the world and his state of being in the world; the replica one creates is one’s personality. Kelly’s theory of personal constructs explains further about this assumption. It explains how people act upon our ‘core constructs’, our deeply-held ethics and ideology in a particular situation. For an example, when people face with paradoxical information against our core constructs, there are likely any chances of changing our constructs according to the information we received. Evidently, the writer has lot many things to look back and evaluate the various processes of life that he has come through. Years long study has done an experimental transformation in the writer’s character. The developmental process of the writer’s life could be illustrated from a psychological perspective of Kelly’s construct theory. The term construct describes the twofold aspects of the theory. At first, our construct signifies the view we have created or constructed about the world according the experience we had. Secondly, our construct represents how we are likely to interpret the world as we continue to encounter it. So our construct system is our history and our inclination to perceive. Let the writer put forward the idea of construct with a simple illustration of a conversation with the writer’s friend. She had her best choice of spending her weekends in the rural countryside rather than staying in her city. On the writer’s asking what the criterion that influenced her choice was, she said that one of the important reasons for her selection was the innocence of the landscape. That was one of her important constructs. This idea was very peculiar to the writer as the writer had never thought about this in the writer’s construct system. She later explained that the people of the countryside are simple and innocent in contrast to from the people in township. They had special care for each other and did not show any hesitation in rendering a helping hand to each other. The writer, for the first time realized that that the rural countryside and the townships had a different perspective to be looked into. The writer caught grasp of the reason for huge difference in the number of crimes taking place in the township and in the villages. When compared to the developed townships countryside there were hardly any crimes or murders taking place. She had formed her construct on the basis of her experience, and that construct is the one which she uses when choosing the place for her weekends to be spent of. The writer did not have that construct in the writer’s thoughts, because the writer’s experience was not similar to that of her. And that construct did not come to the writer’s mind thinking about spending the weekends until the conversation gave the writer the opportunity to modify the writer’s construct system. The Importance of Construct System can be listed as; Our construct systems make our world more predictable Our construct systems can change and grow Our construct systems influence our expectations and perceptions Some constructs, and some aspects of our construct systems, are more important than others Our construct system is our truth as we understand and experience it – nobody else’s Construct system are not always internally consistent The extent to which one person can understand another’s construct system is a measure of that person’s empathy. (Source: Kelly, Personal Construct Theory) The theory of constructs refers also to the emotions and more traditional ideas of perception. Kelly defines such emotions and feeling as constructs of transition, because it deals with the different experiences as we change the perspective of looking into the world (7). Such transitions of the construts are classified into several classes of emotions. With regard to the writer’s personality, it took the writer several years of study and researches to become at least what the writer is now. A study of evolutions happened in the writer itself explains how people change themselves through different ages. The writer can say that life changes on its way with condition pertaining to stages of life. According to Erikson, “the adulthood stage focuses on if a sense of being a productive, contributing member of the society (generativity) or whether they feel unable to contribute (stagnation)” (qtd. Tennant 38). “A person’s processes are psychologically channelized by the ways in which he anticipates events” .(Kelly and Kelly, 231). Kelly has defined it as the central movement in the scientific process, which is the transformation from the hypothesis to the experiment of observation. They involve; The construction corollary The experience corollary The organization corollary The choice corollary The modulation corollary The individuality corollary The most used theory of George Kelly was Kell’s finding of the role of Construct repertory test, which is now called the rep grid. It is not a test as we mention in the traditional sense, but it is a self-discovery, a diagnostic and a research tool which helps in finding one’s view of reality and constructs. This method is used to find out the picture people create within themselves and their world-views before and after a psychological training. It is also used to compare the views of several people. How we evaluate the personality of others is also an interesting aspect. People usually recognize the personality of others easily with attitudes and acts. Hence, a child is rated good, average, or poor with this extra sensual parameters of which sometimes he may not be personally responsible. If a child frequents to win in a sport event, he will be considered a sports man for future; if he goes good at scholastic achievements, people call him intelligent and expect him to shine in the future with titles like doctor, engineer, scientist etc. So the personality of somebody is judged by others with the deeds he makes in his boyhood days. However, this verdict may not be always correct with all because life takes a turn only after one’s reaching youth; evidently, as Kelly states, depending on how we act upon our ‘core constructs’, our deeply-held ethics and ideology. In total, an adult’s personality is highly influenced by numerous factors including his/her own acquired knowledge and perspectives. Numerous environmental factors, culture, family, friends, and religion constitute an individual’s world of experience out of which one forms a hypothesis about the society and life. Thus the complex ‘replica’ one creates determines one’s personal integrity and total outlook, which in turn will have a strong influence on the individual’s state of being and future achievements. Works Cited Personal Construct Theory - George Kelly. University of Southampton. Web. 25 June 2011 Kelly, George. The Psychology of Personal Constructs: Volume 2: Clinical Diagnosis and Psychotherapy. Routledge, 2003. Print. Kelly, George and Kelly Alexander George. The Psychology of Personal Constructs, Volume 1. Rutledge, 1992. Print. Tennant, Mark. Psychology and Adult Learning. Taylor & Francis, 1998. Print. Read More