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PERSONALITY THEORY OF GEORGE KELLY
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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1. Background
The discussion of personality theories is very interesting to discuss. Theories of
personality are deepened in detail from various points of view to be able to provide a complete
and thorough understanding of the form of human personality. Many figures of psychology
took part in the search for these theories of personality by giving birth to several major schools,
such as behaviorism, psychoanalysis, humanism, and so on. Of course, each of these schools
has its own characteristics depending on the mindset of each character.
One of the figures who has a view of personality is George A. Kelly. He with his theory
of Personal Construct Theory which is quite philosophical, has new characteristics regardless
of the great schools that have existed before. Even so, this theory remains systematic and
worthy of reference when discussing human personality. This paper will further discuss Kelly's
biography, Personal Construct Theory, the resulting therapeutic techniques, and related recent
research.
2. Problem Formulation
a. What is George Kelly's curriculum vitae?
b. What is the structure of personality according to George Kelly's theory of personal
constructs?
c. What are the dynamics of personality according to George Kelly's theory of personal
constructs?
d. How is personality development according to George Kelly's theory of personal
constructs?
e. What are some of the therapeutic techniques resulting from George Kelly's theory of
personal constructs?
f. What are some recent research related to George Kelly's theory of personality?
3. Purpose of Writing
a. To find out the biography (biography) of George Kelly.
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b. To understand the structure of personality according to Kelly's theory of personal
constructs.
c. To understand personality dynamics according to Kelly's theory of personal
constructs.
d. To understand the development of personality according to George Kelly's theory
of personal constructs.
e. To know the therapeutic techniques resulting from George Kelly's theory of personal
constructs.
f. To find out the latest research related to George Kelly's theory.
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CHAPTER 2
DISCUSSION
2.1 Biography of George Kelly
George Alexander Kelly was born on April 28, 1905, on a farm near Perth, Kansas,
America. The only son of Elfleda M. Kelly and Theodore V. Kelly. George Kelly died on
March 6, 1967 at the age of 61.
Kelly has a fairly diverse and fragmented educational history. Kelly earned a
baccalaureate in 1926 in physics and mathematics from Park College, as well as a master's
degree in sociology from the University of Kansas. Kelly became interested in psychology after
reading Freud's writings. Subsequently, he received a baccalaureate degree from the University
of Edinburgh in psychology. In 1931, he then received his doctorate in psychology from the
University of Iowa. Kelly also studied oratory, public speaking, dramatics and government.
Kelly during World War II, he worked as a psychologist in the American Navy.Lastly,
he became a research fellow at Brandels University in 1965, before he died in 1967.
In 1931 he became a lecturer in physiological psychology at Fort Hays Kansas State
College. During his teaching Kelly began to formulate a theory of personality. Finally in 1955,
he published the book, The Psychology of Personal Constructs. Then, In those days there were
the events of the Dust Bowl and The Depression that had a major impact on farming families
in Kansas, therefore Kelly took a more pro-humanist path in his life and opened a clinic service
in the countryside. In doing his ministry he used Freudian theory but over time he felt it was
incompatible with the situation in rural Kansas. Then he began to make his own explanations
and theories that of constructive alternativism, which means that, although there is only one
true reality, reality is always experienced from one perspective or another, or alternative
constructions that are in harmony with his theory of personal constructs. Kelly's diverse life
journey was born from the land of the countryside attending a large college and working in a
wide variety of different fields until returning again to the land of the countryside, always
aligned with his theory of personality, which emphasizes the possibility of carrying out
interpretations of events from several possible angles.
2.2 Personality Structure
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2.2.1 Personal Construct Theory
George Kelly's Personal Construct Theory (1955) is strongly based on
individual cognition. Kelly (1963) states that individual psychological processes are
channeled to how a person anticipates the experiences that occur. In other words, each
individual is a scientist who always makes his own theories and models in order to
anticipate various events. All theories are constructed from a construct system with two
opposite points, such as good-bad or happy-sad. A construct is a person's way of
interpreting something (event) that is considered setipe but different from others (Kelly,
1963). When the individual is able to perceive something, then it is the construct that
will shape a person's behavior. This concept is used to group events and map a set of
behaviors.
2.2.2 Types of Personality Structure (Corollary))
There is no absolute construct. Man develops various constructs throughout his
life, given the very many experiences that occur in life. Each individual uses a different
personal construct and does not set constructs so that they become exactly the same
between individuals. Existing constructs can change, can be corrected or modified
because humans and events are unique, always changing over time and it is called
constructive alternativism.
Kelly divides the personality structure into 11 types, namely: (1) Construction
Corollary, a person uses the same understanding and views in interpreting events that
are considered setipe, and to anticipate them in the future. (2) Individuality Corollary,
each individual has its own uniqueness that makes the way of understanding and
interpreting each event different so that the constructs built are different. (3)
Organization Corollary, an individual organizes his construct in a system of levels or
hierarchies. For example, a person forms a construct of kindness, then has branches,
such as friendly, polite, polite, cheap smile, and so on. (4) Dichotomy Corollary, a
human construct system consisting of a number of dichotomous constructs, e.g. good-
bad. (5) Choice Corollary, the individual has an alternative choice of existing
dichotomous constructs thus considering the range of his or her options in the future.
(6) Range Corollary, a construct can only be used to anticipate certain events (some
can be used for a variety of situations, some can only be used for limited situations).
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(7) Experience Corollary, the human construct system changes as a result of the
changing human experience. (8) Corollary Modulation, variations in the construct
system are limited by the impregnation of the construct; too easy or too difficult to
absorb something. (9) Fragmentation Corollary, in personal constructs, the human
being sometimes experiences inconsistencies in the face of events and man tolerates it.
(10) Commonality Corollary, when a person's psychological processes are the same as
those of others, the individual may apply the same construct as the other person. Both
in terms of cultural norms, morality, and ideality. (11) Sociality Corollary, the
individual forms the process of construction of others so that it can play a role in a
social process that involves others.
2.3 Personality Dynamics
Kelly does not base human behavior on motivations, drives, needs. That's because the
term describes humans as rigid, whereas humans are essentially active, living and struggling
organisms.
According to Kelly's personal construct theory, in order to know a person's personality,
it is necessary to know how he constructs his world. By constructing means that individuals
perceive, interpret, categorize, and map behavior to their world, so that they can also anticipate
events that may be experienced.
Individuals form constructs by observing everyday experiences or events and
organizing them (in terms of similarities and differences). From these dichotomous constructs,
individuals choose alternatives that they think are the best opportunity to anticipate the future.
That is the reason individuals behave for certain behaviors, not motivation.
The process is described by Kelly in the C-P-C Cycle (Circumspection-Preemption-
Control Cycle) model, namely: 1. Circumspection (carefully constructing its environment,
considering different constructs in the situation it perceives); 2. Preemption (selecting the
appropriate construct, narrowing it down, and considering the last resort/action); 3. C Cycle
(processing last resort).
Although individuals construct (perceive, interpret, and anticipate) their world,
sometimes individuals can experience anxiety when they have no construct of the event at hand
or feel threatened when they feel a shock in their construct system. In response to that anxiety,
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individuals may submerge (submerge one end of the construct dimension in order to perceive
the event in a familiar and comfortable way) or suspend (stop or delay elements that are not
good for the construct). Whereas in the face of threats individuals have a choice between
certainty or stressful reality and widespread understanding.
2.4 Personality development
According to Secheret (1963), Kelly never explicitly referred to his original construct
system. Kelly states that these constructs stem from trying to construct replications (answers)
of events that occur. Kelly elaborated on different types of events so that different constructs
were formed. Kelly states that development emphasizes preverbal constructs in times of infancy
and cultural interpretation involved in the process of learned and experienced expectations. So
people who have the same cultural group and develop certain ways of constructing events, they
will also develop the same kinds of expectations about certain types of behavior.
Development research related to the theory of personal constructs generally emphasizes
two types of change. First, an exploration of the increasing complexity of age-related construct
systems. Second, exploration of qualitative changes in the constructive environment and
children's ability to be more empathetic or alert to other people's construct systems. Regarding
the complexity of construct systems, there is evidence that as children develop, they increase
the number of constructs available to them, make good differences and demonstrate a more
hierarchical organization or integration. When it comes to empathy, there is evidence that as it
develops, awareness of many events is not related to the self and children's ability to appreciate
the constructs of others increases.
There are several research results related to Kelly's views. Signell (1966) posits that
between the ages of 9 and 16, children become more complex in the realm of their cognition,
their development tends to become more abstract on the way of thinking. They have a broader
way of interpreting their environment and are also more flexible in interpreting events. Then
there are studies that state that the level of cognitive complexity of subjects is closely related
to the level of complexity of stimuli they obtain in childhood (Sechrest & Jackson, 1961). Other
studies have found that parents who have complex cognitive domains, such as rich in ideas and
broad in thinking, are more supportive of developing children's independence (autonomy) and
less supportive of the development of authoritarian traits, when compared to parents who have
low cognitive complexity.
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2.5 Resulting Therapeutic Techniques
Kelly uses fixed-role psychotherapy techniques. In this therapy, the client must find its
purpose and be active while the therapist is in charge of helping to change the client's construct.
This therapy has the objective of changing the client's construct regarding their view of life by
performing a pre-established role. This therapy is also expected to be able to discover hidden
aspects of the client's self but are not aimed at solving specific problems.
This fixed role therapy is carried out gradually. The first stage is while in a therapeutic
state and the second is in the outer environment of the therapy. When outside the therapeutic
condition, the client for several weeks performs the role. At first the client is asked to perform
side roles, once the client is comfortable, the client will be asked to perform a new core role
that makes for a deeper personality change.
Kelly also uses the Role Construct Repertory procedure to see who are the significant
people in the client's life. This test is performed either outside or inside the therapy session.
During this Rep test, a person is given a list of role names then asked to enter people who match
the role name and write their name on a paper. This Rep test has several versions but all of
them aim to conduct a personal construct assessment. In this rep test there are no standard rules,
so the reliability and validity are not very high and depend largely on the tester's skills.
2.6 Recent Research
Recent research related to the theory of personal constructs is research on art
psychotherapy which is discussed according to the point of view of personal construct theory
(Havsteen-Franklin et al., 2017). The purpose of this study was more or less to find out how
art psychotherapists explain their practice in one session with clients who have severe mental
disorders. This research was conducted by interviewing several art psychotherapists and of
course using the personal construct psychology interview method. The interview process
consists of four phases and is conducted by seven interviewers with seven art psychotherapists.
Then the data is processed and discussed further by researchers.
The results of the interviews showed very mixed results, namely that there were 30
bipolar constructs. Then came the opportunity to use words describing the construct into a more
general theme. The construct is then divided into 14 related themes that can describe the
problem or theme in more detail.
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The results of the interview also illustrate the variety of descriptions of art
psychotherapy that fit the personal construct of the art psychotherapist. The diversity of these
constructs needs to be categorized so that this art psychotherapy can be understood through
simpler language. It's just that when these therapeutic actions are categorized it will seem to
oversimplify interpersonal actions and very complex art. As for example, a dance
psychotherapist describes the use of ropes in therapy in a non-verbal way can indicate the
client's relationship with others. However, researchers point out that in fact art therapy has a
common language. On the other hand, Jung mentions that the plurality of approaches reflects
only our limited knowledge of the human mind (Jung, 2014 in Havsteen-Franklin et al., 2017).
Then is there a common language for the actions that an art psychotherapist takes in his
clinical work when presented with certain clinical symptoms? If there is indeed a common
language we can see the role of various constructs in relation to what works best for whom.
Ideally, quantitative research will be conducted that can understand the impact of the set of
constructs used and the hypothetical effects of those constructs in the treatment mechanism.
Art therapists appear to develop discourse predominantly primarily through training,
supervision, and organizational demands. However, this study also helps to capture some
constructs in sessions that develop through pragmatism, intuition, trial and error and are not
brought to consciousness through other institutional processes, suggesting that the psychology
of personal constructs also has something to offer to gain more coverage of clinical
perspectives.
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CHAPTER 3
CONCLUSION
3.1 Conclusion
The theory of personality according to George Kelly is called the Personal Construct
Theory. It contains that man considered Kelly as a scientist who used his cognition to anticipate
events with constructs constructed within each individual. A person builds constructs from
birth to old age and is dynamic in nature. This theory then produces a therapeutic technique
called Fixed Role Therapy, there is also a test that results from this theory, namely the Role
Construct Repertory to see who are the significant people in the client's life, which can be done
during therapy or outside of therapy. The Theory of Personal Constructs also encourages
researchers to make research, one of which is art psychotherapy.
3.2 Advice
The author is aware of the limitations and shortcomings in writing this paper. We hope
that readers can study this material further and in depth with other broader literature. We expect
constructive criticism and suggestions for the creation of an even better paper.
