What contribution did Personal Construct

Theory make to psychology?

Introduction

George Kelly’s personal construct theory is a theory unlike any other. It had to be, for as well as proposing a

radical new approach to understanding personality, Kelly aimed to redefine the general nature of psychological

theory (Bannister and Fransella, 1980). It therefore had a great deal to offer. It proposed new and imaginative

view of personality and of how people processed and constructed knowledge. But Kelly did not see his theory

as being only cognitive in nature as it is often said (e.g. Eysenck, 1995; Pervin, 1970). He wanted it to

encompass all aspects of psychology so that it could be used by all. In fact, he hoped that it would go some way

to uniting the various strands of psychology, which had become an uncomfortably segmented discipline (e.g.

Kelly, 1966). Furthermore, the ‘repertory grid’ (the major clinical tool of the theory) presented an exciting and

therapeutic instrument which Kelly himself used to great effect. Yet, despite his ardent claims, personal

construct theory was greeted with only minimal enthusiasm, and has not had the impact on psychology that its

author had hoped. The aim of this essay is to suggest some ideas as to why the evident potential of his theory

has not yet been released.

Kelly’s theory

Personal construct theory was outlined formally in 1955. It has the admirable refinement of being outlined in one

basic postulate. This describes how “a person’s processes are psychologically channelized by the ways in

which he anticipates events”. This, and eleven colloraries reveal how Kelly sees the person as a scientist who

continually expands and defines his ‘construct system’ in order to make increasingly accurate predictions about

the future.

Personal construct theory is important in a number of ways. It gives great credit to the individual. Kelly argued

that humans make rational decisions in accordance with their own unique set of ideas about the world. In the

words of Fransella and Bannister, “construct psychology treats scientists as persons and persons as scientists”

(1980, p.13). Whereas other personality theories treated the person as if fragmented into constituents such as

cognition, will, and affect, personal construct theory united these elements into one construct system. Kelly

simply did not accept that emotions could be distinguished from thought in any useful way. By no means did

everyone accept these assertions, but those that did had their construct of psychology both enlarged and

defined, and unified.

It was an original theory, and it forsook psychological concepts that had gone before it. Kelly often produced

striking statements such as “I am always perplexed at how long it took me to reach certain ‘obvious

conclusions’, [such] as...the naivete of stimulus-response psychology, or the utter irresponsibility of such a

notion as “motivation” (1964, p.131). This did as much to alienate Kelly’s views from mainstream psychology as

it did to popularise his theory. His lively, often confrontational writing style may have won him a small group of

avid supporters, but it is likely that many of these were ‘fringe’ psychologists like Kelly himself (Davisson, 1978).

Despite Kelly’s thoughtful and formal presentation (1955), personal construct theory is often misunderstood.

Textbooks often refer to the theory as being cognitive, and repeatedly accuse Kelly of neglecting emotions in his

theory. This was born out of Kelly’s desire to unite thought and emotion in one theory. Hence although emotions

were given no special treatment in personal construct theory, they were dealt with intricately, albeit implicitly,

throughout.

Other misconstructions seem more serious. One book describes the theory as one dealing with actual versus

ideal identities (Hampson, 1982). While Kelly did maintain that a person’s objective was to continually “move

towards what he was not” (Kelly, 1980 p.20), he did not attempt to define just what that was, and he made no

mention an ideal self.

There are several possible reasons for these misinterpretations. Firstly, the original nature of personal construct

theory meant that the reader has to come to terms with novel ideas exclusive to Kelly. Secondly, because Kelly

did not attach himself to any one psychological approach, it is hard to compare it to other theories in a useful

way. Thirdly, Kelly’s use of language was as unique as it was entertaining. He “dearly loved contriving a fine bit

of terminology” (Fransella and Bannister, 1980, p.4). The extensive and sometimes obscure use of jargon

makes personal construct theory a difficult one to fully comprehend. It is both ironic and telling that Kelly should

find his own terminology used as criticism against his work. Artful and ingenious criticisms talk in terms of need

for ‘expansion and definition’ of personal construct theory, and describe emotion as being outside the ‘range of

convenience’ of Kelly’s ideas (e.g. McCoy, in Pervin, 1993; Holland, 1970, in Fransella and Bannister 1980).

Clever though these attacks may be, do they not provide the surest test of validity for those original terms
employed by Kelly? In any case, such a lack of understanding obviously limits the extent to which Kelly could

contribute to psychology.

Applications

Because Kelly was primarily a psychotherapist, personal construct theory is naturally suited to use in a clinical

setting. Kelly’s development of a therapeutic technique based directly on his theory provided a practical and

effective channel to a theory whose energy might otherwise have stayed within purely academic circles. The

repertory grid is a simple technique that Kelly claimed allowed the therapist a perceptive insight into the patient’s

constructions of the world. Changes in that system leading to the adoption of a more appropriate construction

system could then be invoked. Kelly showed how the repertory grid was useful in a variety of clinical settings,

and as such personal construct theory has been instrumental in the development of modern psychotherapy

(Pervin, 1993).

Recently, personal construct theory has found new applications in industrial-organisational psychology. Such

fields as occupational induction (Eden and Sims, 1981), market research and managing (Stewart and Stewart,

1982), and job-analysis (Easterbuer-Smith, 1980) have begun to benefit from the work of Kelly.

Growth in this area can be understood in three ways. Firstly, it talks in the manner of the employee rather than

in strictly psychological terms. By its very nature, personal construct theory uses the constructs and thereby

terminology of that personal utilising it. In the words of Jankowitz “the psychologist engages in dialogue in the

organisation’s terms, and becomes part of the organisation” (p.487). Secondly, the emphasis of personal

construct theory lies on content rather than structure. Because it is an ideographic approach, the content of

what the individual says is of crucial importance. This can be contrasted with theories that seek to generalise

about people by proposing rules that might govern the structure of their processing. Thirdly, advances in

computer technology have increased the potential usefulness of repertory grids. Computers can be used to

analyse large amounts of data, although not in as much detail as the psychotherapist. Whereas in a clinical

setting, the vast complexity of an individual’s construct system can be painstakingly difficult to uncover,

industrial applications are not so demanding. Rather than needing vast amounts of data for one individual, they

are more likely to need much more general information but for a much larger group of people. As such,
computers, although not particularly useful for the therapist, through their quick and efficient analysis of data

provide the industrial psychologist a labour saving device of great worth.

If personal construct theory as a whole has not been significantly influential, then that part of it which relates to

the repertory grid has been the most universally welcomed. The potent utility of this technique can only illustrate

the validity of Kelly’s theory1. The repertory grid is personal construct theory’s biggest asset.

Conceptual issues

Although an experienced psychologist, Kelly felt uncomfortable with the ideas of his time, and was especially

critical of psychoanalysis and behaviourism (e.g. Kelly, 1964). He spoke irreverently about the ideas of others

and refused to confine himself to existing psychological approaches. Kelly succeeded well in distancing

personal construct theory from any other approach. However, the price of such theoretical integrity was

isolation. Because Kelly did not affiliate personal construct theory with any psychological approach, he did not

gain the allies he needed to support and promote his ideas.

Kelly saw psychology as the study of the person as a whole, and was frequently discouraged by the way in

which psychologists looked at aspects of personality, such as behaviour, or intellect, independently. Kelly

explained thought, emotion, and behaviour collectively in terms of the individual constructs that people posses.

However, while Kelly may have had something to say about a diverse range of personality related phenomena,

he lacked clarity in certain areas. He was, for example, very indefinite about the developmental origin of a

persons constructs, and because he denied motivation, he said nothing about an area that many consider to be

a crucial aspect of personality (e.g. Bandura, 1969). To this extent, personal construct theory has more breadth

than depth.

It should be noted that Kelly welcomed the possibility of others developing his ideas, and invited progression

and evolution of his (or any) theory. An elaboration of personal construct psychology might increase its
1
It is true to say that, in the case of behavioural therapy, and, increasingly, cognitive therapy (e.g. Beck, 1967), there have
been doubts as to how much the success of the therapy rests upon the validity of the theory from which it was supposedly
derived. For example, behaviourism, as a psychological paradigm has now been replaced by cognitive psychology, and
now receives only minimal support. Behavioural therapy, on the other hand, its utility beyond question, is alive and well. It
cannot therefore be said that the therapy supports the validity of the theory. However, personal construct theory is
somewhat shielded from this attack.. The therapy is so intricately linked with the theory that it is almost impossible to
separate the two.
popularity within mainstream psychology. The current expansion of those fields using it may lead to changing

opinions and increased understanding of both its concept and relevance.

Conclusions

Personal construct theory gave an important contribution to psychotherapy in the form of the repertory grid. It

offered a more structured alternative to those who found psychoanalysis too subjective, and placed the

emphasis on what was actually being said rather than events in the unconscious. Kelly’s notion that people

were rational scientists and not “human organisms...propelled by inexorable drives welling up within them”

(1955, p.5) appears to be popular, and its appeal ranges from clinical to industrial settings. However, the

undeniable contribution of the repertory grid is far greater than that of the theory from which it was derived.

Personal construct theory never achieved general acceptance. Its impact on psychology was significantly

weakened by an apparently general lack of understanding of it. Kelly’s views were, if not confrontational,

certainly unconventional, and this may have limited its appeal. Furthermore, the acceptance of personal

construct psychology implies the rejection of some well-established concepts in psychology. The strong

assertions made by Kelly play a significant part in its alienation from mainstream psychology. Hence, its full

potential has been released most fully in areas only more loosely related to theoretical psychology. Its future

success is conditional: a resurgence in the popularity of personal construct theory will only occur if the current

enlargement and definition of its applications is accompanied by a weakening of its theoretical concept.

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