Concurs with N. M. Agnew and J. L. Brown’s views that ontological and epistemological presuppositions impose certain constraints on the pursuit of knowledge. These authors have captured the constructivist thrust of G. A. Kelly’s (1955) psychology of personal constructs in their central theme.

Excerpt: We will look at the development of constructivism in some detail, however, as it is claimed that PCP is a primary exemplar of it. Constructivism has been referred to as a “fuzzy set,” and there is some confusion about exactly what constitutes it. We will argue that it represents an interesting synthesis of pragmatism, phenomenology, and hermeneutics. As such, || it brings together and makes explicit the philosophical links and latencies related to the psychology of personal constructs.

Excerpt: In 1955, two heavy volumes containing 1218 pages of The Psychology of Personal Constructs landed on the desks of psychologists. Kelly’s ‘brief introduction’ in the previous chapter is, in relation to the two volumes, indeed brief. The reception of this revolutionary work was mixed. We discuss some of the difficulties experienced by reviewers and subsequent readers later in this chapter. But, first, a word about the man who created this work.

Excerpt: In 1955 George Kelly published his major two-volume opus entitled “The Psychology of Personal Constructs.” This was the culmination of more than twenty years pioneering work in psychology and is the synthesis of Kelly’s own experiences, not only in the practice of clinical psychology but also in his wide-ranging educational background, receiving degrees in physics, mathematics, educational sociology, education and psychology.

Beginning with The Psychology of Personal Constructs (Kelly, 1955/1991a, 1955/1991b), constructivist theorizing has been an integral aspect of psychology and psychotherapy. A family of theories that assume that reality is in some way created by persons, constructivism both anticipated and benefited from the current interest in postmodern philosophies in psychology. Despite constructivism’s powerful influence in helping shift psychology toward more postmodern understandings of the world, most therapists have little idea of the ways in which constructivist approaches can and do contribute to helping humans solve even the most severe problems. In this chapter, we hope to provide a brief overview of some of the many ways in which constructivist therapies can liberate people to approach life more creatively and courageously. We begin by providing an overview of constructivist assumptions and philosophies. This is followed by a brief discussion of classic constructivist approaches to therapy. Next, we briefly describe some of the more recent developments in constructivist thought. We conclude with our thoughts on the future of constructivist therapy. Because of space limitations, we focus on individual therapy; however, we provide references for those interested in other approaches.

Kelly’s personal construct psychology proposes that attributing meaning to experience is the most fundamental process of human psychological functioning. He describes psychological activity as a continuous process of creating, testing and revising personal theories (usually implicit) that allow people to understand and anticipate events. Depressive mood is highly influenced by the subject’s view of him or herself and others, and by the organization of his or her constructs. The content of these personal constructs has received far less attention from researchers. The main goal of this article is to complement the PCP model of depression through the content analysis of personal constructs. The results indicate that content patterns of depressed people show various specific thematic emphases.

Kelly’s constructive epistemology needs to transcend its background of instrumentalism arising from Dewey’s influence. What enables us to well avoid instrumentalism is a notion of truth that incorporates both coherence and correspondence. If we were to abandon coherence, we would have to embrace the naïve conception of realism, while by abandoning correspondence we would have to embrace instrumentalism because we would have to consider the workability of a theory or a construction system and its coherence with previously successful ones as constituting the truth of a given theory or construction system. Such a realistic constructivism provides a more satisfactory conception of personal constructs. According to this view, we no longer think that personal constructs are either true or false, rather they are divided into true and false in accordance with the grasp of reality reflected in our best theories. In other words, having provided a theory of truth, we are ready to compare different personal constructs with the grasp of reality involved in the theory in terms of their correspondence with that grasp. Furthermore, this conception of constructivism makes it possible to talk of the approximation of personal constructs to reality. Having provided a conception of correspondence, not only have we avoided instrumentalism, but also talking of approximation makes more sense. This is because our best theories provide an account of the world with reference to which we can talk of more or less approximate personal constructs. In this sense, more valid personal constructs are those that are more approximate, that is, more correspondent to the reality.

The core consideration with which George Kelly is concerned is distilled in his suggestion that the psychology of personal constructs represents an attempt to catch a glimpse of the person going about the business of being human. Whatever the business of being human is for Kelly, he is clear that he wishes to understand that business from the perspective of those who are going about it. To use Kelly’s words, he wants to take the perspective of the “inward outlook” and in so doing move away from the “outward inlook,” providing a radical rethink of the psychology that was contemporary of his time. This article will suggest that the unsophisticated way that Kelly dealt with language has implications for the theoretical carriage of this “inner outlook” and opens up Personal Construct Psychology to elaboration in the direction of a more sophisticated account of language. This article will culminate in a suggestion that Personal Construct Psychology make a more tight hermeneutic turn to Hermeneutic Constructivism.

Key words: Hermeneutic construction, language, personal construct theory, philosophy.

Kelly’s work was formed and developed in the context of the American philosophical movement known as pragmatism. The major figures to which this tradition is attributed are Charles S. Peirce, William James and John Dewey. In Personal Construct Psychology, Dewey was acknowledged by Kelly and by subsequent writers as perhaps his most important influence. It has recently become increasingly apparent, however that Peirce was a much more pervasive and crucial influence on James and Dewey than has previously been recognized. Kelly did not mention Peirce but a close reading of the two writers reveals a remarkable correspondence and relationship between their two bodies of work. To set these two thinkers side by side proves to be an interesting and productive exercise. In this paper, after introducing Peirce and examining the relationship between him and Dewey, Kelly’s basic philosophical assumptions, as outlined at the beginning of Volume 1 of the Psychology of Personal Constructs, are used as a framework for exploring their similarities and differences. The result is an enrichment of our understanding of Kelly’s philosophy which allows us to make links with many different subsequent thinkers’ ideas and provides a basis for exploring the psychological aspects of the two men’s work. The latter forms the subject of Part II of this series which is in preparation.

Key words: peirce, kelly, pragmatism, personal construct psychology, constructivism.

The aim of this study was to explore the structural characteristics of the construct systems of women who had suffered intimate partner violence (IPV). We compared a group of 40 women victims of IPV and 40 controls using the symptom check list (SCL-90-R) and the repertory grid technique (RGT). IPV victims showed more psychological symptoms, higher polarization and unidimensional thinking, and more implicative dilemmas than the comparison group. In contrast to previous assumptions and findings about their low self-esteem, no significant differences were found with the control group in the actual self–ideal self discrepancy measure of the RGT. These cognitive characteristics of the construct system should be taken into account in efforts to assist IPV victims psychologically. For example, if results were confirmed by further studies, interventions should give priority to dilemma resolution over self-esteem enhancement as a focus of therapy. Relevance: This a study based on personal construct theory and uses the Repertory Grid Technique to systematically study the personal constructs of women who have been victims of their partner.