1. Introduction
Personality is a pattern of relatively permanent traits and unique characteristics that gives both consistency and individuality to a person’s behavior (Feist & Feist, 2008).
For centuries, philosophers, personality theorists and other thinkers have been trying to answer: what personalities are like, how personalities are developed, why different personalities are developed and how personalities can be changed (Pervin & Cervone, 2013). George A. Kelly, an American psychologist born in 1905 in Kansa, is one of those major contributors in the field of personality psychology (Warren, 1998). In this paper, I am writing to critically review George A. Kelly's perspective on personality. I will first review Kelly's philosophy of personality. Then, I will review major concepts of Kelly's theory. Finally, I will critically evaluate Kelly's theory and share personal reflection on writing this paper.
2. Kelly’s Philosophy of Personality
Kelly's philosophy is positioned between two classical schools of thought. Behaviorist suggests that behavior is shaped by environment, in other words reality (Skinner, 1953). Phenomenologist holds that the only reality is what people perceive (Combs & Snygg, 1959). Kelly assumes that reality do exists while people may construe it in different ways (Kelly, 1955). He refers this assumption to be "Constructive Alternativism" (Kelly, 1963).
3. Kelly’s Theory of Personality
Kelly believes that people construe and predict daily life events in different ways, and the ways of construction and prediction define personalities (Stevens & Walker, 2002). Most of Kelly's ideas are presented in his two-volume book titled The Psychology of Personal Constructs (1995). To review his theory systematically, I...
... middle of paper ...
...s "The Psychology of Personal Constructs". The Psychology of Personal Constructs, Contemporary Psychology, 1, 357-358.
Skinner, B. F. (1953). Science and human behavior. New York: Macmillan.
Stevens, C. D., & Walker, B. M. (2002). Insight: Transcending the obvious. In R. A. Neimeyer & G. J. Neimeyer (Eds.), Advances in personal construct psychology: New directions and perspectives (pp. 39–79). Westport, CT: Praeger.
Viney, L.L., Metcalfe, C., & Winter, D.A. (2005). The effectiveness of personal construct psychotherapy: a meta-analysis. In D.A. Winter & L.L. Viney (Eds.), Personal construct psychotherapy: Advances in theory, practice and research, (pp. 347-64). London: Whurr.
Warren, B. (1998). Philosophical Dimensions of Personal Construct Psychology. London: Routledge.
Wertheimer, M. (1999). A Brief History of Psychology: Fifth Edition. New York: Psychology Press.
Does personality determine behavior? Phelps (2015) dived into this discussion in his article by reviewing the perspectives of personality, how psychology relates to behavior and the idea of self, and further, how behaviorists define personality and all of its components. Phelps (2015) compares and contrasts the common beliefs of personality and the view of self as attributed to personality theorists with those characterized by behavioral theorists. A typical understanding of personality is one that defines it as an internal substance that drives behavior, and therefore, by seeking to understand a person's personality we can almost assume their actions (Phelps, 2015). Behavioral theorists, on the other hand, do not lean on vague internal conditions to explain behavior, but rather they evaluate a person's past and present settings to define behavior, according to Phelps (2015). The conclusion is that behaviorists' perspectives on these topics are far more parsimonious in nature and most popular views of personality speak to a more internal and far-reaching position rather than the behavior itself (Phelps, 2015). Likewise, Phelps (2015) addresses the issue of meeting specific criteria for discerning whether a theoretical viewpoint is valid in helping us understand people. He continued to remark that behaviorists' stances meet a large portion of the criteria as presented by Gordon Allport (Phelps, 2015). For example, they have less assumptions, they are consistent, and not to mention, they are testable and falsifiable, Phelps (2015) supports. In my opinion and critical review, this article is useful because it provides an unbiased assessment of a variety of personality theories and definitions of personality and the self. Likewise, it is simple and easy to understand, thus qualifying it as parsimonious. Overall, I think the article did its ultimate job of evaluating different perspectives and
One of the major criticisms of Kellys Personal Construct Theory is that he finds it hard to explain why constructs are laid down in the first place and why one would rigourously defend the threat to a core construct. What kick starts the Construct system into defending itself when motivation is clearly and explicitly lacking in his theory?
Bibliography 3rd edition Psychology (Bernstein-Stewart, Roy, Srull, & Wickens) Houghton Mifflin Company Boston, Massachusetts 1994
...onson, E., Wilson, T.D., & Akert, R.M. (2013). Social Psychology (8th ed.). New Jersey: Pearson Education Inc.
Hazan, C., & Shaver, P. (1987). Journal of personality and social psychology and. Retrieved from http://internal.psychology.illinois.edu/~broberts/Hazan & Shaver, 1987.pdf
Waiten,W., (2007) Seventh Edition Psychology Themes and Variations. University of Nevada, Las Vegas: Thomson Wadsworth.
Gall, S. B., Beins, B., & Feldman, A. (2001). The gale encyclopedia of psychology. (2nd ed., pp. 271-273). Detroit, MI: Gale Group.
Feist, J., & Feist, G. J. (2009). Theories of Personality (7th ed.). New York, New York: McGraw-Hill.
Personality is patterns of thinking, behavior and emotional responses that make up individuality over time. Psychologist attempt to understand how personality develops and its impact on how we behave. Several theories attempt to explain personality, using different approaches. The social-cognitive and humanistic approaches are two of many theories that attempt to explain personality. This essay will identify the main concepts of social-cognitive and humanistic approach, identify perspective differences and discuss approach limitations.
(Feldman, 2009; Pg. 401) (Feldman, 2009; Pg. 401) (Feldman, 2009; Pg. 401-402) (Feldman, 2009; Pg. 401-402) ¬Essentials of Understanding Psychology, 8th Edition Robert S. Feldman McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2009
Magnavita, J. J. (2002). Theories of personality: Contemporary approaches to the science of personality. New York: Wiley.
Personality can be defined as an individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling and acting. Many personality theorists have put forward claims as to where personality is derived from and how it develops throughout an individual’s life. The two main personality theories this essay will be focusing on is the Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) (Bandura, 1986) and the Trait Theory – Five Factor Theory (FFT) (McCrae and Costa, 1995). The SCT allocates a central role to cognitive, observational learning and self-regulatory processes (Bandura, 1986). An individual’s personality develops through experiences with their sociocultural environment. Whereas the Trait Theory proposes that all individuals are predisposed with five traits (Extraversion, Openness, Conscientiousness, Agreeableness and Neuroticism) which determines our personality. This theory also puts forward that personality is stable and cannot change as it’s biologically determined.
Applying the tenets of this theory to personality, Skinner felt that our environment and society shapes who we are and the personality traits that we develop. Instead of changing our internal response...
Edited by Raymond J. Corsini. Encyclopedia of Psychology, Second Edition, Volume 1. New York: John Wiley and Sons Inc.
This book sets off with the ideas of 50 popular psychologists and comprises their development over a century in time. It explores and provides their crucial thoughts and insights into the personality, mind and human nature, bringing together their most influential concepts and theories collected.