George A. Kelly’s Cognitive Theory of Personality is phenomenological and focuses on the internal frame of reference of an individual. His theory is both cognitive and existential because it studies mental events and it emphasizes the future and individual’s freedom to choose. It is also humanistic because it focuses on creative powers and is optimistic about an individual’s ability to solve problems. Like Freud, Kelly started his theory from a blank slate and created an entirely new concept. His theory differed greatly from Freud’s, however, because Freud focused on the animalistic forces of our unconscious while Kelly focused on the human capacity to reflect on oneself, the world, and the future (Cervone & Pervin, 2013, p. 391). Kelly took a different approach to the study of personality and behavior than psychologists before him. The cognitive theory of personality refers to thinking processes at the center point of the analysis of personality and individual differences (Cervone & Pervin, 2013, p. 391). Kelly’s theory explains how individuals actively use scientific thinking to group people and behaviors into categories for interpretation instead of passively reacting to the environment. A main focus of Kelly’s theory is the concept of personal constructs. Constructs are ideas or categories people use to interpret their world and are considered an element of knowledge (Cervone & Pervin, 2013, p. 391). There are three elements required to form a construct: two similar elements and one that is different (Cervone & Pervin, 2013, p. 397). According to his theory, all people are basically scientists that use scientific processes to develop ideas that enable us to predict significant events in our life (Cervone & Pervin, 2013, p. 396). People interpret, explain, or predict, the events in their lives through the utilization of Kelly’s constructs. Ultimately, a scientist is trying to reduce uncertainty in a particular subject area just like an individual categorizes his or her surroundings to reduce uncertainty. Kelly’s theory is organized into a fundamental postulate and eleven corollaries. His fundamental postulate says “A person’s processes are psychologically channelized by the ways in which he anticipates events” (Boeree, 2006). The processes are referring to a person’s experiences, thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. We use our surroundings and personal experience to interpret our surroundings and make assumptions of what to expect in the future. For example, most people return a smile if someone smiles at them so the expectation is that if I smile at someone they will reciprocate. I have an expectation of how someone will react based on past experiences. The cognitive theory of personality can be utilized both personally and professionally. This theory emphasizes that how each individual interprets the same situation might be very different because we all understand or perceive reality differently. This is important when dealing with people because we must always remember that our interpretation of the situation might be very different. In my workplace, we emphasize this idea when teaching employees about harassment and how to avoid it. The biggest lesson is that you are held accountable for how your actions or words are perceived, not how your intentions. This means that a person may think they are being funny but someone else’s interpretation, or reality, is that they are being offensive. It is always important to try and see things from other perspectives, both personally and professionally. Cognitive theories can be very effective in explaining human behaviors, however, I would not consider it more effective than other theories. Kelly created an excellent theory that explains how the human mind interprets situations, categorizes things, and anticipates events. However, I feel that the theory lacks the foundations of how personality is developed. The cognitive theory is a great tool to analyze the current state of an individual’s personality and how they interact with others in different situations. I feel that the biological theory of personality development does a better job of explaining the development of our personality through biological and environmental resources.
Resources
Boeree, C. G. (2006). Personality theories: George Kelly. Retrieved from http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/kelly.html
Cervone, D., & Pervin, L. A. (2013). Personality: Theory and research (12th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
You May Also Find These Documents Helpful
-
Personality can be described as a set of characteristics possessed by an individual that has an effect on his or her behaviour. There are several personality theories within psychology which give different ideas and attempt to give an explanation about the way personality develops. The psychodynamic and social-cognitive theories are two of the many ways personality is explored in psychology. The psychodynamic theory explains personality in terms of interactions of various components whereas the social-cognitive theory focuses on the individuals thoughts in order to explain…
- 86 Words
- 1 Page
Satisfactory Essays -
George H. Kelly established the theory of personal constructs in which he maintained that all people are essentially scientists of their minds, and are attempting to determine what does and does not work. Additionally, people are particularly motivated by both anticipation and predictability. Personal constructs is basically an idea that tries to explain how a person perceives the world and attempts to make predictions so as to have a degree of influence over it (McAdams, 2006). Additionally, every person establishes a methodology of processing data, which may possibly have been inherited from a previous generation, influenced through culture, or learned from one’s own experiences.…
- 290 Words
- 2 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
Because they both thought in terms of privacy an power, Nixon and Kissinger could relate well to one another, according to Kelly's _____ Corollary.…
- 632 Words
- 8 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
Behaviorism, particularly operant conditioning, emphasizes the role of the environment in shaping personality growth and development. Using what you know about Skinnerian theory, answer the following questions:…
- 689 Words
- 3 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
2. Reflect on what we learned about the humanistic movement in psychology. How was it different from other psychological theories that came before it? What were its main goals? How did many aspects of the “human potential movement” fail to adhere to the goals that were set forth by the founders of humanistic psychology?…
- 646 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
When an individual anticipates or predicts an event, they base it on observation and experimentation. This anticipation or prediction form constructs, which may very well change or stabilize as the individual gains more experience or proves his or her speculation true. The idea of constructs is shared through words from individual to individual, however the details of the constructs are more meaningful to one individual or the other depending on who shared that particular constructs (McAdams, 2006). This is how individuals develop his or her personal constructs.…
- 564 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Psychoanalytic perspective is based on Sigmund Frued perspectives about early experiences it focuses on the importance of the unconscious mind which contains thoughts, wishes, feelings and memories/past experiences in which we are unaware of. The id operates on the pleasure principle by satisfying basic urges, needs, and desires. Ego operates on the reality principle, satisfies the id’s desires in ways that it will cause pleasure instead of pain. Superego strives for perfection, positive feelings and negative feelings of guilt. These three systems were interactions of Frued’s view of personality structure. Freud perspective also focused on psychosexual stages which is the childhood stages of development. Defense mechanisms are methods of reducing anxiety. This perspective could account for the development of introverted and an extroverted personality…
- 1015 Words
- 5 Pages
Better Essays -
. .” was something that puzzled me when I began reading (p. 297). As I continued reading, I began to understand the reasons for Kelly’s suggestion. He treated life as a science experiment, which we perceive life as what we want it to be it. It also seemed like Kelly’s personal construct theory suggests that people live a life through trial and error method. A person formulates a hypothesis about the environment and tests them against reality, if it does not deem fit, the person is free to revise and replace constructs. This implies that life is a guessing game, we choose to perceive a situation in one way, and if we do not like it, we can change our perception. We can continuously change our perception, and personality until we find it…
- 408 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
In the most basic turns, the social cognitive theory refers to the view that one learns by watching the behavior of others. With mass media becoming more and more relevant in today’s society, understanding how symbolic communication influences human thought, affect, and action is essential (Bandura, 2002, p. 265). In this transactional view, personal factors such as cognitive, affective, and biological events, behavioral patterns, and environmental events, work simultaneously and operate as interacting determinants that influence each other (Bandura, 2002, pg. 266). The theory has been applied in varied and diverse areas of life, including one’s career choice, organizational behavior, athletics, and even mental and physical health (Pajares,…
- 1243 Words
- 5 Pages
Better Essays -
When people speak of someone having a personality they usually think of out an outgoing person or an abrasive person who can command attention. It is also usually stated in society that a quiet introverted person lacks a personality In psychology personality is defined as being made up of the characteristic patterns of thoughts, feelings and behaviors that make a person unique. SO with that being said it can be concluded that everyone person has a personality from the most loud and boisterous person to the most quite and meek person. In this paper I will describe the personality perspectives, how personality develops, and finally how personality can be assessed. There are 4 perspectives that can be used to describe how a personality is shaped. Those four perspectives of personality are the psychoanalytic perspective, humanistic perspective, social cognitive perspective, and the trait perspective.…
- 645 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Personality is made up with qualities and beliefs that that we have that make up whom we are. Personality starts at birth and could under go changes as we age. Who we were in high school may not be who we are now in college. Psychologist incorporates ideas and theories to define personality and the changes behind it by using experimental designs to back up their research. Many psychologists have tried to define what personality is through their own theories and what they envisioned it could possibly be, and by analyzing their concept and theories this will help me determine my own personality and the changes that occur as I age.…
- 568 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
There are so many different kinds of theories. In the language of Thomas Kuhn (1970), no single paradigm serves as a theoretical model accepted by the entire field of personality (Cloninger, S., 2013). There different perspective theories are psychoanalysis, learning theory, trait approaches, and humanistic psychology; they all work together. Researching these different kinds of perspectives will allow me to understand the perspective better and how they work.…
- 1542 Words
- 7 Pages
Better Essays -
Throughout history, psychological theories have been shown shape and impact people’s thoughts, behavior, and worldview. Theories such as those introduced by Karen Horney, George Kelly, and Abraham Maslow are prime examples. Horney presented the interpersonal psychoanalytic theory, which carried a modern view of biological roles and interpersonal relationships. Kelly offered up his own theory called the personal construct theory; the focus lies on an individual’s constructs or cognitions, which branch out to apply to emotions and behavior as well. The final theory comes from Abraham Maslow called the need hierarchy theory. This theory emphasizes the necessity of lower-order…
- 1683 Words
- 7 Pages
Better Essays -
In order to understand the concept of personality theories, one must submerge themselves into research. The study of personality may sound simple, but it is very broad and it is supported by many different theoretical perspectives. Nevertheless, one can focus on one of the theories developed by influential individuals in the field of psychology to try to understand personality with their theoretical perspective. Erik Erikson was a very significant individual in the field of psychology who created his own theory of human development. He explained the development of individuals with his psychosocial theory of development, which developed into also explaining individuals personalities.…
- 891 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
Chapter 10 involves learning about personalities; psychodynamic, humanistic, trait, personological and life story, social cognitive, and biological perspectives. Personality is a pattern of enduring, distinctive thoughts, emotions, and behaviors that characterize the way an individual adapts to the world. Psychodynamic perspectives on personality emphasize that personality is primarily unconscious. The structures of personality are id, ego, and superego. The id consists of unconscious drives and is the individual's reservoir of sexual energy. The ego deals with the demands of reality, and the superego is the harsh internal judge of our behavior. Different from Freud’s approach to personality, Adler's individual psychology was where people are motivated by purposes and goals, perfection, not pleasure.…
- 433 Words
- 2 Pages
Satisfactory Essays