George Kelly

I often find myself, when reading psychological research that makes academic breakthrough, agreeing with everything that is written but today I made an exception. For example, when studying political theory when younger I can recall agreeing with everything John Stuart Mill said ‘On Liberty’ as well everything in Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s ‘Social Contract’. As I now research my next book – ‘Brilliant Idea’ – I came across George Kelly’s excellent work in the 1950’s on ‘Personal Constructs’. I have often used the idea that many of us live our lives according to an autobiography that has been written – in other words we become prisoners of the kind of person we have been up to now rather than aspiring to the kind of person we could become. The prisoner is the kind of person who says ‘I am as I am’ with no recognition that we can and do change.

The idea is that we all have different ‘constructs’ or interpretations of what is real and will often live accordingly. When that construct is challenged it creates great difficulty/anxiety for us. Kelly states, and I believe wrongly, that this is not the same as saying ‘my world is THE world’. I think that an individual’s interpretation of the world and all of the ‘events’ and occurrences that occur within that individuals life that create our overall interpretation, are the building blocks (and blocks is a good word here) that can, if we are not careful, suck us into an increasingly one-dimensional existence. We do not allow for the possibility that we might be wrong and perhaps only do so after great internal struggle.

It may be that I am mis-interpreting Kelly’s work – and therefore applying my own personal construct to what he wrote. But I did find much to enjoy in what he said and recommend to any readers his repertory (or ‘rep’) grid) which will help you understand your own ‘personal constructs’, around values and personality issues, so much better. Are you a prisoner too? Mark Brown covers this in his ‘Dinosaur Strain’ book very well.


Music of the day: It is not often I recommend classical music but I bought Tamas Vasary’s 1965 interpretations of various Chopin piano pieces in Montpellier yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed them. (Deutsche Grammofon)