George Kelly and the Black Iron Prison

[Roaring Biscuit!]

I don't know how many people will have heard of this guy, I'd expect (the rather high) number of psychology (ex)students have, if so, then I suppose this probably has more relevance for those who haven't heard of him.

George Kelly, was a psychologist, lived from 1905 to 1967, and created something known as personal construct theory.

Personal.  Construct.  Theory.

Do you see where this is goin'?

Kelly was a man interested in personality, and disinterested in Freudian methods, which rely on an observer's interpretation.  Basically, Freudian psychoanalysis tells you an awful lot about the analyst and not an awful lot about the patient.

So, how to approach this dificult subject of "personality"!?

Kelly believed that our individual differences are due to the differing constructs we use to understand, group and differentiate the different elements that make up reality.  He used some pretty clever tests to tease the most important constructs out of patients.  A test that maps out constructs and how different elements relate to them, in a (semi)standardised way.

George Kelly scientifically studied the Black Iron Prison.

Then he went a step further.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Cognitive Restructuring, although they were/are aimed at treating psycholigical disorders, it reads like this (torn from wiki):

"The cognitive restructuring theory holds that your own unrealistic beliefs are directly responsible for generating dysfunctional emotions and their resultant behaviors, like stress, depression, anxiety, and social withdrawal, and that we humans can be rid of such emotions and their effects by dismantling the beliefs that give them life. Because one sets unachievable goals — "Everyone must love me; I have to be thoroughly competent; I have to be the best in everything" — a fear of failure results. Cognitive restructuring then advises to change such irrational beliefs and substitute more rational ones: "I can fail. Although it would be nice, I didn't have to be the best in everything."

-Ellis and Harper, 1975; Ellis 1998

(emphasis mine)

I fucking love George Kelly.

[BadBeast]

Sorry. I thought you meant George Melly.

[Golden Applesauce]

One of the topics we covered in my child psych class is that highschoolers / college students / young twentysomethings are supposed to be "constructing their identity."  Is Kelley arguing that this is BS?

I got into a small debate with my psych teacher over this. 

[Roaring Biscuit!]

Sorry. I thought you meant George Melly.

I'm not sure whether I should be pissed off at that or not.    anyway, you cantankerous bastard.

One of the topics we covered in my child psych class is that highschoolers / college students / young twentysomethings are supposed to be "constructing their identity."  Is Kelley arguing that this is BS?

Not entirely, Kelly says that we understand through "constructs", but constructs increase in subtlety  the more you know about (for example) a friend.  So I suppose you could say that highschool to 20somethings are constructing identity, as they learn more about the world, but from a Kellyan(?) point of view you are pretty much creating new constructs every time you experience novel stuff or learn more about the world around you.

Also, if you psych teacher does not subscribe to a fairly Kelly-esque way of thinking, they probably think of personality in one of two ways Freudian, or trait theory.  If Freudian I suggest "the Decline and Fall of the Freudian Empire" by Hans Eysenck (a trait theorist, unfortunately) so you can really nail your teacher to the wall :P

If she likes trait theory, try calmly explaining the circular logic and crippling reliability flaws in trait theory.  It's circular, because you are measuring the behaviour then inferring a trait from it, which you are then citing as the cause of the behaviour, there is no way of directly measuring the trait.  The reliability flaw (no the real name for it), is that trait measurements have no way of discerning between a persons personality actually changing over time, and the test being unreliable.

I fully endorse trolling psychologists,

x

edd,
studying psychology.

[Golden Applesauce]

I think she was more on the trait theory side, or possibly a situational+trait theory.  But that was all a few semesters ago.

The best way to troll psych professors, though, is to ask about the specifics of whatever study they mention.  Nine times out of ten they either didn't control for something obvious or there's another perfectly reasonable interpretation of the data.

One of the topics we covered in my child psych class is that highschoolers / college students / young twentysomethings are supposed to be "constructing their identity."  Is Kelley arguing that this is BS?

Not entirely, Kelly says that we understand through "constructs", but constructs increase in subtlety  the more you know about (for example) a friend.  So I suppose you could say that highschool to 20somethings are constructing identity, as they learn more about the world, but from a Kellyan(?) point of view you are pretty much creating new constructs every time you experience novel stuff or learn more about the world around you.

Are his "constructs" analogous to Piaget's "schemas" ?

[Doktor Howl]

WTF?

http://www.alcatrazhistory.com/mgk.htm

GEORGE KELLY WAS A GANGSTER, NOT SOME SHRINK!

[Roaring Biscuit!]

he's a man of many faces 

also, best or worst shrink ever?

x


edd