586 Part VI Learning-Cognitive Theories
The second major step is optional, and is shown in the lower grid portion of
Figure 19.2. Here, the person rates every role/person on every construct. After
doing so on all constructs, the rater can then see how different constructs are
similar to each other or not examining which ones match on Xs and Os. For
instance, if people who are rated shy are seldom rated as confident, then the person
believes these two constructs are different.
There are several versions of the Rep test and the repertory grid, but all are
designed to assess personal constructs. For example, a woman can see how her
father and boss are alike or different; whether or not she identifies with her mother;
how her boyfriend and father are alike; or how she construes men in general. Also,
the test can be given early in therapy and then again at the end. Changes in personal
constructs reveal the nature and degree of movement made during therapy.
Kelly and his colleagues have used the Rep test in a variety of forms, and
no set scoring rules apply. Reliability and validity of the instrument are not very
high, and its usefulness depends largely on the skill and experience of the examiner
(Fransella & Bannister, 1977).Related Research
Even though George Kelly wrote only one seminal work (1955, 1991), his impact
on personality psychology is remarkable. His personal construct theory has gener-
ated a sizable number of empirical investigations, including nearly 600 empirical
studies on his repertory test, which suggests that his theory has fared quite well
in generating research. Because he was among the first psychologists to emphasize
cognitive sets, such as schema, Kelly’s idea of personal constructs in a very real
sense was instrumental in forming the field of social cognition, one of the most
influential perspectives in social and personality psychology today. Social cogni-
tion examines the cognitive and attitudinal bases of person perception, including
schemas, biases, stereotypes, and prejudiced behavior. Social schemas, for
instance, are ordered mental representations of the qualities of others and are
considered to contain important social information. Although many researchers in
the field of social cognition use conventional questionnaires, some have followed
Kelly’s lead and use phenomenological or idiographic measures such as the Rep
test or some modified version of it (Neimeyer & Neimeyer, 1995). More recent
applications of the Rep test methodology, for instance, have analyzed the different
construct systems of sexually abused and non-abused individuals (Lewis-Harter,
Erbes, & Hart, 2004).
In the following three sections, we review some research on gender as a
personal construct, understanding internalized prejudice through personal construct
theory, and how personal constructs relate to Big Five measures of personality.Gender as a Personal Construct
Marcel Harper and Wilhelm Schoeman (2003) argued that although gender is per-
haps one of the most fundamental and universal schemas in person perception, not
all people are equal in the extent to which they organize their beliefs and attitudes
about others around gender. In other words, there are individual differences in