592 Part VI Learning-Cognitive Theories
Kelly was exceptionally careful in choosing terms and concepts to explain his
fundamental postulate and the 11 corollaries. His language, although frequently
difficult, is both elegant and precise. The Psychology of Personal Constructs
(Kelly, 1955) contains more than 1,200 pages, but the entire theory is pieced
together like a finely woven fabric. Kelly seemed to have constantly been aware
of what he had already said and what he was going to say.
On the second half of this criterion, personal construct theory falls short,
because like most theorists discussed in this book, Kelly did not define his terms
operationally. However, he was exemplary in writing comprehensive and exacting
definitions of nearly all terms used in the basic postulate and supporting corollaries.
Finally, is the theory parsimonious? Despite the length of Kelly’s two-
volume book, the theory of personal constructs is exceptionally straightforward and
economical. The basic theory is stated in one fundamental postulate and then
elaborated by means of 11 corollaries. All other concepts and assumptions can be
easily related to this relatively simple structure.Concept of Humanity
Kelly had an essentially optimistic view of human nature. He saw people as
anticipating the future and living their lives in accordance with those antici-
pations. People are capable of changing their personal constructs at any
time of life, but those changes are seldom easy. Kelly’s modulation corollary
suggests that constructs are permeable or resilient, meaning that new ele-
ments can be admitted. Not all people, however, have equally permeable
constructs. Some accept new experiences and restructure their interpreta-
tions accordingly, whereas others possess concrete constructs that are very
difficult to alter. Nevertheless, Kelly was quite optimistic in his belief that
therapeutic experiences can help people live more productive lives.
On the dimension of determinism versus free choice, Kelly’s theory leans
toward free choice. Within our own personal construct system, we are free to
make a choice (Kelly, 1980). We choose between alternatives within a con-
struct system that we ourselves have built. We make those choices on the
basis of our anticipation of events. But more than that, we choose those alter-
natives that appear to offer us the greater opportunity for further elaboration
of our anticipatory system. Kelly referred to this view as the elaborative choice;
that is, in making present choices, we look ahead and pick the alternative that
will increase our range of future choices.
Kelly adopted a teleological as opposed to a causal view of human
personality. He repeatedly insisted that childhood events per se do not
shape current personality. Our present construction of past experiences may
have some influence on present behavior, but the influence of past events is
quite limited. Personality is much more likely to be guided by our present antic-
ipation of future events. Kelly’s fundamental postulate—the one on which all
corollaries and assumptions stand—is that all human activity is directed by the