Feist−Feist: Theories of
Personality, Seventh
EditionV. Learning Theories 18. Kelly: Psychology of
Personal Constructs(^558) © The McGraw−Hill
Companies, 2009
In other words, people always have alternative ways of looking at things. Kelly
(1963) assumed “that all of our present interpretations of the universe are subject to
revision or replacement”(p. 15). He referred to this assumption as constructive
alternativismand summed up the notion with these words: “The events we face today
are subject to as great a variety of constructions as our wits will enable us to con-
trive” (Kelly, 1970, p. 1). The philosophy of constructive alternativism assumes that
the piece-by-piece accumulation of facts does not add up to truth; rather, it assumes
that facts can be looked at from different perspectives. Kelly agreed with Adler (see
Chapter 3) that a person’s interpretation of events is more important than the events
themselves. In contrast to Adler, however, Kelly stressed the notion that interpreta-
tions have meaning in the dimension of time, and what is valid at one time becomes
false when construed differently at a later time. For example, when Freud (see Chap-
ter 2) originally heard his patients’ accounts of childhood seduction, he believed that
early sexual experiences were responsible for later hysterical reactions. If Freud had
continued to construe his patients’ reports in this fashion, the entire history of psy-
choanalysis would have been quite different. But then, for a variety of reasons, Freud
restructured his data and gave up his seduction hypothesis. Shortly thereafter, he
tilted the picture a little and saw a very different view. With this new view, he con-
cluded that these seduction reports were merely childhood fantasies. His alternative
hypothesis was the Oedipus complex, a concept that permeates current psychoana-
lytic theory, and one that is 180 degrees removed from his original seduction theory.
If we view Freud’s observations from yet another angle, such as Erikson’s perspec-
tive (see Chapter 9), then we might reach a still different conclusion.
Kelly believed that the person,not the facts, holds the key to an individual’s
future. Facts and events do not dictate conclusions; rather, they carry meanings for
us to discover. We are all constantly faced with alternatives, which we can explore if
we choose, but in any case, we must assume responsibility for how we construe our
worlds. We are victims of neither our history nor our present circumstances. That is
not to say that we can make of our world whatever we wish. We are “limited by our
feeble wits and our timid reliance upon what is familiar” (Kelly, 1970, p. 3). We do
not always welcome new ideas. Like scientists in general and personality theorists in
particular, we often find restructuring disturbing and thus hold on to ideas that are
comfortable and theories that are well established.
Personal Constructs
Kelly’s philosophy assumes that people’s interpretation of a unified, ever-changing
world constitutes their reality. In the chapter opener, we introduced Arlene, the stu-
dent with the broken-down automobile. Arlene’s perception of her transportation
problem was not a static one. As she talked to a mechanic, a used-car dealer, a new-
car dealer, a banker, her parents, and others, she was constantly changing her inter-
pretation of reality. In similar fashion, all people continually create their own view
of the world. Some people are quite inflexible and seldom change their way of see-
ing things. They cling to their view of reality even as the real world changes. For ex-
ample, people with anorexia nervosa continue to see themselves as fat while their
weight continues to drop to a life-threatening level. Some people construe a world
552 Part V Learning Theories