Feist−Feist: Theories of
Personality, Seventh
EditionV. Learning Theories 18. Kelly: Psychology of
Personal Constructs(^568) © The McGraw−Hill
Companies, 2009
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR)of the American
Psychiatric Association (2002) to label a person is likely to result in misconstruing
that person’s unique constructions.
Psychologically unhealthy people, like everyone else, possess a complex
construction system. Their personal constructs, however, often fail the test of
permeability in one of two ways: They may be too impermeable or they may be
too flexible. In the first instance, new experiences do not penetrate the construction
system, so the person fails to adjust to the real world. For example, an abused
child may construe intimacy with parents as bad and solitude as good. Psychologi-
cal disorders result when the child’s construction system rigidly denies the value
of any intimate relationship and clings to the notion that either withdrawal or
attack is a preferred mode of solving interpersonal problems. Another example is a
man seriously dependent on alcohol who refuses to see himself as addicted to alcohol
even as his drinking escalates and his job and marriage disintegrate (Burrell, 2002).
On the other hand, a construction system that is too loose or flexible leads to
disorganization, an inconsistent pattern of behavior, and a transient set of values.
Such an individual is too easily “shaken by the impact of unexpected minor daily
events” (Kelly, 1955, p. 80).
Although Kelly did not use traditional labels in describing psychopathology,
he did identify four common elements in most human disturbance: threat, fear, anx-
iety, and guilt.
Threat
People experience threatwhen they perceive that the stability of their basic con-
structs is likely to be shaken. Kelly (1955) defined threat as “the awareness of immi-
nent comprehensive change in one’s core structures”(p. 489). One can be threatened
by either people or events, and sometimes the two cannot be separated. For example,
during psychotherapy, clients often feel threat from the prospect of change, even
change for the better. If they see a therapist as a possible instigator of change, they will
view that therapist as a threat. Clients frequently resist change and construe their ther-
apist’s behavior in a negative fashion. Such resistance and “negative transference”
are means of reducing threat and maintaining existing personal constructs (Stojnov
& Butt, 2002).
Fear
By Kelly’s definition, threat involves a comprehensivechange in a person’s core
structures. Fear,on the other hand, is more specificand incidental. Kelly (1955) il-
lustrated the difference between threat and fear with the following example. A man
may drive his car dangerously as the result of anger or exuberance. These impulses
become threatening when the man realizes that he may run over a child or be ar-
rested for reckless driving and end up as a criminal. In this case, a comprehensive
portion of his personal constructs is threatened. However, if he is suddenly con-
fronted with the probability of crashing his car, he will experience fear. Threat de-
mands a comprehensive restructuring—fear, an incidental one. Psychological dis-
turbance results when either threat or fear persistently prevents a person from feeling
secure.
562 Part V Learning Theories