The Repertory Grid
X on the corresponding line within each rating continuum that best matches the
corresponding theorist’s view. See Table 11.1 for a sample, student-completed grid pertaining
to Sigmund Freud.
After completing a rating grid for each developmental theorist, I asked students to
summarize the aggregate results of their rating-grid assignments by compiling a compre-
hensive matrix that categorized the perspectives of all 10 theorists. See Table 11.2 for a
student-completed, comprehensive matrix.
I assigned both the individual ratings and the comprehensive matrix as take-home,
paper-and-pencil assignments to be completed independently by each student. I then used
the comprehensive matrices as focal points for a 75-minute, whole-class discussion at the
conclusion of the semester. This discussion served to prepare students for success on a
comprehensive final examination that emphasized salient similarities and differences
among the targeted developmental theorists. To minimize the possibility of experimenter
effects in composing and grading the final examination, I selected 50 multiple-choice
questions from factually and conceptually based test-bank items, with greater emphasis on
the latter.
History and Systems of Psychology
In reviewing the relevant literature, I uncovered a single anecdotal report on the applica-
tion of the RGT in teaching history and systems of psychology. Tobacyk (1987) provided
students with names of great figures throughout the history of psychology (elements that
comprise the columns of the grid) and a teacher-generated list of bipolar meaning
dimensions (constructs that comprise the rows of the grid) that he used to organize course
content (e.g., conscious vs. unconscious). Afterward, he required students to evaluate each
great figure with each bipolar construct in working, row-by-row, through the grid.
Borrowing from Tobacyk’s (1987) prior classroom application of the RGT, I adapted
his approach to teaching an introductory-level, historical foundations of psychology course
offered in the form of a special-topics colloquium that met weekly for two, 50-min sessions
Table 11.1. Sample of a Student-Completed Grid
Theorist: Sigmund Freud
Ratings
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
- heredity – X – – – – – environment
- continuity – – – – – X – discontinuity
- stability X – – – – – – change
- internality – X – – – – – externality
- unidimensionality X – – – – – – multidimensionality
- testability – – – – – – X lack of testability
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