Final Exam Study guid PSY 309

What is George Kelly's theory called?

Personal Construct Theory

According to George Kelly can personality change?

Yes, it's all about ideas, PERSONAL CONSTRUCTS

What is Kelly's idea of a healthy individual?

try on/ be able to modify ideas (constructs), and be able to move on when something fails, NEW PLAN

What is Kelly's idea of an unhealthy individual?

when something fails, you don't/can't modify your constructs, you get stuck!!!!!

What makes up the personality?

Constructs: our ideas, ideas can change, and are also different for everyone!

Does our past shape our ideas according to Personal Construct Theory?

Yes, most definitely.

How do you get unhealthy people to become healthy?

by getting them to see things differently, get past the "being stuck" move on!

it's all about perception

George Kelly's theory is cognitive....why?

SUBJECTIVE: it's the thoughts we have about reality, they are different for everyone, if we wanna help others we must be able to see their constructs/ideas/perspectives

George Kelly's theory is Phenomenological...why?

intact conscious experience

Personal Construct Theory is existential...why?

it focuses on past, present, and future. your ideas are shaped by those experiences and it controls how you change and how your life is pulling you forward.

Personal Construct Theory is Humanistic...why?

we have the choice to change our ideas! we can improve, we aren't stuck, we are creative beings.

What did Kelly view the person as?

A scientist

What is the basic fundamental postulate according to Kelly's theory?

PERSON AS A SCIENTIST, trial & error

What do our constructs influence?

our behaviors

What are personal constructs?

tool used to anticipate the future, interpret and give meaning to situations and things, templates for interpreting experiences, mini scientific theory:make predictions

What is the construct system or personality?

collection of constructs (ideas), importance of corresponding to reality, \*****CAN BE CHANGED ALWAYS, YOU PICK YOUR IDEAS!\*******

What is Constructive Alternativism?

\#1

I CHOSE, can be flexible or rigid, reduce uncertainty, freedom and determinism, once you chose it's determined

What is the construction supporting corollary?

bc of the fact that events occur more than once, constructs can help us anticipate and build the future

What is the individuality supporting corollary?

every individual has different ideas/constructs/perceptions

What is the organization supporting corollary?

keeps constructs "organized" and useful, so you can recall them and know what you are talking about.

What is the modulation supporting corollary?

the permeability of constructs, modify constructs based upon experiences?

ex.

good food fluorescent only lights

good grades x

good smell x

good clothes x

good person x

What is the commonality supporting corollary?

how we are common to other people, when you think the same constructs

What is the sociality supporting corollary?

(the roles we play) our social roles, got to look at constructs of others to play a successful role

What are the 3 parts of the CPC cycle for new situations?

Circumspection, Preemption, and Control

What is the first stage of the CPC cycle?

the Circumspection stage, what i already know, can i place it with something i already know?

CONSIDERING STAGE

What is the second stage of the CPC cycle?

the Preemption phase, choose best construct to fit situation, you can't ponder things forever....

What is the third and final stage of the CPC cycle?

the Control phase, relevant pole of a construct, the experience will either validate or invalidate the prediction created

What are the 3 phases of the Creativity Cycle for New Solutions?

Loosen Construction, Tightened Construction, Test

What is the 1st stage of the Creativity Cycle for New Solutions?

Loosen Construction, crazy brainstorming, experimentation with ideas, off the wall ideas

you've gotta figure out something...

What is the 2nd stage of the Creativity Cycle for New Solutions?

Tightened Construction Phase, discovery of an idea, the experimentation must stop.

What is the final stage of the Creativity Cycle for New Solutions?

Test phase, test idea, does it work?

no? try again at phase 1

What is Kelly's opinion of motivation?

HUMANS ARE BORN MOTIVATED,

push: drive, motive, stimulus

pull: value, purpose, need

What is Kelly's opinion of anxiety?

predictive efficiency is important

level of anxiety comes from: level of predictability-accuracy,

sign of failed construct

What is Kelly's opinion of Hostility?

USED IT DIFFERENTLY!!

when you don't give up constructs that have failed/not been validated

you are grappling for anything to try and say that it's working

refusal to accept the failure of construct

OPPOSITE OF AGGRESSION

extorting evidence

What is Kelly's opinion of Aggression?

expand something to an ever increasing range

"all men are liars"

"all frat guys are \********"

prejudices, stereotypes, extending always, never completely defined.

OPPOSITE OF HOSTILITY

What is Kelly's opinion of Guilt?

doesn't fit with what you thought....

marriage is supposed to be "loving", has affair-becomes "unloving"

dislodged core role structure

What is Kelly's opinion of Threat?

core structure (HUGE THINGS) not validated

can be caused by positive events,

ex...

marriage, having a baby, losing a job, getting a new job,

sometimes threat is so big that nothing is ever mentioned about it

What is Kelly's opinion of Fear?

less severe than a threat, peripheral,

friendly dog-growls

not as important

What is Kelly's opinion of Learning?

changing the construct for better predictive efficiency

reinforced by the validation of a construct

(predict pos event-right

predict neg event-right

What does personal construct theory not address?

emotion

Carl Rogers

Served as APA president (1946-1947) More a therapist than a theorist

Field: humanistic; Contributions: founded client-centered therapy, theory that emphasizes the unique quality of humans especially their freedom and potential for personal growth, unconditional positive regard, fully functioning person

Formative tendency (Rogers)

Rogers believed that there is a tendency for all matter, both organic and inorganic, to evolve from simpler to more complex forms

Actualizing tendency

The tendency within all humans to move toward completion or fulfillment of potentials. This tendency is the only motive people possess. This tendency involves the whole person, physiological and intellectual, rational and emotional, conscious and unconscious.

Maintenance and Enhancement

Two sub levels of actualizing tendency

-Maintenance

Similar to the lower steps on Maslow's hierarchy of needs. It includes such basic needs as food, air, and safety, but it also includes the tendency to resist change and to seek the status quo (Actualizing tendency)

-Enhancement

Strong desire to learn and willingness to change. Needs are expressed in a variety of forms, including curiosity, playfulness, self-exploration, friendship, and confidence that one can achieve psychological growth (Actualizing tendency)

How can people/animals/plants activate their actualizing tendency?

Provide the necessary conditions

Plant \= water,sunlight,good soil (Limited to genetic potential)

Humans\= Satisfy their maintenance needs and then they will develop enhancement needs (Self actualization can occur)

Self-actualization (Maslow)

The tendency to actualize the self as perceived in awareness

Self-concept

Includes all those aspects of one's being and one's experiences that are perceived in awareness (though not always accurately) by the individual

Organismic self

a more general term than self-concept; refers to the entire person, including those aspects of existence beyond awareness. According to Maslow the original concept of the person

Ideal self

Defined as one's view of self as one wishes to be. It contains all those attributes, usually positive, that people aspire to possess. A wide gap between the ideal self and the self-concept indicates incongruence and an unhealthy personality.

Ignored experiences

Can be illustrated by a woman walking down a street, an activity that presents many potential stimuli, particularly of sight and sound that we cannot attend to all of them so it remains ignored. Level of awareness

Denied experiences

An experience might influence the conscious behavior of an individual out of guilt not by choice. The individual's repressed emotions never reach consciousness but yet remaining a part of his/her. Level of awareness

Accurately Symbolized

Experiences that are freely admitted to the self-structure. Such experiences are both nonthreatening and consistent with the existing self-concept. Example, A pianist who has full confidence in his piano-playing ability is told by a friend that his playing is excellent, he may hear these words, accurately symbolize them, and freely admit them to his self-concept. Level of awareness

Need for Positive Regard (Rogers)

the idea that we value what others think of us and that we constantly seek others' approval, love, and companionship; warmth, respect, acceptance, empathy, care.

4 barriers to psychological health

1.conditions of worth

2.incongruence

3.defensiveness

4.disorganization

1.Conditions of worth

tasks a child think they must complete or characteristics a child think they must have in order to be loved by or worthy of their parents. The child develops a perception of other people's view of them. This increases or strengthens your Ideal Self (External Evaluations)

-External evaluations

Our perceptions of other people's view of us. (Mechanism of conditions of worth)

2.Incongruency

This happens if the organism and the self are not aligned. That is, the person who we really are "Organismic self" is not aligned with the person who we really want to be "Ideal self" (Vulnerability, Anxiety, and Threat)