What is Personal Construct Psychology Pt 6
General Diagnostic Constructs
Construct psychology is a meta-science, in that it tries to make sense of the way people make sense of the world. Therefore it has within it constructs about construing. One such is ‘dilation versus constriction’ which refers to us broadening our views of the world or narrowing our views to eliminate apparent contradictions. There are no ‘healthy’ or ‘unhealthy’ ends to these constructs. A person can dilate successfully and become a larger personality, or extend outwards into chaos.
Another important construct of this type is ‘tight v loose’ construing. A tight construct is one which leads to invariant predictions, whilst loose construing leads to varying, though continuous predictions. Most technical terms are tight constructs; e.g. ‘electrical v diesel’, whilst evaluative constructs appear loose e.g. ‘beautiful v ugly’. Again there is no right or wrong way of doing things, we can tighten or loosen our systems continually in accord with the demands made upon it.
Emotion as Actual or Impending Change
Construct psychology is not merely a description of thinking; academic psychology perceives it as a ‘cognitive’ theory. Kelly did not intend this though, as he did not find that the ‘cognitive v emotion’ construct was valid. Constructs are not thoughts or feelings; they are discriminations, with or without verbal labels.
