Chapter 13

• study of intact social consciousness
• how people think and percieve the world

• individual search for meaning and understanding
• repsonsible for individual behvaior and choices

People are capable of positive change

• try to predict the future, to decrease uncertainty and answering questions
• serves as motivation

an idea or thought a person uses when contruing personal experience

constructs accumulated over time that is established though trial and error learning

collection of constructs that constitute ones construct system at any given time

• one is free to choose froma number of constructs
• once you hvae chosen a way to constrye the world, determines the way you percieve the world.

• Construction corollary
• inidividuality corollary
• organization corollary
• dichotomy corollary
• choice
• range
• experience
• modulation fragmentation
• commonality
• sociality

constructs are formed on the basis of predictable events

persons differ from each other in how they view events

• personal constructs are hierarchical with some constructs being more comprehensive than others
• tend to be broader and more all inclusive

• a persons construct system is composed of a finite number of dichotomus constructs
• all constructs have 2 poles

• abrupt shifting from the use of one pole of a construct to its opposite
• typically due to a life changing experience

a person can choose to pursue a definition of their construct system or extension of their construct system

using a previously effective construct to build a new but similar situation to seek further validation of the construct system

• apply new constructs to situations which if validated woudl expand ones construct system
• involved taking a risk

• constructs can be applied to a limited number of events only
• ex. masculinity vs. feminity

finite range of events for which a particular construct is relevant

events for which a construct is most relevant

a persons construct system changes as his experience with new situations grow

the more permeable (or open to experience) a construct is the more variability exists in the construct system

experimenting with ones construct system creates the possibility of inconsistent behavior

its not common experience that makes people similar, but the fact that they view their experience in a similar way

awareness of another persons expectations

acting in accordance with another persons expectations

• circumspection phase
• preemption phase
• control phase

the person consdier several constructs that might be used to interpret the situation

the person chooses a construct that seems the most relevant

person decided which pole of the dichotomous construct is most relevant

• Loosened construction phase
• tightened construction phase
• test phase

thinking involves loosening the construct system

an idea must be reevaluated

idea is tested and if validated, becomes part of the construct system

• synonym for life
• because we are human beings we are motivated, born motivated
• pull and push theories

drive pushes you to act

teological theory

a jack ass does what it wants, regardless of the influence of other people.

• recognition that events with which one is confronted lie outside the range fo convenience of one's construct system
• confronted with a situation that you cannot understand

the continued effort to exhort validational evidence in favor of a social predicition which has already proven itself a failure

the active elaboration of one's perceptual field

• the perception of ones apparent dislodgement from his core role structure
• behaving in a way that is not typical or the person

the awareness of imminent comprehensive change in ones core structures

results when a peripheral element of one's construct system is invalidated

changes which occur in ones construct system that enhance predictability

associated with validation which occurs when a construct is successfully used to anticipate future events

constrcuts with low cognitive awareness

continue to be used while the other tends to be ignored

a construct is incompatible with ones current construct system

• Role construct repertory test
• credulous attitude
• self characterization
• fixed role therapy

designed to determine what type of construct a person is using to pick out the relevant people in their life

keep an open mind and believe what the client says about themselves because it shoes how they percieve the world

write about self in the 3rd person

client is told to play a role different from who they are where they are forced to try out new constructs for a specific period of time.