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PART II

COGNITIONS & THE SELF

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Inner, private,

subjective

Outer,public,

objective

Stable Variable

1. Traits &Temperament

e.g. extraversion, neuroticism

Major theorists:Jung, Eysenck,

Gray

3. Motivatione.g. motives,

defenses

Major theorists:Freud, McClelland

4. Social Contexte.g., culture,

ethnicity, power,gender

Major theorists:Markus, Stewart

2. Cognition& Self

e.g. self-concept,beliefs, ideals

Major theorists:Rogers, Kelly

PERSONALITY UNITS AND COURSE STRUCTURE

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KEY DEFINITIONS

BELIEFS

ATTITUDES

VALUES

PROTOTYPES

STEREOTYPES

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KEY DEFINITIONS COTINUED..

SCHEMAS (SELF- & OTHER-)

ATTRIBUTIONS

SCRIPTS

AVAILABILITY HEURISTIC

SOCIAL COGNITION

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COGNITIVE REVOLUTION

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George Kelly’s Theory of Personal

Constructs

GEORGE KELLY (1905-1967)

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What is a construct?

• are cognitions that people create and actively impose on the world to make sense out of it.

• are personal; representing the idiosyncratic ways that people sort out the people and events they encounter.

•evolve over time and across repeated experiences.

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GOOD BAD

QUIET LOUD

LOVELY DISGUSTING

Personal constructs are bipolar

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‘A submerged pole’ is similar to which

Freudian concepts?

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What else are personal constructs?

• Bipolar• Emergent pole/Implicit pole• Dichotomous• Both conscious and unconscious

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Kelly’s Fundamental Postulate

“People’s behavior, thoughts, and feelings (their

personalities) are determined by the constructs they use to anticipate or predict events”

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Using Constructs in Life...

Hypothesize (implicitly) that a construct will fit an event.

Test the hypothesis by applying the construct and predicting a consequence.

Construct confirmed or disconfirmed?

Does the construct have predictive efficiency?

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Our personalities

are defined by the type of constructs we have.

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Constructive Alternativism

• There are infinite number of ways to construe events.

• We are capable of combining, recombining, and even totally revising our constructions in an ongoing cycle of meaning-making.

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Characteristics of Personal Constructs:Range of convenience

• Set of events for which a construct is useful.

• Range of Convenience (Is it limited in scope or useful across many situations?)

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Characteristics of Personal Constructs:

Permeability

• The degree to which a construct is able to incorporate new experiences.

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Our personalities are defined by the type of constructs we

have and how we operate them.

Individual differences exist in terms of

•permeability•consistency•comprehensiveness •hierarchy

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GOOD BAD

Intelligent Interesting

Stupid Materialistic

CriticalDeep

TalkativeEnergetic

NaïveIgnoran

t

ShallowCruel

Personal constructs fit together differently...

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GOOD vs.BAD

Generous vs. stingy

Friendly vs. unfriendly

Accepting vs.

rejecting

GOOD vs.BAD

Generous vs. stingy

Loving vs. unloving

Accepting vs.

rejecting

John Dan

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Cognitions (beliefs, attitudes, values, self/other schemas) constitute the information that guides people’s behavior

We have different views and ways of doing things...

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Hey…..I like your constructs!

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“Humans are intuitive scientist: have theories

(constructs)about themselves and

others, formulate hypothesis based on these theories, gather

info to test these hypothesis, and then confirm/revise these

theories”

People are like scientists….

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MEASUREMENT OF PERSONAL CONSTRUCTS:

ROLE REPERTORY TEST

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COGNITIVE STYLES:

NEED FOR COGNITION (Cacciopo & Petty, 1982)

Tendency to engage in and enjoy thinking (cognitive persistence, cognitive confidence, cognitive complexity)

INTEGRATIVE COMPLEXITY (Tetlock, 1979)

Ability to deal with and integrate multiple perspectives, hypothetical situations, and new interpretations

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Application of Kelly’s work

Lazarus: Appraisal and Stress

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Lazarus: Appraisal and Stress

1) Primary appraisal: Process of perceiving an impending threat

2) Secondary appraisal: Process of determining what should be done (of many) to deal with threat

3) Coping: Effort to do what’s been chosen as best way to handle threat

4) Reappraisal: Reinterpret the meaning of events, when occurring or following the event

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Our cognitions impact our behavior, well-being, and

even, our health

• Reformulated learned helplessness theory (Abramson, Selgiman, & Teasdale, 1978)

• Finding positive meaning (reappraising) (Affleck & Tennen, 1996)

• Health outcomes from finding meaning (Folkman, Chesney, et al, 1996)

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Applying one’s personal constructs to life decisions ….

What do I want to major in?

Do I want to date that person?

How do I want to think about that situation?

Do I want to take that class?

What do I really want out of life?What do I really want out of life?

Who can help me with this problem?