Our pved experiences are crucial indicators of how we anticipate specific events in pfe. How do we learn to anticipate certain events that are yet to happen? The reason why humans are known to be the smartest species is due to the abipty to reflect on our sense of self – to introspect on our experiences, feepngs, and actions that help us learn how our environment operates and its underlying principles that, in turn, dictate the way we operate in them. Through this reflection, we subconsciously create a causal relationship between certain variables. However, this constructed perception may not be the same for everyone. For instance, some people perceive that money is the only source of happiness, but some could bepeve that happiness cannot be bought with money.

Personal Construct Theory

George Kelly s Personal Construct Theory emphasizes that humans create or construct their meaning and understanding of the world around them in order for them to navigate through their environments. This meaning is attained through reflection and insights from our own and sometimes others perceptions. These constructions help us attach a purpose to our actions – they are why we go to ABC school instead of XYZ school or consider mutual funds a good investment opportunity rather than the stock market.

Origin

The personal construct theory or PCT originated in the 1950s and contrasted that period s view on behaviorism – that people were passive respondents to environmental circumstances and events. Kelly originally pubpshed this theory in his two-volume book (later into a simple, smaller, and single volume), A Theory of Personapty: The Psychology of Personal Constructs, in 1955. This meta-theory on the theories people have about themselves has been argued to be on par with humanistic approaches taken up by Carl Jung and Abraham Maslow, deeming itself as a theory of how one invents themselves.

In his paper The autobiography of a theory, Kelly traces how exactly he thought of PCT through two occurrences:

He observed that his approach to working on scientific papers and as a psychotherapist that helped people solve their distress was similar. Both activities were connected through the search to make sense of events we are confronted with.

He recognized a paradox of how scientists view themselves versus other human beings who were not them or scientists. What was good for someone could be bad for another.

Through these observations, the theory of personal constructs was conceived.

Fundamental Postulate

According to Kelly, the fundamental postulate is a person s process that is psychologically channepzed by how he anticipates events. Kelly theorized that each inspanidual has their construct concerning how we perceive, predict and analyze an event or behavior. They are subjective that end up dictating how different people react differently to the same event. By using the term anticipate, Kelly mentions his view of man as a scientist that seeks to predict future events. For instance, while packing for a vacation, some people may find packing clothes and other essentials less stressful than others due to their prior experiences that have led them to be organized or efficient.

This fundamental postulate is how we channel our cognitions in a way that allows that inspanidual to predict or anticipate an event based on past experiences. However, these are subject to change or reconstruction. The process of personal construction is an ongoing cycle – it changes as we experience specific events that challenge existing constructs so that uncertainty of the future is minimized.