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Personal construct theory and psychological well‐being *
Author(s) -
Button Eric
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
british journal of medical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.102
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 2044-8341
pISSN - 0007-1129
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8341.1983.tb01563.x
Subject(s) - psychology , construct (python library) , constructive , context (archaeology) , social psychology , personal construct theory , social environment , psychological theory , sociology , paleontology , social science , process (computing) , computer science , biology , programming language , operating system
The concept of ‘psychological well‐being’ (as opposed to ‘psychological disorder’) is considered from the standpoint of George Kelly's personal construct theory (Kelly, 1955). It is argued that the origin of psychological disorder lies in a difficulty in ‘person construing’, with particular reference to ‘self‐construing’. For some (like schizophrenics) this may be a relatively permanent state of affairs, whereas for others it may reflect a temporary crisis or transition. It seems that the ability to maintain a relatively stable, yet flexible, self‐construction may be crucial. Social relationships, however, although potentially validating, also carry the risk of invalidating our self‐construction. An individual's particular response to ‘invalidation’ may be substantially determined by commonality of construing in his particular context, e.g. an adolescent female may turn to slimming whereas a young male may turn to alcohol. Although the theory has proved to be most useful at an explanatory level, it has been applied therapeutically only to a limited extent. It is argued that psychologists may make a greater contribution to the enhancement of psychological well‐being by applying constructive alternativism within a learning or educational context rather than the clinical setting.