THEORY OF GEORGE KELLY
George Kelly was a psychologist whose contributions to personal construct theory earned him
the most fame. According to this theory, each person has a unique mental framework from which
they view the world. When interpreting information and experiences, people use their own
constructs, or schemas. Kelly is frequently credited with starting cognitive clinical psychology.
He was influential in the early stages of cognitive psychology's development. Early Years George
Kelly was born near Perth, Kansas, in 1905. Elfleda Merriam Kelly and Theodore Vincent Kelly
were farmers. Kelly only received instruction from his parents for a lot of his early years. He did
not receive any formal education until 1918 when he attended school in Wichita, Kansas.At the
age of 16, he started attending Friends University and began taking college courses.Kelly never
graduated high school but went on to earn his bachelor’s degree in 1926, majoring in
mathematics and physics.
Kelly had originally intended to pursue an engineering career but decided instead to study
educational sociology at the University of Kansas. However, he left to enroll at the University of
Minnesota before completing his master's degree. He was unable to pay his tuition, so he had to
drop out of school. He got a job teaching psychology at Sheldon Junior College in Iowa in 1927.
In 1931, Kelly graduated from the University of Iowa with a PhD in psychology.
Career
In 1931, Kelly started teaching at Fort Hays Kansas State College. Kelly began putting his
knowledge to use in the midst of the Great Depression by developing his ground-breaking theory
and evaluating adults and children in schools. During this time, he also set up a traveling clinic
that helped people in the state of Kansas who had been badly affected by the economic upheaval
of the time with psychological services. Freudian Implications Kelly drew ideas and inspiration
for his theory from the writings of the Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud. Kelly appreciated
Freud's work, but he thought the psychoanalyst's method had some flaws.3 In Freud's therapy,
the therapist would give the client the "correct interpretation" of the situation, which Freud
thought was the key to change. Kelly came up with what he called constructive alternativism
from his observations. In essence, each person constructs or views reality in their own unique
way. Even though some interpretations may be superior to others, no one construction is
complete or accurate in every way. Kelly's concept suggested that each person's perspective is
valuable, particularly in light of their own particular circumstance, time, place, and moment. The
History of Psychology Theory of Personal Construct Kelly became a psychology professor at
Ohio State University following World War II, where he worked for almost 20 years. He
officially developed his personal construct theory here. The majority of his theory was summed
up in two books he wrote, The Psychology of Personal Constructs, Volumes I and II. Kelly's
personal construct theory suggested that people differ because of how differently we predict and
interpret events in the world around us. He suggested that each person's methods of information
gathering, evaluation, and interpretation were personal constructs. People also take in
George Kelly was a psychologist whose contributions to personal construct theory earned him
the most fame. According to this theory, each person has a unique mental framework from which
they view the world. When interpreting information and experiences, people use their own
constructs, or schemas. Kelly is frequently credited with starting cognitive clinical psychology.
He was influential in the early stages of cognitive psychology's development. Early Years George
Kelly was born near Perth, Kansas, in 1905. Elfleda Merriam Kelly and Theodore Vincent Kelly
were farmers. Kelly only received instruction from his parents for a lot of his early years. He did
not receive any formal education until 1918 when he attended school in Wichita, Kansas.At the
age of 16, he started attending Friends University and began taking college courses.Kelly never
graduated high school but went on to earn his bachelor’s degree in 1926, majoring in
mathematics and physics.
Kelly had originally intended to pursue an engineering career but decided instead to study
educational sociology at the University of Kansas. However, he left to enroll at the University of
Minnesota before completing his master's degree. He was unable to pay his tuition, so he had to
drop out of school. He got a job teaching psychology at Sheldon Junior College in Iowa in 1927.
In 1931, Kelly graduated from the University of Iowa with a PhD in psychology.
Career
In 1931, Kelly started teaching at Fort Hays Kansas State College. Kelly began putting his
knowledge to use in the midst of the Great Depression by developing his ground-breaking theory
and evaluating adults and children in schools. During this time, he also set up a traveling clinic
that helped people in the state of Kansas who had been badly affected by the economic upheaval
of the time with psychological services. Freudian Implications Kelly drew ideas and inspiration
for his theory from the writings of the Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud. Kelly appreciated
Freud's work, but he thought the psychoanalyst's method had some flaws.3 In Freud's therapy,
the therapist would give the client the "correct interpretation" of the situation, which Freud
thought was the key to change. Kelly came up with what he called constructive alternativism
from his observations. In essence, each person constructs or views reality in their own unique
way. Even though some interpretations may be superior to others, no one construction is
complete or accurate in every way. Kelly's concept suggested that each person's perspective is
valuable, particularly in light of their own particular circumstance, time, place, and moment. The
History of Psychology Theory of Personal Construct Kelly became a psychology professor at
Ohio State University following World War II, where he worked for almost 20 years. He
officially developed his personal construct theory here. The majority of his theory was summed
up in two books he wrote, The Psychology of Personal Constructs, Volumes I and II. Kelly's
personal construct theory suggested that people differ because of how differently we predict and
interpret events in the world around us. He suggested that each person's methods of information
gathering, evaluation, and interpretation were personal constructs. People also take in
