Personal construct theory:

constructive alternativism

Constructive alternativism is an example of a theoretical perspective on the way people make sense of their experiences/worlds, outlined by George Kelly (1963) in his personal construct theory (PCT): “…a particular position in psychology I have called personal construct psychology. … I seem to have brought myself to a philosophical position for which I can think of no better term than constructive alternativism.” (Kelly, 1958/1969: 64)

Constructive alternativism:

“We assume that all of our present interpretations of the universe are subject to revision or replacement … No one needs to paint himself [sic] into a corner; no one needs to be completely hemmed in by circumstances; no one needs to be the victim of his [sic] biography. We call this philosophical position constructive alternativism.” (Kelly, 1963, p.15, italics in original.)

Kelly, G. (1963). A Theory of Personality: The Psychology of Personal Constructs. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.

[This compares well with what Karl Popper wrote about the ‘myth’ of the framework.]

“It is the notion that one does not have to disprove one proposition before entertaining one of its alternatives. A lot of footless controversy between scientists could be avoided if this possibility were explored. Each could go about his business without distractions long enough to see what he could tun up on his own, without being coming embroiled in controversy with his colleagues.” (Kelly, 1958/1969: 55)

“philosophical position…may be called 'constructive alternativism’…that reality is subject to many alternative constructions, some of which may prove more fruitful than others. The discovery of an ultimate correspondence between the constructions we are able to devise and the flow of actual events is an infinitely long way off. In the meantime, we shall have to be content to make a little progress at a time, to invent newer alternative constructions - even before we becoming dissatisfied with the old ones, and hope that, in general, we are moving in the right direction.”

(Kelly,1961/1969: 96)

Kelly, G. (1961/1969). A mathematical approach to psychology. In B. Maher (Ed.), Clinical Psychology and Personality: The selected papers of George Kelly (pp. 94-113). New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Constructive alternativism is a constructivist position:

“There is the view [accumulative fragmentalism] that science makes it progress step by step. This is usually taken to mean we discover nature a fragment at a time, that as each fragment is verified it is fitted into place- much like a piece in a jigsaw puzzle. Some day we’ll get it all put together.

The other view [constructive alternativism] is a constructive one. We understand out world by placing constructions on it. And that is the way we alter it too. There is no finite end to the alternative constructions we may employ; only our imagination sets the limits. Still, some constructions serve better than others, and the task of science is to come up with better and better ones. Moreover we have some handy criteria for selecting better ones; at least we think we have, and they, too, are subject to reconstruction.” p.125

Kelly, G. (1964/1969). The strategy of psychological research. In B. Maher (Ed.), Clinical Psychology and Personality: The selected papers of George Kelly (pp. 114-132). New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Kelly use a metaphor to describe his position, the idea of the man-as-scientist.

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