Citation

Lester D. Suicide Stud. 2021; 2(2): 32-41.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, David Lester)

DOI

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PMID

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Abstract

George Kelly (1955) proposed a theory of the structure of the mind based upon cognitive processes (thinking). His basic idea was that we attempt to interpret and make sense of the events that we experience. Our psychological processes and our behaviors are determined by the way in which we anticipate events (or in Kelly's terms, how we construe events). At the highest level of abstraction, we may be seen as having a theory of the world (a construction system). Usually, we seek to extend and refine our construction system. We try to develop a construction system that applies to more and more of the experiences that we encounter, and we try to make it more accurate in the predictions to which it leads us.

Clearly, the theory is a growth-oriented theory in which we become more skilled in making sense of the world in which we live. For Kelly, the model for human behavior is the theoretical scientist who proposes a theory of some phenomenon and then tries to modify the theory to account for all the new data that empirical scientists accumulate about the phenomenon.

As we continue to exist, therefore, we experience more and more, and so our construction system changes and becomes a more accurate predictor for future events. However, it is possible to have inconsistencies and incompatibilities in our construction system. The view of the world we have when we are depressed is often quite different from that which we have when we are happy. When we use only one part of our construction to interpret today's events, we are said to have suspended the remaining inconsistent parts.

Language: en