Journal of Critical Psychology, Counselling and Psychotherapy, Vol. 21, No. 1, 34-48, 2021
This is an update of the 2009 paper, 'The Construct', bringing it up to date in the light of the ... more This is an update of the 2009 paper, 'The Construct', bringing it up to date in the light of the developments covered in Procter and Winter (2021) Personal and Relational Construct Psychotherapy. It focuses on Kelly's notion of the construct as a unit of analysis with exceptionally broad scope and depth. it is a powerful tool, useful in the everyday application of Personal Construct Theory, but having the capacity to apply not just to individual persons but to the construing of groups, relationships, organisations, cultures and societies in general.
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Charles S. Peirce, whose three categories are used to further enrich the vision we have of the anatomy of construction. Peirce’s view of triadicity, or thirdness, provides us with a broader view and context within which to situate dialectical process, placing it alongside other Peircean methods of inquiry including the triadic conception of the sign, the cycle of abduction-deduction-induction and the vital place that diagrams and the iconic have in the process of inquiry. The result is an approach broad enough to investigate and make sense of processes that can straddle the divide between natural and human sciences.
The philosophical and historical roots of personal construct theory are examined and then an exposition of the theory as a psychology is made. Comparisons are made between personal construct theory and other major approaches to the family in psychology and sociology. After reviewing the theories and findings of the family research literature, with special reference to schizophrenia, construct theory's advantages and limitations as a psychology of the family are examined.
Detailed analyses of its application to three families, containing a member diagnosed as schizophrenic, are presented in order to demonstrate the method in action. General issues and problems associated with research on psychiatric patients families are discussed. Finally it is concluded that the method and the theory from which it was derived offer promise for an integrated approach to family diagnosis, research and therapy.
The topic areas are as follows:
1. Theory and Philosophy
2. Method
3. Clinical & Therapy
4. Education and Development
5. Working with Organisations
6. Research
7. Politics and Current Issues
8. Literature
This comprehensive, conceptually grounded and documented volume is a total pleasure to read. The reader is introduced to personal and relational construct psychotherapy through a compelling clinical case, which is accompanied in the following chapters by a clear and engaging style. You feel the authors’ absolute mastery of the subject and their ability – characteristic of great clinicians – to empathise with their interlocutors, who this time are we, the readers.
My own work has developed the concepts of family construct and the family construct system in which the family members’ positions are ranged in agreement and opposition to each other. This picture can be applied as well to the internal set of selves or roles that an individual can take up as described by Miller Mair in his Community of Selves. In extreme cases a person can experience dissociation between these selves in what has been described as dissociative identity disorder or dual personality. We will look at situations in which these patterns can be mapped using Qualitative Grids, in particular the Perceiver Selves Grid.
Questo volume, documentato e concettualmente denso, presenta un pregio raro: è piacevolissimo da leggere. Il lettore viene introdotto nel testo attraverso un avvincente caso clinico e accompagnato nel corso della trattazione da uno stile chiaro e coinvolgente. Si sente l’assoluta padronanza della materia degli Autori e la loro capacità, tipica dei grandi clinici, di entrare in empatia con l’interlocutore, che questa volta siamo noi, i lettori.
Palgrave Macmillan, 2020.
Presented here arefour published reviews of Personal and Relational Construct Psychotherapy by Harry Procter and David Winter (2020):
Green, D. (Dec 2020) Book Review of PRCP, Clinical Psychology Forum, 336, 11.
Treacher, A. (Feb 2021) Review of Harry Procter and David W Winter, PRCP. Context, 173. 36-37.
O'Sullivan, (Dec 2020) Book Review, PRCP, The Irish Psychologist, 46 (6), 157-8.
Harding, K. (May, 2021) Book Review, PRCP, Journal of Critical Psychology, Counseling, and Psychotherapy, WInter, 2020, pp. 68-9.
Koch, H (2021) Book Review: PRCP. British Journal of Mental Health Nursing | 2021 | https://doi.org/10.12968/bjmh.2021.0024.
The book can be obtained from Palgrave Macmillan: https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9783030521769
Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=procter+winter+personal&i=stripbooks&ref=nb_sb_noss_1
Bookshop.org: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/personal-and-relational-construct-psychotherapy/9783030521769.
From:
https://www.academia.edu/3237781/Peirces_contributions_to_Constructivism_and_Personal_Construct_Psychology_Part_I_Philosophical_Aspects_2014_
Charles S. Peirce, whose three categories are used to further enrich the vision we have of the anatomy of construction. Peirce’s view of triadicity, or thirdness, provides us with a broader view and context within which to situate dialectical process, placing it alongside other Peircean methods of inquiry including the triadic conception of the sign, the cycle of abduction-deduction-induction and the vital place that diagrams and the iconic have in the process of inquiry. The result is an approach broad enough to investigate and make sense of processes that can straddle the divide between natural and human sciences.
The philosophical and historical roots of personal construct theory are examined and then an exposition of the theory as a psychology is made. Comparisons are made between personal construct theory and other major approaches to the family in psychology and sociology. After reviewing the theories and findings of the family research literature, with special reference to schizophrenia, construct theory's advantages and limitations as a psychology of the family are examined.
Detailed analyses of its application to three families, containing a member diagnosed as schizophrenic, are presented in order to demonstrate the method in action. General issues and problems associated with research on psychiatric patients families are discussed. Finally it is concluded that the method and the theory from which it was derived offer promise for an integrated approach to family diagnosis, research and therapy.
The topic areas are as follows:
1. Theory and Philosophy
2. Method
3. Clinical & Therapy
4. Education and Development
5. Working with Organisations
6. Research
7. Politics and Current Issues
8. Literature
This comprehensive, conceptually grounded and documented volume is a total pleasure to read. The reader is introduced to personal and relational construct psychotherapy through a compelling clinical case, which is accompanied in the following chapters by a clear and engaging style. You feel the authors’ absolute mastery of the subject and their ability – characteristic of great clinicians – to empathise with their interlocutors, who this time are we, the readers.
My own work has developed the concepts of family construct and the family construct system in which the family members’ positions are ranged in agreement and opposition to each other. This picture can be applied as well to the internal set of selves or roles that an individual can take up as described by Miller Mair in his Community of Selves. In extreme cases a person can experience dissociation between these selves in what has been described as dissociative identity disorder or dual personality. We will look at situations in which these patterns can be mapped using Qualitative Grids, in particular the Perceiver Selves Grid.
Questo volume, documentato e concettualmente denso, presenta un pregio raro: è piacevolissimo da leggere. Il lettore viene introdotto nel testo attraverso un avvincente caso clinico e accompagnato nel corso della trattazione da uno stile chiaro e coinvolgente. Si sente l’assoluta padronanza della materia degli Autori e la loro capacità, tipica dei grandi clinici, di entrare in empatia con l’interlocutore, che questa volta siamo noi, i lettori.
Palgrave Macmillan, 2020.
Presented here arefour published reviews of Personal and Relational Construct Psychotherapy by Harry Procter and David Winter (2020):
Green, D. (Dec 2020) Book Review of PRCP, Clinical Psychology Forum, 336, 11.
Treacher, A. (Feb 2021) Review of Harry Procter and David W Winter, PRCP. Context, 173. 36-37.
O'Sullivan, (Dec 2020) Book Review, PRCP, The Irish Psychologist, 46 (6), 157-8.
Harding, K. (May, 2021) Book Review, PRCP, Journal of Critical Psychology, Counseling, and Psychotherapy, WInter, 2020, pp. 68-9.
Koch, H (2021) Book Review: PRCP. British Journal of Mental Health Nursing | 2021 | https://doi.org/10.12968/bjmh.2021.0024.
The book can be obtained from Palgrave Macmillan: https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9783030521769
Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=procter+winter+personal&i=stripbooks&ref=nb_sb_noss_1
Bookshop.org: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/personal-and-relational-construct-psychotherapy/9783030521769.
From:
https://www.academia.edu/3237781/Peirces_contributions_to_Constructivism_and_Personal_Construct_Psychology_Part_I_Philosophical_Aspects_2014_
Reading list:
Blumer, H. (1966) Sociological implications of the thought of George Herbert Mead, American Journal of Sociology 71, pp. 535-44.
Buber, M. (1937) I and thou. Transl. R. G. Smith. Edinburgh: Clark.
Chiari, G. (2017) Highlighting intersubjectivity and recognition in Kelly’s sketchy view of personal identity. In D. Winter, P. Cummins, H. G. Procter and N. Reed, eds.; Personal construct psychology at 60: Papers from the 21st international congress. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. pp. 54-67.
Cipolletta, S., Malighetti, C., Sommacale, S. and Faccio, E. (2018) What is the role of similarity and understanding in lesbian couples’ satisfaction? Paper submitted to the Journal of Marriage and Family.
De Jaegher, H., Piper, B., Clénin, D. and Fuchs, T. (2017) Grasping intersubjectivity: an invitation to embody social interaction research. Phenom. Cogn. Sci., 16, 491 – 523.
Delafield-Butt, J. T. and Trevarthen, C. (2013) In P. Cobley and P. Schultz, eds,; Theories of the development of human communication Handbook of Communication. Berlin: Gruyter Mouton
Fuchs, T. (2012). The phenomenology and development of social perspectives. Phenomenol. Cogn. Sci. 12, 655–683.
doi: 10.1007/s11097-012-9267-x
Galbusera, L. and Fellin, L. (2014) The intersubjective endeavor of psychopathology research: methodological reflections on a second-person perspective approach. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 1-14. Doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01150. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25368589
Gallagher, S. (2008) Direct perception in the intersubjective context. Consciousness and Cognition, 17, 535-543.
Husserl, E. (1929) Cartesian meditations: Fifth meditation: Uncovering of the sphere of transcendental being as monadological intersubjectivity. Dordrecht: Kluwer.
Leitner, L. (1985) The terrors of cognition: On the experiential validity of personal construct theory. In D. Bannister, Ed., Issues and approaches in personal construct theory. London: Academic Press.
MacMurray, J. (1961) Persons in relation. London: Faber and Faber.
Malloch, S. and Trevarthen, C. (2018) The human nature of music
Mascolo, M. F. (2014). The internal-external distinction. In Teo, T. (Ed.) Encyclopedia of Critical Psychology. www.springerreference.com/docs/edit/chapterdbid/306996.html
Mascolo, M. F. (2018) The Phenomenology of Between: An Intersubjective Epistemology for Psychological Science. Submitted to the Journal of Constructivist Psychology.
Merleau-Ponty, M. (1962) The phenomenology of perception (Part II, Ch. 4) London: Routledge.
Moll, H., & Meltzoff, A. N. (2012). Joint Attention as the Fundamental Basis of Understanding Perspectives. In A. Seemann (Ed.), Joint Attention: New Developments in Psychology, Philosophy of Mind, and Social Neuroscience (pp. 393–413). Cambridge, MA: The MIT
Moran, D. (2000) Introduction to Phenomenology. London: Routledge.
Nagy, E. (2011). The newborn infant: A missing stage in developmental psychology. Infant and Child Development, 20 , 3–19.
Procter, H. G. and Winter, D. (In Preparation) Personal and Relational Construct Psychotherapy. London: Palgrave McMillan: Chapter 3 – From the personal to the relational.
Reddy, V. (2008). How Infants Know Minds. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Royce, J. (1904) The World and the Individual, Vol II, pp 260 - 4. New York: Macmillan.
Scheler, M. (2008) The nature of sympathy. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers (Original work, 1913).
Schutz, A. (1942) Scheler’s theory of intersubjectivity and the general thesis of the alter ego. In M.Natanson, ed.; Collected Papers, Vol. 1: The problem of social reality. The Hague: Martinus Nijnoff, 150-179.
Schutz, A. (1967) The phenomenology of the social world. London: Heinemann
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Shotter, J. (2011) Language, joint action, and the ethical domain: The importance of the relations between our living bodies and their surroundings. Plenary paper to be given at IIIrd Congreso de Psicologia y Responsabilidad Social, March 5th-9th. Campus San Alberto Magno, Bogota, Columbia.
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Trevarthen, C. (1990) Signs before speech. In T.A. Sebeok & J. Umiker–Sebeok (eds.), The Semiotic Web. Amsterdam: Mouton de Gruyter.
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Trevarthen, C. and Delafield-Butt, J. (2017) Intersubjectivity in the Imagination and Feelings of the Infant: Implications
for Education in the Early Years. In E. Jayne White, C. Dalli, eds.; Under-three Year Olds in Policy and Practice,
Policy and Pedagogy with Under-three Year Olds: Cross-disciplinary Insights and Innovations. Singapore: Springer. DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-2275-3_2
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Wittgenstein, L., 1981. Zettel, (2nd. Ed.), G.E.M. Anscombe and G.H.V. Wright (Eds.). Oxford: Blackwell.
Zahavi, D. (2015) You, Me, and We: The Sharing of Emotional Experiences. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 22, 1-2.
H. G. Procter June 2018
Byron Cain – A Mystery 7
Henry James Washington Square 14
Shelley Julian and Maddalo 17
Personal Construct Association Dublin 30th June 2011:
Many aspects of Personal Construct Psychology and indeed in the constructivist and constructionist canon can be found in the writings of the brilliant polymath Charles Peirce (1839 – 1914) who is credited with founding Pragmatism but whose work has remained in relative obscurity until recently. He presaged many later trends in psychology, logic, the philosophy of science, phenomenology, semiotics and the work of Wittgenstein. His categories are of direct interest and usefulness in exploring and elaborating Kelly’s work. The workshop will give an overview and appreciation of Peirce’s contribution.
References
Updated by Harry Procter, 2015
This list was originally compiled by Fay Fransella and colleagues. It has been updated, but not thoroughly. If you notice a reference that should be included, please let Harry Procter know on harryprocte20@gmail.com.
The Book will introduce a clear and comprehensive philosophical approach within the tradition of Pragmatism: Dialectical Constructivism. It promises to provide a useful philosophical background for readers in a wide range of disciplines including psychology, sociology, cognitive sciences, anthropology, semiotics, psychotherapy, education, policy analysis and literary theory, as well as contributing to the further development of philosophy itself.
il suo tirocinio come psicologo clinico a Nottingham ha lavorato nell'ambito della salute mentale con gli
adulti e poi con bambini e adolescenti nel Somerset prima del pensionamento dal Servizio Sanitario
Nazionale nel 2004. Attualmente si occupa di supervisioni e insegnamento in vari Paesi e continua a
sviluppare applicazioni del Costruttivismo in contesti relazionali e organizzativi. Ha pubblicato più di 40
lavori e capitoli coprendo una varietà di argomenti, come la terapia familiare per bambini e adulti con
disabilità mentali e di apprendimento, schizofrenia, autismo, ipnoterapia, pratica riflessiva, sviluppo e
background filosofico del suo approccio. Ha curato due volumi di scritti di Milton H. Erickson per la Paidos
Publications (Barcellona) ed è attualmente co-curatore di un volume di papers presentati al Congresso
Internazionale di Psicologia dei Costrutti Personali, tenutosi presso l'Università di Hertfordshire nel luglio
2015.
Recentemente ha approfondito il lavoro di Charles S. Peirce, che fornisce un'affascinante meta-cornice per
guardare e comprendere gli approcci costruttivisti. Due capitoli recenti del nuovo Handbook of Personal
Construct Psychology sono dedicati alla Psicologia dei Costrutti Relazionali e a PCP, Società e Cultura.
Ha sviluppato vari tipi di Griglie Qualitative, che sono metodi facili da usare per elicitare le costruzioni di
membri di gruppi e famiglie, localizzando le loro differenti posizioni e tracciandone i cambiamenti nel
tempo.
H. G. Procter, PhD, Consultant Clinical Psychologist. Harry Procter is Visiting Professor at the University of
Hertfordshire, UK. He conducted his doctoral research in the early 1970’s at the Department of Mental
Health, University of Bristol, on applying Personal Construct Psychology to family processes and beginning
the development of a Systemic Constructivist approach to family therapy. After training as a Clinical
Psychologist in Nottingham, he worked in Adult and then Child and Adolescent Mental Health in Somerset
before retiring from the NHS in 2004. Currently, he is involved in supervision and teaching in a number of
countries and is continuing to develop Constructivist applications to relational and organizational contexts.
He has published over 40 papers and chapters covering a variety of topics including family therapy for
children and adults with mental health and learning disabilities, schizophrenia, autism, hypnotherapy,
reflective practice, formulation and the philosophical background to his approach. He has edited two
volumes of papers of Milton H. Erickson for Paidos Publications, Barcelona, and is currently co-editing a
volume of papers presented at the International Congress on Personal Construct Psychology, University of
Hertfordshire, July 2015.
Recently he has been researching the work of Charles S. Peirce whose work provides a fascinating metaframework
for looking at and understanding constructivist approaches. Two recent chapters for the new
Handbook of Personal Construct Psychology address Relational Construct Psychology and PCP, Society
and Culture.
He has developed various types of Qualitative Grid, which are user-friendly methods of displaying the
construing of members of groups and families, tracing their different positions and charting change over
time.
del gruppo di Terapia Breve di Palo Alto, da quello di Milano, da alcuni psicologi dei Costrutti Personali
come George Kelly e Tom Ravenette, nonché dalla nostra attività a Southwood House, Bridgwater e da
quella di altri gruppi di terapia familiare a Somerset, Regno Unito