This chapter addresses American psychologist George Kelly's personal construct theory, and its application in information sci- entist Carol Kuhlthau's ...
Personal construct theory Rebecca Reynolds
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Rebecca Reynolds is assistant professor, School of Communication & Information at Rutgers, the State University of NJ, and affiliate of the Center for International Scholarship on School Librarianship. Funded by an Institute for Museum and Library Services early career development grant, she researches learning by young people during their active social media use and digital media content creation, and issues of motivation, agency and structure in the design of guided discoverybased e-learning interventions for youth. Her research is. She holds a BA (Sociology), MA (Media Studies) and a PhD (Mass Communication), with post-doctoral work in Information Studies.
Section 1
Introduction
This chapter addresses American psychologist George Kelly’s personal construct theory, and its application in information scientist Carol Kuhlthau’s conceptualization of the information search process. Personal construct theory emerged in the 1950s as both a theory of personality and a clinical psychology founded upon the central premise that humans construct our own knowledge and understanding of the world through a process of active cognitive construction and meaning making, paralleling in some ways the scientific process. Personal construct theory focuses on the general processes by which people make sense of and navigate their social worlds. Kelly views individuals as agents who devise and revise conceptual templates he calls personal constructs, that enable them to interpret, anticipate and respond to phenomena they encounter in the world. Individuals construct meaning from experiences, and refine meanings across time. Overall, Kelly’s theory focuses on the structure and function of how humans construe their experiences, on the organization of systems of personal constructs, and their change over time (Neimeyer, 1985). Kelly’s complementary methodological contribution in his theory is called the repertory grid, and involves elicitation by a researcher of dichotomous categories or facets of individuals’ personal mental constructs. This method of elicitation is also applied in clinical psychological therapeutic contexts, towards transforming individuals from positions of psychological con75
flict or inconsistency, to greater levels of self-awareness and cognitive integration. Through Kuhlthau’s application of the theory in her work on human information behaviour, personal construct theory has contributed to information scholars’ understanding of knowledge development processes in information contexts, as well as ways in which information professionals such as librarians and school librarians can more effectively design and support learning experiences for information users. In this chapter, we review the basic premises of personal construct theory, and discuss the ways in which, in addition to the philosophy of Dewey and theories of Vygotsky and Bruner, the key principles of Kelly’s theory have directly influenced Kuhlthau’s information search process model (and, indirectly, the work of those who continue to cite her model).
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Section 2
Personal construct theory
Introduction Kelly originally published his theory and repertory grid method in the early 1950s, in two volumes spanning 1,218 pages (as a magnum opus), which was condensed into a much shorter single volume entitled A theory of personality: the psychology of personal constructs, published in 1955. The theory offers a contrast to the behaviourism of Kelly’s day, which views the individual as a passive respondent to environmental events (Bannister, 1966, cited in Fransella, 2005). The theory is also positioned in this way by Kelly himself, and secondary sources, in contrast to the earlier psychoanalytic and psychodynamic theorists who view the person as ‘a passive respondent to internal unconscious forces’ (Kelly, 1963: 7). The fundamental postulate of personal construct theory demonstrates the agency and autonomy that are central in the theory. The postulate proposes, ‘a person’s processes are psychologically channelized by the ways in which he anticipates events’ (Kelly, 1963). By channelized, Kelly conceives the human’s psychological processes as operating through a structured network of pathways that is flexible, frequently modified, and can be both facilitative and restrictive of a person’s range of action (Kelly, 1963: 49). By anticipates, Kelly states that he views man as a scientist who is seeking of prediction, with a general disposition towards future real events (p. 49). On the whole, in personal construct theory, humans do not so much react to the past, as anticipate and reach 77
out to the future and make sense of the world through anticipation, prediction and preparation, and ‘beating the world to the punch’ (Bannister and Fransella, 1986: 8). Future expectations offer a delimitation against which we project present meaning. In the theory, therefore, a person is in business to understand their own nature and the nature of the world and to test that understanding in terms of how it guides them and enables them to see into the immediate and longterm future (Bannister and Fransella, 1986: 8).
These authors state that for Kelly, the science and invention of personal construction has the same central characteristic as art, that of imagination, whereby in personally constructing, one imagines and anticipates future events, identities and possibilities.
The corollaries of personal construct theory. In outlining the premises of his theory, Kelly defines eleven corollaries under the fundamental postulate stated above, to elaborate on his vision of man’s predictive and imaginative disposition (Kelly, 1963: 50-104; Feist and Feist, 2008: 587, 588). Each corollary is described briefly as follows. In Kelly’s construction corollary, we anticipate future events according to our interpretation or construal of recurrent themes from similar events previously experienced. Kelly states that ‘in
constructing, the person notes features in a series of elements which characterize some of the elements and are particularly uncharacteristic of others’ (1963: 50) in a process of differentiation . Setting the stage for the subsequent dichotomy corollary, he states that both the similarities and contrasts are inherent of the same construct. He suggests that this construal process is different from verbal formulation. Kelly states that ‘what is predicted is not that tomorrow will be a duplicate of today but that there are replicative aspects of tomorrow’s event which may be safely predicted’ (1963: 53). In this way, we anticipate by construing a given event’s replications. Our personal constructs are in essence our vision of, interpretation of, and meaning generated from our experiences with a given unit of understanding, with an added regard towards how we expect the construct to manifest in our favour, moving forward. Our personal constructs anticipate future application. Subsequent corollaries are described more briefly and can be found in elaborated form in Kelly (1963). The individuality corollary stipulates that people have had different experiences and, therefore, construe events in different ways. We share common ground based on common experiences, and based on our construal of others’ experiences that are different from ours. According to the organization corollary, we organize our personal constructs in a system of relationships, with some con78
structs in a super-ordinate position and others subordinate to them. This organization allows us to minimize incompatible constructs. This system evolves, but not as readily as the individual constructs that compose the system themselves. People must make decisions about remodelling the system: how much must one tear down to accommodate new experiences? Kelly indicates that one must choose between preserving the integrity of the system, and replacing its faulty parts. In some cases, anticipation of events will be more effective if one chooses to conserve the system. In other cases, remodelling will improve anticipation and result in better preparation (Kelly, 1963: 59). Here one can begin to imagine the role that information may play in future anticipation. In the dichotomy corollary, Kelly presents the key assertion that all personal constructs are dichotomous, that is, we construe events in an either/or manner. Kelly calls these dichotomous constructs aspects. Construing concepts entails identifying the two dimensions of the concept (its either/or status). The two dichotomous aspects are considered in time sequence, in that one’s constructs are supported when one experiences two sequential events in time as replications. There must be an opposing way that another, third event might not be a replication of the first two instances (Kelly, 1963: 59). In this formulation, the aspect of the event is the construct, and the variation in the aspects across the first and second events versus a possible third, represents the dichotomy. The particular aspect or con-
struct may or may not have relevance to other events, or to what Kelly terms ranges of convenience (Kelly, 1963: 60). It is upon this dichotomy corollary that his repertory grids method is largely based. Examples are provided in the discussion of this empirical technique below. According to the choice corollary, we choose the alternative in a dichotomized construct that we see as extending our range of future choices, in a favourable way. Kelly states that we assume whenever a person is confronted with the opportunity for making a choice, he will tend to make that choice in favor of the alternative which seems to provide the best basis for anticipating the ensuing events (Kelly, 1963: 64).
Kelly suggests that individuals have a tendency to move toward that which appears to make his system more explicit and clear cut. However, one can think of many instances where we in fact do the opposite; Kelly notes that internal conflict is often a matter of trying to balance off “secure definiteness of a narrowly encompassed world, against the uncertain possibilities of life’s adventure.” We make choices that lead us to become more and more certain about fewer things, or “vaguely aware of more and more things on the misty horizon” (p. 67). Kelly himself positions the choice corollary in stark contrast to “hedonism and motivational theory,” his terms for behaviourism and psychoanalysis. He states that in personal construct theory, “there is a continuing movement toward the anticipation of events rather than a series of barters for temporal satisfactions, and this move79
ment is the essence of human life itself” (p. 68). In his comparison (which has been critiqued as overly simplified), he sees this movement as originating from neither extrinsic reward nor complex machinations of psychosexual development and libido drives, but rather a basic disposition in humans to accumulate knowledge towards future anticipated events. Kelly’s range corollary indicates that constructs are limited to a particular range of convenience, that is, they are not relevant to all situations. That which is outside of the range of convenience of a given construct or aspect and its dichotomous conditions is not considered part of the contrasting field but is simply an area of irrelevancy (Kelly, 1963: 69). His experience corollary states that we continually revise our personal constructs as the result of experience. As one’s anticipations or hypotheses are successively revised in light of the unfolding sequence of events, the construction system undergoes a progressive evolution (Kelly, 1963: 72). Kelly states that, in this regard, learning is assumed to take place. However, the modulation corollary indicates that not all new experiences lead to a revision of personal constructs. To the extent that constructs are permeable they are subject to change through experience. Concrete or impermeable constructs resist modification regardless of our experience. New outlooks a person gains from experience need to be construed
by the person in order to make any sense out of it, requiring conscious reflection. Kelly states, ‘One does not learn certain things merely from the nature of the stimuli which play upon him; he learns only what his framework is designed to permit him to see in the stimuli (Kelly, 1963: 79).
Following on this idea, the fragmentation corollary states that our behaviour is sometimes inconsistent because our construct subsystems can readily admit incompatible elements and function in conflict. The modulation corollary implicitly tolerates inconsistency between subsystems. Depending on the superand sub-ordinate features of the system that are being called upon in the given context, the impermeability of particular constructs can halt learning. The commonality corollary complements the individuality corollary, stating that to the extent that we have had experiences similar to others, our personal constructs tend to be similar to the construction systems of those people. Kelly describes a ‘similarity of expectations’ view of culture in that individuals share a perception of what is expected of them. They engage in anticipation of the future based on personal constructs built upon common experiences with others. Finally, the sociality corollary indicates that we are able to communicate with and play a role in a social process involving others because we can construe their constructions. We not only observe the behaviour of others, but we also interpret what that be80
haviour means to them. We don’t have to share the same outlook but we must be able to understand theirs. Such understanding can be mutual. In other words, commonality is not a requisite condition for sociality. The agency that Kelly ascribes to individuals in constructing their knowledge in personal construct theory, and the metaphor of the individual-as-scientist, hold clear conceptual linkages to cognitivism and constructivism. One thinks immediately of Piaget’s theories, and the title of his famous work, To understand is to invent (Piaget, 1973). However, Kelly states that in his theory’s holistic view of the person, ‘The classic threefold division of psychology into cognition, affection, and conation has been completely abandoned’ (Kelly, 1963: 130). In the theory, he argues, cognition, affect and behaviour are all addressed as integrated and inter-related dimensions of one’s learning and personal construct development processes and, subsequently, their elicitation and revision in research, education and therapy work. This holistic approach strongly influenced Kuhlthau’s treatment of the information search process as involving phenomena along the same three dimensions (personal communication, November 2012).
Repertory grid technique In order to empirically ground his theory, Kelly developed the repertory grid method which was used in research and also advanced as a clinical psychotherapeutic technique. The method
largely builds upon the construction and dichotomy corollaries, by eliciting input from a subject to reveal the duality of aspects in their mental models. In this method, the researcher asks the participant to discuss their construal of a given construct, for instance, one that emerges in a therapeutic context. The researcher helps the individual to identify, define and bound particular aspects. Use of the grid in an interview context allows a researcher to understand the ways in which a person construes, interprets and gives meaning to his or her experiences. Through a process of elicitation, the researcher or clinical psychologist comes to better understand implicit beliefs in a participant’s world view. In introducing the technique, Fransella, Bell and Bannister (2004) use the interesting example of a participant’s view of humans who have ‘cold eyes’ versus ‘warm eyes’. The subject is then asked to make associations between this physical characteristic of appearance and the qualities of human meanness and generosity. In this example, the authors suggest to imagine a Chi-square grid of the four variables, in which the participant counts individuals they know who bear the perceived facial attributes, and the subject’s assessment of the individuals’ disposition (mean or generous). Here the subject has drawn upon his or her own experience in the world to formulate an association or relationship, presumably between cold eyes and meanness and warm eyes and generosity. The subject can then consider the evidence entered into the grid, and their prior association, 81
and think about the nature and validity of what was previously a mainly intuitive judgment. Judgments belie implicit theories we have about the world, and with the repertory grid, an expert interviewer aims to develop an understanding of these theories in individuals, conscious and unconscious. In a therapeutic context, discussing and making these implicit theories more conscious with subjects enables the therapist to help the subject identify underlying conflicts that may be restricting their freedom of choice and realization of possibilities. Bell (2005) indicates that the grid technique attracted attention in the 1960s due to research published on its use with schizophrenics in Britain by Bannister and Fransella. The approach was used more widely in Britain than the U.S. through the 1980s and early 1990s, but research on the technique has since declined, according to Bell’s analysis of citations in the PsycINFO database (Bell, 2005: 68). It is still used in psychotherapeutic contexts, and Fransella (2005) contains chapters discussing a range of varying purposes towards which the theory and repertory grids therapeutic technique are still being applied, including nursing, family therapy, training of police forces, teacher education and organizational change.
Critical reception of the theory
Upon reviewing Kelly’s original magnum opus, Jerome Bruner hails the theory on its book jacket (1963), describing it as ‘a genuine new departure and spirited contribution to the psychology of personality’. However, he also notes, with respect to ancestry, Professor Kelly seems to care little for it. One misses references to such works as Piaget’s ‘The child’s construction of reality’, the early work of Werner and the writings of Harry Stack Sullivan, Lewin and Allport – all of whom are on his side and are good allies to boot (Bruner in Mancuso, 1970: 62).
Others note that its ‘insularity renders it less adequate as a comprehensive theory than it could be were it to take into account work arising from other traditions’ (Bannister and Fransella, 1986: 52). Kelly was also critiqued for a superficial treatment of the distinctions he draws between personal construct theory and existing psychological perspectives, psychoanalysis in particular (Neimeyer, 1985: 112). Neimeyer suggests, however, that Kelly’s failure to find intellectual support in compatible phenomenological and existential thinkers was less likely due to Kelly’s misinterpretation of such work and desire to differentiate his own, than towards absent firsthand awareness of such traditions as he developed the theory during his early academic career at a small Quaker college in the rural Midwest. Biographies of Kelly note that his somewhat unilateral approach to theory building has roots in his rural, isolated upbringing, ascribing to Kelly almost a type of folk hero status. Neimeyer (1985) for instance discusses Kelly’s childhood in rural 82
Kansas being raised in the Bible belt by highly religious parents whom he calls among ‘the last of the homesteaders on the American frontier’ (p. 105). Fransella (2005) indicates that Kelly was influenced by the pragmatic philosophies of John Dewey, Vaihinger’s (1924) philosophy of ‘as if’ and constructive alternativism, and Moreno’s work on psychodrama as having shaped Kelly’s use of make-believe and role-playing strategies in personal construct therapeutic approaches (Fransella, 2005: 7). Neimeyer (1985: 13) suggests that ‘the self-reliance of Kelly’s childhood seems to be reflected in the form of his theorizing as well as its content’. That is, the agentive capacity Kelly ascribes to individuals in our ability to construct our own knowledge and our capacity to re-shape personal constructs to open up greater freedom and self-determination through greater awareness and self-correction of inconsistencies, made possible for instance by clinical therapeutic repertory grid techniques, can be seen to connect to such roots.
went on to advance his original work in the U.S. and in Europe. His work is now seen as having been eclipsed by the cognitive revolution in the field of psychology (perhaps in part due to his untimely death), but his theory still sees a following, particularly in the UK among clinicians who adhere to more experiential constructivist techniques.
While Kelly’s contributions to psychology theory were recognized by central figures including Bruner, he died suddenly in 1967, after having established himself in academia in the late 1950s, first at Fort Hays Kansas State College, then Ohio State University and ultimately at Brandeis University where in 1965 he had taken up an endowed chair at the invitation of Abraham Maslow (Fransella and Neimeyer, 2005). By then he had taken on leadership roles in the American Psychological Association, and had cultivated a devoted cohort of graduate students who 83
Section 3
The application of personal construct theory in information science
Kuhlthau and personal construct theory Personal construct theory has influenced scholarship in a range of domains and disciplines including information science, clinical psychology, educational psychology, organizational development and market research. Kelly’s work has strongly influenced information scientist Carol Kuhlthau’s information search process model (1993, 2004), as well as her guided inquiry model and design techniques for school librarianship instruction (Kuhlthau, Maniotes & Caspari, 2007, 2012). Kuhlthau first encountered the theory during her doctoral education in the 1970s at Rutgers University when she was considering the interplay of information seeking and learning phenomena. The theory was included in the reading list of an educational psychology PhD seminar offered at the Graduate School of Education, and Kuhlthau found the cognitive construction processes described in Kelly’s theory to be germane to her observations of information users in the library and school library contexts she was investigating at the time (personal communication, November, 2012). Her dissertation (1983) cites Kelly in the literature review, outlining Kelly’s fundamental postulate and corollaries, and linking each of the main principles of the theory with hypothetical phases of the search process, which
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she then goes on to investigate and report upon in the empirical thesis study.
lier texts (e.g., 1983, 1993). Chapter 2, ‘Learning as process’, references Dewey, Kelly, and Bruner. She examines each theory and identifies the areas of relevance to information seeking in Kuhlthau’s subsequent career scholarship on the information particular. In Dewey she draws upon the ideas of construction search process essentially positions information seeking as a through acting and reflecting, and one’s capacity to transfer process of knowledge construction. She draws upon construct knowledge, situating information search in the second, intellectheory to help explain the tualization phase of constructive process she Dewey's five-phase model sees information users enof reflective thinking: the gaging in, to build knowlstage at which a learner edge and derive meaning conceptualizes a from their inquiry. She problem. She then builds states, upon Kelly’s conceptualization of individuals’ capacit is the individual formulation of a personal ity for ongoing personperspective or focus al development and learnfrom the information ing through personal congathered to create somestruct evolution (1993, thing new, at least for Figure 1: Kuhlthau’s model of the information search process 2004). She cites the role oneself, that fits with of prediction in Kelly's the notion of construction” (Kuhlthau, 1983: 4). work as being central to the construction process, in that prediction leads to action, which confirms or rejects the construct. Kuhlthau’s work was unique at the time, in bringing in learning theory perspectives to enhance the field's discourse on information behaviour. Kuhlthau’s 2004 book Seeking meaning summarizes the theoretical underpinnings of her work, which were outlined in ear-
Kelly’s “holistic” approach to human psychology described earlier (Kelly, 1963: 130) is modelled by Kuhlthau in her development of the information search process, in that she conceptualizes information seeking processes as occurring across the three 85
diverse dimensions of cognition, affect and behaviour. In this way, she again offered a contribution to the field at the time, in considering the interplay of thinking and feeling, as cooperating dimensions of learning not typically addressed in the more cognitive information processing models of information behaviour of the 1980s. Figure 1 presents Kuhlthau’s model as a reference point, and how these three holistic domains operate across the model’s phases. Studies of the process in the workplace have revealed that in more complex tasks, where the goal requires considerable information-seeking, construction and learning, people are likely to experience the process as described in the model (Kuhlthau, 1999).
Uncertainty principle Kuhlthau’s uncertainty principle (1993, 2004) may be the dimension of her scholarship in which we see the most direct influence from Kelly. Kuhlthau (1993) outlines and presents evidence for the uncertainty principle in the Journal of Documentation (1993), proposing that uncertainty which is due to a lack of understanding, a gap in meaning, or a limited construct, initiates the process of information seeking (1993). Kuhlthau (2004: 20) states that when Kelly ‘describes an individual’s experience within the process of construction, a dynamic, uncertain process is revealed’. She states ‘when [Kelly] depicts people working through the process by a series of choices from alterna-
tives, these choices are anything but obvious and straightforward, particularly in the early phases” (2004: 20). In this way, Kuhlthau maintains her position on the role of affect in information behaviour; she states ‘the affective experience of the user is likely to have a profound effect on the process of construction’ (2004: 25). Kuhlthau (1993) discusses uncertainty as a cognitive state that causes affective symptoms of anxiety and lack of confidence. Kuhlthau (1993) notes that, in the early phases of the search process, individuals may hold vague, unclear thoughts about a topic or question that elicits these symptoms. She indicates that as knowledge states shift to more clearly focused thoughts as one moves through the process, a parallel shift occurs in feelings of increased confidence. In outlining the premises of the uncertainty principle, Kuhlthau (1993) takes a formatting cue from Kelly, presenting it as a set of corollaries, restated below. Like Kelly, she thus highlights the role of confusion, doubt and possible threat that exist especially in the early phases of knowledge construction, and the anxiety and difficulty inherent to the process of personal construct change. 1. Process corollary
The process of information seeking involves construction in which the person actively pursues understanding and meaning from the information encountered over a period of time. The 86
process is commonly experienced in a series of thoughts and feelings that shift from vague and anxious to clear and confident, as the search progresses. 2. Formulation corollary
Formulation is thinking, developing an understanding and extending and defining a topic from the information encountered in the early stages of a search. The formulation of a focus or a guiding idea is a critical, pivotal point in the ISP when a general topic becomes clearer and a particular perspective is formed as the person moves from uncertainty to understanding. 3. Redundancy corollary
The interplay of seeking what is expected or redundant and encountering what is unexpected or unique results in an underlying tension of the ISP. Redundant information fits into what the user already knows and is readily recognized as being relevant or not. Unique information is new and extends knowledge and does not match the person’s constructs requiring reconstruction to be recognized as useful. Too much redundant information leads to boredom, whereas too much unique information causes anxiety. The lack of redundancy in the early stages of the ISP may be an underlying cause of anxiety related to uncertainty. Uncertainty may decrease as redundancy increases. 4. Mood corollary
Mood, a stance or attitude that the person assumes, opens or closes the range of possibilities in a search. According to Kelly,
an invitational mood leads to expansive, exploratory actions, whereas an indicative mood fosters conclusive actions that lead to closure. The person’s mood is likely to shift during the ISP. An invitational mood may be helpful in the early stages and an indicative mood in the later stages. A person in an invitational mood would tend to take more expansive, exploratory actions, while a user in an indicative mood prefers conclusive actions that lead to closure. 5. Prediction corollary
The ISP is a series of personal choices based on the person’s predictions of what will happen if a particular action is taken. People make predictions derived from constructs built on past experience about what sources, information and strategies will be relevant and effective. These predictions lead to the choices they make in the stages of the ISP. People develop expectations and make predictions about the sources used or not used, the sequence of source use, and the information selected from the sources as relevant or irrelevant. Relevance is not absolute or constant but varies considerably from person to person. 6. Interest Corollary
Interest increases as the exploratory inquiry leads to formulation in the ISP. Motivation and intellectual engagement intensify along with construction. Personal interest may be expected to increase as uncertainty decreases. The person’s interest and motivation grows as the search progresses. Interest is higher in later stages after the person has formed a focus and has enough 87
understanding of the topic to become intellectually engaged. (Kuhlthau, 1993: 345) The redundancy and prediction corollaries above present clear linkages to Kelly’s fundamental postulate of anticipation. Kuhlthau (2004: 21) indicates that Bruner, too, sees prediction or expectancy as an important component in recognizing the redundancy of information, ‘whereas uniqueness places our system on alert, and there is a limit to how much new information we can take’. Uniqueness is high and redundancy low in the early phases, when thoughts are vague and unfocused. One wants to avoid introducing too much uniqueness (or redundancy for that matter) in any phase. Kuhlthau and Kelly’s conceptualizations are shown to be further interwoven in a discussion of the information search process Kuhlthau presents on her faculty webpage, as follows. Kelly describes the emotional experience of constructing meaning from new information. The information is assimilated in a series of phases, beginning with confusion. Confusion increases as inconsistencies and incompatibilities are confronted between the information and the constructs the person already holds. As confusion mounts, it frequently causes doubt in the ability to assimilate the new information. The disruption caused by the new ideas may become so threatening that the new information is discarded and construction abandoned. At this point, Kelly proposes another alternative to move the process of construction along. The person may form a tentative hypothesis to move toward incorporating
the new construct into the existing system of personally held constructs (http://comminfo.rutgers.edu/~kuhlthau/
information_search_process.htm, While Kelly’s original work does not identify new ideas encountered by the individual as information, per se, it is clear to see how, in coming to his text from an information behaviour perspective, Kuhlthau equates the two concepts. When individuals form a new anticipatory hypothesis, as discussed in the quote above, Kelly’s work indicates that the individual then may choose to test it towards future situations or actions, a process that opens up alternative possibilities for learning, meaningmaking and new construct development. Kuhlthau (2004) cites Kelly’s concept of elaborative choice, which is a choice that broadens understanding, to represent this hypothesis generation and testing process, in which new information plays a driving role. The stakes here appear to be high, in that abandoning construction due to confusion and doubt can impede integration and growth, whereas making a broadening elaborative choice (daring to explore and experiment) can expand one’s horizons. A view towards the potential role of scaffolding and intervention in this process is starting to emerge.
Kelly’s influence on Kuhlthau’s practice models 88
Kuhlthau states that like other practice-based scholarly fields, theory informs practice in library science, allowing the practitioner to “base practice on general principles rather than depending solely on hunches and intuition” (2004: xv). The uncertainty principle article (1993) sets the stage for Kuhlthau and colleagues’ most recently published guided inquiry and guided inquiry design models, which specifies the role that practitioners can play in supporting information users as they proceed through the phases of the search process. It is during phases of uncertainty, in particular, in which practitioners can offer interventions that increase the likelihood of one’s successful management, processing and integration of novel constructs. Kuhlthau views the information and library practitioner as one who, with proper training such as that specified in the guided inquiry model (2007), can guide and support users through the phases of the search process to support their knowledge construction. She and colleagues state that a constructive process of learning in the library requires services that enable individuals to relate new information to what they already know and extend that knowing to form new understandings (2007: 5). Her applied model for practice is targeted largely towards the school librarian, whose role is specialized towards more formalized support of student learning and knowledge construction than that of the generalist librarian. The practice model is outlined initially in the book, Guided inquiry (Kuhlthau, et al., 2007), and then articulated in a more detailed prescribed set of instruc-
tional design principles and activities in Guided inquiry design (Kuhlthau, et al., 2012). The latter includes lesson plans, graphic organizers and other supports to help school librarians scaffold and structure students’ experiences engaging in information search process. The authors describe guided inquiry as ‘a practical way of implementing an inquiry approach that addresses these 21stcentury learning needs for students (Kuhlthau, et al., 2007). They recommend a three-member core team to plan and supervise the inquiry, with an extended team of other experts joining in when they are needed (2007). Kuhlthau and Maniotes (2010) suggest that in a constructivist guided inquiry-type learning environment, the instructional team adopts an observational perspective, to teach and assess learners as well as to notice when a learning need arises. They recommend the following intervening measures, wherein we also see the influence of Kelly. When the team observes confusion and uncertainty, they need to be ready to intervene. For example, when students get frustrated in the exploring stage, they need to be encouraged to take time to read and reflect, as well as guided in making sense of information and strategies for working through the learning process. Providing targeted intervention in each stage of the inquiry process deepens students' learning experiences. Through an accumulation of these timely experiences in the learning process, students learn to recognize changes in their feelings and thoughts. They learn "how 89
to learn" in a lasting and transferable way from a variety of sources. (Kuhlthau and Maniotes, 2010)
These practice-based texts are being adopted by programmes of school librarianship training, including at Rutgers University, where students are encouraged to initiate guided inquiry models of team teaching when hired by schools post-training. Research has indicated that in schools adopting these approaches, such teamwork contributes positively to the overall learning climate and school culture, quality of the pedagogy of participating teachers, and learning outcomes of students (Todd, et al., 2011).
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Section 4
The theory applied in other information science research
Besides its clear influence on Kuhlthau’s project, a small number of additional research studies have also been identified in the information sciences, in which personal construct theory has been directly applied. Hunter, Caputi and Tan (2012) offer a summary of the theory’s contribution to theoretical perspectives on information systems, and discuss how the repertory grid technique has been applied in several studies that aim to understand information system uses by end users. The authors provide an overview of the theory, and move into a discussion of how the repertory grids technique has proven applicable in a range of information systems research studies. The repertory grid method generates rich qualitative narrative data documenting the research participant’s explanations in the form of interview notes and transcripts, which can be useful to researchers working to understand the thoughts and perceptions of actors. Hunter, Caputi and Tan state that if the researcher wants to attempt to understand why a research participant thinks about a topic in a particular way, it becomes incumbent upon the researcher to delve into the meanings that a participant attributes to the concepts employed to describe their thinking (Hunter et al., 2012: 2).
They cite three studies in which the repertory grids technique has been applied to investigate various aspects of user knowledge acquisition in relation to the development of expert systems. These studies are Botten, et al. (1989), Latta and Swigger 91
(1992) and Phythian and King (1992). They then further summarize previously published findings from co-author Hunter and colleagues’ research employing the repertory grid technique to investigate the skills of excellent systems analysts (Hunter 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999; Hunter and Beck 1996a, b, 2000). The authors (2012) highlight the usefulness of the repertory grid in interviews in Hunter’s previous information systems research, and also present examples from Napier et al. (2009) who used the repertory grid technique while interviewing practicing information technology project managers in order to identify skills that successful project managers demonstrate as well as to explore any distinct skill patterns that represent archetypes. They indicate that eliciting an understanding of participants’ personal constructs through the repertory grid’s laddering technique can lead to findings that aid in theorybuilding (Hunter, et al., 2012). This direct application of Kelly’s repertory grids method is a unique contribution.
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Section 5
Conclusion
Kuhlthau continues to maintain her position as one of the most often-cited scholars in the field of information science. In this chapter, we have outlined ways in which Kelly’s personal construct theory underpins Kuhlthau’s model of the information search process and uncertainty principles, resonating throughout her scholarship, from theory to applied practice models. Kuhlthau’s unique contribution to scholarship in information science stands in her conceptualization of human information behaviour as a constructive process of knowledge building and learning. The influence of Kelly is seen in the holistic approach she takes by including cognition, affect and behaviour in the search process, and in explicating the role of uncertainty from the information user perspective. Further, the therapeutic role of a clinician in the application of a repertory grid technique in personal construct theory is in some ways mirrored in the intervening and supportive role of the library practitioner in Kuhlthau’s guided inquiry model. While Kelly’s theory was largely supplanted by the cognitive revolution and his theory is not frequently cited nowadays, as recently as September, 2012, the academic journal Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry published an article entitled “Still radical after all these years: George Kelly's The psychology of personal constructs” (Winter, 2012). The work hails Kelly’s theory and repertory grid technique as a perspective to be revisited by today’s psychotherapists and clinicians who may feel 93
hemmed in by work in mental health settings dominated by quick-fix, cognitive-behavioural approaches. The article lauds the more humanistic personal construct theory for its emphasis on one’s individual and personal agency to anticipate the future, revise one’s constructs, and construct new possibilities. Winter (2012) closes with a poignant quote from Kelly (1963: 63), which we restate here: We take the stand that there are always some alternative constructions available to choose among in dealing with the world. No one needs to paint himself into a corner; no one needs to be completely hemmed in by circumstances; no one needs to be the victim of his biography.
Whether addressing information behaviour from theoretical or applied standpoints, Kuhlthau and Kelly both offer perspectives of optimism in human potential to construct new meaning. Information plays a key role in this process, and revisiting these literatures elicits in the author the conclusion that a human development perspective towards information behaviour may warrant continued consideration.
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Section 6
Introductory works and references
Introductory works Fransella, F. (2005). The essential practitioner's handbook of personal construct psychology. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons. Kelly, G. A. (1963). A theory of personality: the psychology of personal constructs. (2nd. ed.). New York, NY: Norton. Kuhlthau, C. C. (2004). Seeking meaning: a process approach to library and information services. (2nd ed.). Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited. Kuhlthau, C. C. (1993). A principle of uncertainty for information seeking. Journal of Documentation, 49(4), 339-355.
References Bannister, D. (1966). A new theory of personality. In B. Foss (Ed.) New horizons in psychology. Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin. Bannister, D. & Fransella, F. (1986). Inquiring man: the psychology of personal constructs. (3rd ed.). London: Croom Helm. Bell, R. (2005), The repertory grid technique. In F. Fransella, (Ed.) The essential practitioner’s hand-book of personal construct psychology. (pp. 67-75) Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons. Botten, N., Kusiak, A., & Raz, T. (1989). Knowledge bases: Integration, verification and partitioning. European Journal of Operations Research, 42(2), 1. Bruner, J.S. (1956). You are your constructs. Contemporary Psychology, 1 (12), 3557. Feist, J., & Feist, G. J. (2008). Theories of personality. (7th ed.). Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill. Fransella, F. (2005). The essential practitioner's handbook of personal construct psychology. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons. Fransella, F. & Neimeyer, R.A. (2005). George Alexander Kelly: The man and his theory. In Fransella, F (Ed.) The essential practitioner's handbook of personal construct psychology. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons.
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Fransella, F., Bell, R, & Bannister, D. (2004). A manual for repertory grid technique. (2nd ed.). Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons.
Piaget. (1973). To understand is to invent: The future of education. New York: Grossman Publishers.
Hunter, M.G., Caputi, P. & Tan, F.B. (2012). Employing personal construct theory to understand information systems: A practical guide for researchers. In Y.K. Dwivedi et al. (eds.), Information Systems Theory: Explaining and Predicting Our Digital Society, Vol. 2, Integrated Series in Information Systems 29. NYC: Springer. Kelly, G. A. (1963). A theory of personality: the psychology of personal constructs. (2nd. ed.). New York, NY: Norton.
Todd, R.J., Gordon, C.A. & Lu, Y. (2011). One common goal: student learning. Executive summary of findings and recommendations of the New Jersey school library survey phase 2. Report of the Center for International Scholarship in School Libraries. Retrieved 2 January, 2013 from http://cissl.rutgers.edu/images/stories/docs/njasl_phase%20_2_final.pdf. (Archived by WebCite® at http://www.webcitation.org/6FYq5v1G1)
Kuhlthau, C. C. (1993). A principle of uncertainty for information seeking. Journal of Documentation, 49(4), 339-355.
Winter DA (2012). Still radical after all these years: George Kelly's “The psychology of personal constructs”. Clinical child psychology and psychiatry. 18(2):276-83.
Kuhlthau, C. C. (2004). Seeking meaning: a process approach to library and information services, 2nd edition. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited. Kuhlthau, C., Maniotes, L. & Caspari, A. (2007). Guided inquiry: learning in the 21st century. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited. Kuhlthau, C., Maniotes, L., & Caspari, A. (2012). Guided inquiry design: a framework for inquiry in your school. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited. Kuhlthau, C. (1983). The library research process: case studies and interventions with high school seniors in advanced placement English classes using Kelly's theory of constructs. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA. Kuhlthau, C. & Maniotes, L. K. (2010). Building guided inquiry teams for 21stcentury learners. School Library Monthly, 26(5), accessed online 4/15/13 from http://www.schoollibrarymonthly.com/articles/kuhlthau&maniotes2010-v26n5p18. html Latta, G. F., & Swigger, K. (1992). Validation of the repertory grid for use in modelling knowledge. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 42(2), 115– 129. Mancuso, J. C. (Ed.) (1970). Readings for a Cognitive Theory of Personality. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. Neimeyer, R.A. (1985). The development of personal construct psychology. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press. Phythian, G. J., & King, M. (1992). Developing an expert system for tender enquiry evaluation: A case study. European Journal of Operations Research, 56 (1), 15–29.
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