General understanding of the cognitive theory of personality
The founder of the cognitive approach to personality development is the American psychologist John Kelly.
According to his theory, the main source of human personality development is his environment and social environment. The peculiarity of the nominal cognitive approach is that special attention is paid to the influence of intellectual processes on the characteristics of human behavior. In this theory, a person is presented in the role of a scientist who tests his hypotheses regarding the nature of things and, in accordance with this, makes a forecast for the development of events in the future.
Any event that happens to a person can be interpreted repeatedly and conclusions can accordingly change depending on the situation in which the person is at that particular moment.
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Note 1
The main concept of the cognitive theory of personality is the concept of a construct, which includes the existing features of all known cognitive processes. It is thanks to the formed constructs that a person acquires the opportunity not only to understand the world, but also to build interpersonal relationships with other people. The construct is a kind of classifier - a template for a person’s perception of other people and himself.
George Kelly's Cognitive Approach
George Kelly is one of the founders of this trend. He believes that every person is an explorer who strives to understand, interpret, anticipate and control the world of his personal experiences. And all conclusions are drawn on the basis of one’s past experience and assumptions made about the future. He points out that although objective reality exists, different people still perceive it differently, because any event can be viewed from different angles, and people, in turn, are given a wide choice of opportunities in interpreting the inner world of experiences or the outer world of practical events. People are primarily focused on the future rather than on past or present events in their lives. The point of view on life is transient, it is rarely the same as it was yesterday or will be tomorrow. People also have the ability to actively form an understanding of their environment, rather than simply react passively to it. Kelly believed that “we perceive the world through clear systems or models called constructs. A personality construct is an idea or thought that a person uses to understand or interpret, explain or predict his or her experience. It represents a stable way in which a person comprehends some aspects of reality in terms of similarity and contrast.” To form a construct, 3 elements (phenomenon or object) are needed: two of them must be similar to each other, and the third element must be different from these two. Therefore, it should be assumed that all personality constructs are bipolar and dichotomous, a person’s thinking is aware of life experiences in terms of black and white, and not shades of gray. All constructs have two opposite poles: the similarity pole reflects how two objects are similar, and the contrast pole shows how these objects are opposite to the third element. Examples of personal constructs can be “smart - stupid”, “male - female”, “evil - good”.
Kelly also distinguishes between permeable and impenetrable constructs. A permeable construct allows into its range elements of applicability that have not yet been interpreted within its boundaries; it is open to the explanation of new phenomena. In turn, the impenetrable construct remains closed to the interpretation of new experience. Kelly proposed that constructs can be classified:
1. Anticipatory classification constructs (what is included in one classification is excluded by another, preventing the phenomenon being assessed from being seen in a new light).
2. Constellatory constructs (when a phenomenon belongs to a certain category of one construct, its other characteristics. That is, if we attribute a person to a given category, then we endow him with all the corresponding characteristics).
3. Assumption constructs (these constructs can change, they accept alternative points of view and are open to new experiences).
Personal constructs are: a) comprehensive constructs that include a wide range of phenomena; b) private constructs - include a narrow range of phenomena and possibilities; c) basic constructs that regulate basic human activity; d) peripheral constructs - can change without significantly changing the main structure.
Each person perceives reality using their own models or constructs necessary to create a consistent picture of the world. If a construct helps accurately predict events, then a person is likely to retain it. Conversely, if the prediction is not confirmed, then the construct will most likely be subject to revision or may be excluded altogether. Each person has such a unique constructive system (personality). People differ from each other in how they interpret events; absolutely identical people, even if they are twins, interpret events differently. Each person understands reality based on his personal unique construct. And people look at the present in such a way as to foresee the future using a unique system of their personal constructs, accordingly, a person’s behavior is determined by how he predicts future events.
And naturally, Kelly believed that each person’s construct system is unique, and people disagree because everyone operates within their own construct system. The difference also lies in how people organize their constructs. And they, in turn, are organized into a pyramidal structure so that some of them are either subordinate or in a subordinate position relative to other parts of the system. And all this is very individual, since constructs in one person’s system do not necessarily occupy the same position in another person’s system. Kelly suggested that if we know how a person organized his constructs, then we can correctly judge his behavior. Those. to know personality is to know how a person interprets his personal experiences. “Personality is understood as an organizational system of more or less important constructs that a person uses to interpret the world of experiences and anticipate future events.”
Basic provisions of the cognitive theory of personality according to J. Kelly
It was Kelly who, in his research, described the basic mechanisms of the functioning of personal constructs. He also formulated the main postulate of this theory and the consequences that arise according to this postulate
The postulate states that personal processes are psychologically canalized in such a way as to provide a person with maximum prediction of events. All other emerging consequences only clarify this basic postulate.
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A person can differ from another not only in the number of formed constructs, but also in their location. There are superordinate constructs that are actualized in a person’s consciousness in a short period of time, and subordinate constructs that are slower.
Note 2
The system of constructs in a person’s personality is not static and is in the process of constant change due to the influence of the experiences a person receives in the process of growth and development. Thus, we can say that a person’s personality is formed and develops throughout life.
The scientist assumed that the human personality has limited free will and life activity. The system of constructs that has been formed in one or another individual contains certain limitations. However, Kelly did not believe that all human life is completely determined. In any situation, a person is able to construct alternative predictions.
Thus, we can say that the external world of a person is not good or evil, it is exactly the way a person constructs it in his mind.
Ultimately, according to cognitive scientists, a person's fate is in his hands.
Human cognitive development
The cognitive system describes all stages of the human learning process in the best possible way. How does thought processes develop from childhood to adulthood? Let's try to understand this in more detail, referring to the concepts of Bruner, Piaget and Wallon.
According to Bruner's concept (1966), our knowledge of the world is, first of all, sensitive and motor in nature. This means that nothing can be included in thought without first passing through our senses, especially through motor activity. Therefore, we can say that the sensorimotor reflection of reality is crucial in childhood. To this display of the world, another method is quickly added - iconic display (when the child internalizes and stores in memory images of real objects perceived by him). During adolescence and adolescence, this world of images gradually gives way to concepts - symbolic representations of objects. The stimulus for such a transition is mainly speech. Bruner pays special attention to the fact that language represents the most important step in the development of cognitive processes. Since language is not only a means of transmitting cultural heritage, but is also a regulator of behavior, because a word can cause or suppress one or another action.
Piaget's concept (1966) suggests that the development of cognitive processes is the result of a person's constant attempts to adapt to changes in the environment. Because external influences force our body either to modify activity structures (if they no longer satisfy the requirements of adaptation), or, if necessary, to develop new structures. What is meant here is that the adaptation is carried out using two mechanisms. Namely:
1. assimilation (in which a person tries to adapt a new situation to existing structures and skills).
2. accommodation (in which old patterns and response techniques are modified in order to adapt them to a new situation)
Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget set himself the task of finding out how a person experiences the real world. He identifies 3 main stages of development of cognitive processes:
1. Sensorimotor stage (formation and development of sensory and motor structures - the first two years of a child’s life)
2. Stage of concrete actions (words increasingly begin to mean specific objects, and actions are gradually internalized - from 2 to 11 years old. This is how thinking develops. At first, this thinking is subjective in nature, at this stage it is egocentric, but despite this it allows the child to manipulate objects, compare them, classify and carry out specific operations on them. And by the age of 10, the child acquires the ability to objectively interpret concrete reality. This ability increases more in the next stage).
3. Stage of formal operations (abstract thinking, also conceptual thinking, develops. According to Piaget, this stage reaches full development by the age of 14-16. Although many studies have shown that only a part of people, approximately 25-50%, can actually think abstractly).
Also, thanks to his research, Piaget identifies each stage with its own substages, or, to put it differently, phases.
So, the sensorimotor stage includes 6 stages:
a) congenital reflexes (1 month of a child’s life) - these are reflexes of sucking, blinking, grasping caused by external stimuli;
b) motor skills (from 1 to 4 months) – here conditioned reflexes are already formed as a result of the interaction of the child and the environment, for example, grasping a bottle with a nipple, etc.;
c) circular reactions (from 4 to 8 months) - the development of coordination between perceptual systems and motor movements, for example, grabbing a rope, causing a rattle to shake, in order to make it rattle;
d) coordination of means and goals (from 8 to 12 months) - the child’s actions are more and more deliberate, aimed at achieving their goal;
e) random discovery of new funds (from 12 to 18 months) - by pulling the tablecloth, you can get objects lying on the table;
f) invention of new means (from 18-24 months) - search for new solutions to achieve goals, getting desired items, solving 2-3-phase problems;
The sensorimotor stage is characterized by the functioning of visual-effective thinking and the formation of visual-figurative thinking.
Personality structure according to the cognitive theory of personality
As mentioned above, the construct is the main conceptual element of personality. Each person has his own individual system of personal constructs, which is divided into two interconnected blocks:
- The block of “nuclear” constructs, which includes about 50 basic constructs located at the top of the system and in the main focus of a person’s operational consciousness. A person uses the constructs included in this block most often in the process of interacting with people around him.
- The second block is the block of peripheral constructs, which includes all other constructs. Their number is strictly individual and can reach several thousand.
Holistic personality traits appear as a result of the joint functioning of both blocks, all constructs.
What is cognitive psychology
Cognitive psychology is a Cognitive Psychology / American Psychological Association Dictionary branch of psychology that studies perception, imagination, thinking, speech, memory and other cognitive processes.
Much attention is paid to the hidden mechanisms of the brain that affect a person, although he himself is not aware of it. Cognitive psychologists are also interested in complex behavior. For example, love, friendship or altruism. The direction arose by V. A. Gershkovich, M. V. Falikman. Cognitive psychology in search of oneself / Russian Journal of Cognitive Science in the mid-50s of the last century in the USA. This did not happen by accident. Interest in cognitive processes was largely stimulated by the advent of computers, as well as the first experiments in AI modeling and algorithmic processing.
Therefore, most cognitive scientists compare B. M. Velichkovsky. Cognitive psychology / Great Russian encyclopedia of the human brain with a computer. They consider mental processes from the point of view of working with information:
- input signal - information from the environment;
- its analysis and recording;
- the output signal is a reaction.
Why Cognitive Psychology Can Be Trusted
Cognitive scientists always try to make their hypotheses SA McLeod. Cognitive psychology / Simply Psychology confirm experimentally. Psychologists in this area work together with artificial intelligence specialists and neuroscientists, which improves the quality of research and scientific conclusions.
Cognitive scientists also managed to create one of the most understandable and complete models of the brain. By analogy with the design of computers, they proposed separating short-term and long-term memory, and considering attention as a kind of information filter.
Although this model has been criticized by some experts, it is still useful because it does not leave room for the mysterious and unexplored “blind spots” of the mind. It is no coincidence that this approach helps B. M. Velichkovsky. Cognitive psychology / Great Russian Encyclopedia to better understand what different areas of the brain are responsible for.
