Apply Kelly’s personal construct theory to Blake’s and Joe’s behaviors. Specifically, use the sociality corollary to explain Joe manipulating his mother (by giving her cute looks) to avoid punishment; use the commonality corollary to explain Joe’s and Blake’s sloppiness. Compare Kelly’s experience corollary with Bandura’s concept of modeling.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Kelly’s sociality corollary suggests that not only do we observe other people’s behavior, we interpret what that behavior means to that person. Evonne not only observes Blake’s and Joe’s sloppiness, she also observes their “cute looks.” She understands that these cute looks are meant to manipulate her, and sometimes she thinks this is amusing. Furthermore, both Blake and Joe understand that their behavior could potentially have this effect on Evonne.
Kelly’s commonality corollary suggests that people have similar constructs to others. Blake’s and Joe’s constructs of housekeeping (i.e., neatness and sloppiness) are similar because they engage in similar behaviors.
Kelly’s experience corollary suggests that our construction system changes with our experiences. This is similar to Bandura’s concept of modeling in that both concepts allow for the learning of new behaviors and both suggest that experience is important in the learning of new behaviors.