A psychological construction of psychology

Abstract

Kelly suggested that it may be useful to see the' scientist as also behaving as a subject when conducting research. In contrast to the traditional empiricist notion, the scientist as knowledge seeker is deeply and personally involved in the assumptions which underlie and extend beyond the conduct of the acutal research study*. The present study examines this personal component, of the psychological scientist’s approach to research by examining the construct dimensions which are chosen for construing the discipline of psychology* Twelve psychologists (5 practicing clinicians and 7 academician/ researchers) were asked to construe 12 elements consisting of brief onesentence abstracts of a broad range of psychological studies. Eight constructs were elicited from each subject using the standard triad method. Elements were rated on a 5-point scale. The laddering pro­ cedure was used to elicit superordinate implications of the constructs. There was great commonality among subjects, both clinicians and researchers, in the content of elicited constructs and construct cluster structures. Additionally, the most superordinate of constructs were very similar across subjects and reflected strong personal investments. Clinicians differed from researchers at the intermediate level of the laddered constructs, separating psychology in general from personal activities as psychologists. For clinicians, the bulk of the grid variance was accounted for by a single factor, suggesting less elab­ orated implications for psychology in general. viii