Construction by Interpersonal Context and Relationship to Psychological Outcomes

Abstract

The repertory grid was used to elicit personal constructs with 10 elements, including three interpersonal self roles, in 33 participants (age M = 20.79, SD = 2.70). Each participant also rated a selection of supplied personality trait constructs and completed several psychological outcome measures. The distance between the self roles was associated with higher levels of anxiety for both personal and the supplied trait constructs, and was also related to greater cognitive complexity for personal constructs. The lack of statistical association between anxiety and cognitive complexity, however, suggested the distance relationships to each outcome are due to some other factor. Based on previous research findings, the overall pattern of results suggests that the grid distances between each interpersonal self is a due to the individual's behavioral flexibility or situational changeability. The findings demonstrate the importance of distinguishing between personal and supplied trait constructs.