Thesis (M.S.)--University of North Texas, Dec., 2006. / Title from title page display. Includes bibliographical references.

Although George Kelly's psychology of personal constructs was not originally designed to address and account for experiences of self-betrayal, as described by Warner (1986, 2001), Olson (2004, 2007), Olson and Israelson (2007), Williams (2005), and others (Arbinger, 2000), his theory (with minor modifications) may help illuminate the psychology behind the sudden gestaltic shifts and moral transformations experienced by individuals in Warner's (1986, 2001) stories, without undoing any of Warner's existing analysis of self betrayal.The end vision of the thesis is a structured theory of personality, so to speak, that borrows Kelly's insights and extends them to the phenomenon of self-betrayal. This approach allows us to (1) help others make their self-betraying constructs explicit, (2) measure and document them when we do, (3) communicate those constructs to others, (4) and do all of these things while conceptualizing human beings as moral agents responding to their moral sense, in addition to scientists seeking to predict and control their environment.

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Tystnadsplikten och upplysningsplikten är två väsentliga plikter som en revisor måste förhålla sig till i sin yrkesroll. Eftersom dessa två plikter kan komma i konflikt med varandra är det viktigt för revisorerna att finna en balansgång genom att veta i vilka situationer som de ska förhålla sig till respektive plikt. Tidigare forskning inom fältet revision har fokuserat på andra forskningsfrågor eller undersökt plikterna var för sig. Syftet med den här studien är att bidra till ökad förståelse för hur revisorn balanserar mellan tystnadsplikt och upplysningsplikt, samt hur dessa plikter påverkar revisorn i sitt arbete. För att utforska studiens syfte på ett nyanserat sätt har kvalitativa forksningsmetoder tillämpats bestående av intervjuer och dokumentanalyser. Intervjuerna var semistrukturerade och genomfördes med fem auktoriserade revisorer från revisionsbyråer av varierande storlek. Balansgången mellan tystnadsplikt och upplysningsplikt och plikternas påverkan i arbetet har studerats utifrån centrala begrepp och teorin personal construct theory för att förstå revisorernas tankemönster.  Resultatet tyder på att revisorer för flera olika resonemang vid beslutsfattande som rör tystnadsplikten och upplysningsplikten. Revisorernas balansering mellan plikterna är därmed ett svårbedömt dilemma eftersom plikternas kontraster kan påverka revisorerna i sitt arbete på olika vis. Det framkom meningsskiljaktigheter kring huruvuda balansgången utgör ett hinder i arbetet, men även kring revisorernas upplevda trygghet i situationer när tystnadsplikten och upplysningsplikten ställs mot varandra. En slutsats som kan dras av studien är att etiska dilemman är komplexa och att revisorer gör egna bedömningar utifrån sina erfarenheter och moraliska principer. / The duty of confidentiality and the duty of disclosure are two essential duties an auditor must comply with in one's professional role. Since these two duties may conflict with each other, it is important for the auditors to find a balance by knowing in which situations they should relate to each duty. Previous research in the field of auditing has focused in other research issues or examined the duties separately.  The purpose of this study is to contribute to an increased understanding of how the auditor balances between the duty of confidentiality and the duty of disclosure, as well as how these duties affect the auditors's work. To explore this purpose in an nuanced way, qualitative research methods have been applied consisting of semi-structured interviews and document analyzes. Five authorized auditors from auditing firms of varying sizes were interviewed. Key concepts and the personal construct theory have been used in order to understand thought patterns of auditors.  The results indicate that audtitors have several different reasonings when making decisions concerning the two duties. Thus is the auditors' balancing between duties a difficult dilemma to assess, as the contrasts of the duties can affect the auditors' work in different ways. Disagreements arose as to whether the balancing act constitutes an obstacle in the work, but also as to the auditors's perceived security in situations when the duties are set against each other. A conslusion drawn is that ethical dilemmas are complex and that auditors make their own assessments based in their experiences and moral principles.

Over 200 railway suicides occur on the British Rail Network (BRN) every year. Research into the physical and psychological effects of this traumatic event on train drivers has been limited, and has focused very little on the mediating influence of personal factors. Kelly’s Personal Construct Psychology (PCP, 1955) was used in the current study to explore the relationship between train drivers’ views of themselves and others, and the psychological impact of witnessing a railway suicide. This was achieved through the use of repertory grid technique. Repertory grid measures of tightness of the overall construct system, level of elaboration of the self and others, construed distances between the self and others, conflict, extremity of ratings, and superordinacy were compared with participants’ scores on a measure of the psychological impact of the event (Impact of Event Scale Revised, IES-R, Weiss & Marmar, 1997). The fifteen participants in the study also completed a background information questionnaire. A content analysis of the constructs used in the repertory grids, and a thematic analysis of a follow up interview with two of the participants was also conducted. The findings indicated that most drivers experienced symptoms suggestive of a significant posttraumatic stress (PTS) reaction following the incident. For many this appeared to be short-lived, but for some the incident had longer lasting effects, and a third of the sample had been given an official diagnosis of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Possibly due to the small sample size, many of the correlations did not achieve statistical significance. However, discrepancy between the self and ideal self, and the number of moral constructs employed by participants, were both positively associated with reported levels of psychological distress. The superordinacy of the traumatised construct, and the number of emotional constructs employed by participants, were both negatively associated with reported levels of psychological distress. These findings therefore gave some support to Sewell and Cromwell’s (1990) PCP model of trauma, and to the importance of emotional processing of traumatic events. The thematic analyses added information about the nature of the changes experienced by train drivers following these events, and the impact of contextual factors. The repertory grid technique proved useful in measuring the influence of personal meaning making on the impact of traumatic events. The findings suggest that drivers can best be supported clinically by reducing the discrepancy between their self after the event and their ideal self, increasing their ability to emotionally process their experience, and by giving consideration to issues such as anger and blame. Limitations of the research are presented, as well as suggestions for further research.

The aim of this study was to examine how trauma may affect the development of psychosis. Previous research in the field of Personal Construct Theory has found that people who have a diagnosis of schizophrenia have a poorly elaborated self-concept. This study investigated whether there may be a relationship between trauma and self-elaboration in people who have experienced psychosis. It was hypothesised that more severe trauma in childhood would lead to lower self-elaboration, greater conflict in the self concept and lower elaboration of self when experiencing a traumatic life event in childhood. It was also hypothesised that people would see themselves as less like other people if they had experienced more severe trauma. A sample of 21 people who had experienced psychosis completed repertory grids. The grids included elements of self at different times in one’s life, self in different life events and other people. When childhood sexual abuse was the main grouping variable, the high trauma group had lower self-elaboration, saw themselves as more different to other people and had greater conflict in their self-concept. The findings of the study were discussed in relation to childhood abuse and its impact on self-construction. Limitations of the study were also discussed and related to future research on the relationships between self-concept, trauma and psychosis.

Research into bullying has been mainly quantitative, and of the few existing qualitative studies, fewer still have explored the perspectives of identified bullies. This study employs a mixed method design within a personal construct psychology perspective. The main research questions were: how do young people who bully others construe themselves and those whom they bully and what problems does bullying behaviour solve for those who bully. This was achieved by carrying out in-depth repertory grid analysis, content analysis of grid constructs and construct poles from self-characterisations. Participants were recruited from educational support centres, and were identified as individuals who display bullying behaviours. This study revealed that the participants tended to construe themselves in quite concrete terms, and as actively socially interactive. Participants construed themselves when bullying in terms of low tenderness, high forcefulness and emotional arousal. They construed typical victims in terms of high tenderness, low forcefulness and low status. The element „self when bullying‟ was found to be more elaborated and meaningful to the group than the element „self when not bullying‟. This might suggest that the participants have a more elaborated construct system in this area because it is causing them particular difficulties. Implicative dilemmas were identified for all the participants as potential barriers to change. For two participants this seemed directly relevant to understanding why their bullying behaviours may be difficult to change. Potential interventions drawing on personal construct psychology methods are discussed. One of this study‟s limitations was its small sample size, however the study shows support for using repertory grid methods to investigate bullying among young people and further research is recommended.

Three recent studies attempted to substantiate Sewell and Cromwell's (1990) theory of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD; American Psychiatric Association, 1994) based on personal construct theory (Kelly, 1955). One crucial aspect of the model that was tested in each of the studies is "elaboration," which is the process of bringing more of a person's repertoire of understanding (constructions) to a certain experience to give it meaning. Elaboration is representative of whether or not the individual is using an integrated set of constructs to deal with a traumatic event. A two-part study (1) reanalyzed existing data to assist in understanding discrepancies in past findings, and (2) content analyzed constructs given by subjects in all three studies. Findings concerning elaboration remained somewhat discrepant but suggested possible differences when investigating the emergent versus submerged poles of constructs.

Clinical depression is characterized by alterations in thoughts, judgment, cognition and social behavior. This study focuses on non-optimal views of self and significant others that are proposed to underlie many of these alterations. Perceptions of self and significant others were elicited using the Role Construct Repertory Grid (Kelly, 1955a). Participants included depressed outpatients with high levels of trait anxiety (n = 27), depressed outpatients with lower levels of trait anxiety (n = 29) and a control group of never-depressed volunteers (n = 28). Consistent with prediction, significant group differences were found for negative self perception, discrepancies between actual self and self goals, alienation from significant others, and inconsistencies in self image. Results provided partial support for the self discrepancy theory of emotionality (Higgins, 1987). Among depressed patients, higher levels of anxiety were associated with increased self negativity and greater discrepancies between actual self and self goals. Increased levels of depression were associated with more alienation from significant others and more consistency in self image. Depressed patients' judgments of self and others were altered from optimal ratios, as predicted by the theory of interpersonal judgment (LeFebvre, LeFebvre & Adams-Webber, 1986). Findings have theoretical and clinical importance for the understanding and treatment of persons with clinical depression. They suggest that self image and interpersonal perceptions may be important characteristics to consider in chosing the most effective treatment for these individuals.