• ARTICLES

Butt, T.

Keywords:
personal constructs; phenomenology; understanding versus explanation

Abstract:
Personal construct psychology can be read either as an attempt to understand people by appreciating how the world appears to them, or to explain their behaviour in terms of personal constructs that inhabit some interior Cartesian realm. In this article, I maintain that this understanding versus explanation distinction (Dilthey, 1988) is useful and helps us clarify the personal construct project. By examining the phenomenological strengths of personal construct methods, we can approach an understanding of the person that appreciates the complexity of the lived world.