No abstract

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The 'repertory grid ' and the 'implication grid' techniques are compared using criteria based on an indirect measure of construct matching scores. The implication grid proved superior to the repertory grid under conditions designed to compare stability of matching scores and under conditions designed to compare sensitivity to subjects' changes in construing. The significance of a further result, that the implication grid was superior for reflecting construct bipolarity, is considered in the light of conceptual problems with an assumption of bipolarity. The set of results is especially noteworthy since 'indirect' measures were formerlp the exclusive province of the repertory grid. The discussion raises general issues about the relative utility of two grid formats, and the unique measurement possibilities of the implication grid are illustrated. It is concluded that the. implication grid deserves careful consideration for use in studies concerned only with construct relationships.Kelly (1955) developed his 'repertory grid' method in the context of his work as a psychotherapist. The repertory grid (RG) provided a systematic framework for a client to describe his ways of discriminating (the constructs in a grid) between people important to him (the elements in a grid). Kelly assumed that each construct applied to a limited number of people and that each was bipolar. The most important RG measure was the degree of association between construct pairs. For example, the construct 'aggressive-quiet ' would have a high degree of association (high matching score) with the construct 'tense-relaxed ' if the people construed as 'aggressive ' were usually construed as 'tense ' and the people construed as 'quiet' were usually construed as 'relaxed'. The RG has now been applied to a variety of problems, some far removed from psychotherapy, but the emphasis on computing construct-matching scores remains.Working within the framework of Kelly's 'Personal Construct Theory ', Hinkle (1965) developed the 'implication grid ' (IG) for examining the relations between constructs. Subjects answered questions of the form, 'If you changed from being aggressive to quiet, what other constructs would have cause to be changed (e.g. tense to relaxed, ambitious to contented) by a change in yourself on this one construct alone'. This process was repeated so that each construct was paired twice with each of the others in order to generate a square matrix of interconstruct implications. Hinkle's IG has unique measurement advantages over the RG (Bannister & Mair, 1968, ch. 3), but Ryle (1974) notes that it is a complex task for subjects, and is one that has attracted little research.Fransella (1972) goes some way to meeting these criticisms by developing a modified form of the IG in the context of her construct theory approach to the treatment of stutterers. Fransella employed a card-sorting task in which each construct pole was considzred separately. Subjects were presented with one card at a time (e.g. 'aggressive') and told that all they know about...

This study investigated the relationship between recall of real-life pretrial publicity (FV) in a high-profile fraud case and subsequent reasoning about the trial evidence and verdict decisions. Tracking the reasoning and verdict judgments of 50 mock jurors during a video simulation of the trial material, the effect of factual recall of PTP was compared with recall indicating an affective or evaluative response from the PTP. Affective/evaluative recall, but not factual recall, was significantly associated with anti-defendant reasoning and confidence in guilt. This effect was partially mediated by reasoning developed during the course of evidence presentation. The potentially prejudicial effect of affective/evaluative recall of PTP is discussed in terms of it activating an explanatory structure that frames evidence interpretation.

Common assumptions in the theories of Kelly and Werner allow Werner's description of development to be readily translated into a number of predictions concerning the course of construct system or implicit theory development. Construct organization was inferred from subjects’ responses to a specially modified implication grid. Both developmental predictions and the validity of grid measures received excellent support from the analysis of children's implicit theories of their peers as a function of their own age, sex, and verbal intelligence. In addition, the grid responses provided fresh insights into the course of sex differences in person perception.