XIIIth INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS on PERSONAL CONSTRUCT PSYCHOLOGY Berlin, July 26th to 31st, 1999

THE PERSON IN SOCIETY: CHALLENGES TO A CONSTRUCTIVIST THEORY

Personal Construct Psychology
For the last 25 years, the International Congresses on Personal Construct Psychology have provided a forum for discussing the ideas presented first by George Alexander Kelly in 1955 in his groundbreaking work The Psychology of Personal Constructs. Kelly stressed the importance of the meanings that individuals attach to persons and events in the world surrounding them, and introduced Repertory Grid Technique as the prime research tool to explore these individual meanings. The Psychology of Personal Constructs was originally conceived as "a theory of personality" as the subtitle of the first volume of Kelly´s monumental work indicates. "Clinical diagnosis and psychotherapy", the subtitle of volume two, shows Kelly´s focus in the clinical field. However, since then the range of application of the theory has transcended the boundaries of clinical psychology, and even of psychology as a whole. Cognitive science, education, architecture, nursing, social work, organisational development, sociology, even theology are among the disciplines in which the personal construct approach has proved fruitful. Kelly saw already personal constructs of the world as modified by common experiences of people and stressed the importance of "construing other persons´ constructions". Now it is even more evident that Personal Construct Theory is a theory of "the person in society".
Introductory information about the Psychology of Personal Constructs can be found on this Web Site.

Constructivism
While in 1955 Kelly was considered very much an outsider to the mainstream of psychology, the last decade has seen the rise of a "constructivist" movement in psychology as well as in other disciplines. This move has made the personal construct approach appear quite modern - although some see it more as "postmodern" . Some theoreticians even recommend the absorption of Personal Construct Psychology into or its amalgamation with contemporary constructivism, while others maintain that Personal Construct Theory by virtue of its own theoretical power and practical applicability can still provide important contributions to the "human sciences" in the broadest sense of the word.

Objectives of the Congress
Recent International Congresses have explored in depth the relationships of Personal Construct Psychology to other constructivist theories. We think it appropriate now to look at the challenges posed to Personal Construct Theory itself both from the outside and from within. Among the challenges from the outside are: What has PCP to offer researchers and practitioners in view of the demands of rapidly changing societies at the change of the millennium? And from the internal perspective: Is a theory that was conceived 50 years ago as such prepared to meet these challenges? Or does it need overhauling, re-definition or extension? Hopefully, the plenary debates, the symposia and the workshops to be held during the congress will help answer these questions.

Format of the Congress
There will be plenary sessions with invited speakers, symposia focussing on a large number of applications of Personal Construct Theory, poster presentations, and workshops where in-depth explorations of theoretical and practical aspects are facilitated. Inevitably there will be multiple concurrent sessions. To really permit more interaction and discussion there will be more time allotted to the single paper presentations than usual. See Programme.

Organisation
The congress is organised by the German Personal Construct Group (Deutsche Arbeitsgruppe zur Psychologie der Persönlichen Konstrukte - DPPK) and the Department of Medical Psychology at the University of Giessen whose support is gratefully acknowledged.

Organising Committee

• Norbert Ammermann, Dept. of Theology, School of Education, University of Kiel
• Ursula Bartholomew-Günther, Berlin
• Ana Catina, Centre for Psychotherapy Research, Stuttgart
• Rolf Deubner, Dept. of Medical Psychology, University of Giessen
• Jörn Scheer, Dept. of Medical Psychology, University of Giessen (Chair)
• Ulrike Willutzki, Dept. of Clinical Psychology, University of Bochum

Congress Venue
The congress will be a held in a Conference Centre in Berlin-Wannsee (Bildungs- und Begegnungszentrum der Gewerkschaft ÖTV). See Congress Venue.

Registration
The deadline for "early bird" registration was March 1st, 1999. See Registration and Bookings.

Accommodation
Accommodation will be available for most participants at the congress venue itself. Other accommodation will be available near the congress site. See Registration and Bookings.

Travel Information
Berlin can be accessed by air, by express trains or by car. See Travel Information.

Berlin Information
Berlin, the old and new capital of Germany, is one of the most exciting metropolitan cities of the world. Its situation within former East Germany and some 50 kilometres from the former Eastern Block (i.e. the border to Poland) makes for a fascinating visit before or after the congress. A wealth of information is available through Web Sites which can be accessed using the links supplied here. See Berlin Information.

All inquiries about the conference should be directed to:
Prof. Dr. Jörn W. Scheer
Dept. of Medical Psychology, University of Giessen, Friedrichstrasse 36, D-35392 Giessen, Germany
Phone: +49-(0)-641-99-45682 / Fax: +49-(0)-641-99-45689 / email: joern.scheer@psycho.med.uni-giessen.de
or to:
Dr. Rolf Deubner
Address and Fax as above / Phone: +49-(0)-641-99-45686 / email: rolf.deubner@psycho.med.uni-giessen.de