Conference Objective

The Importance of These Meetings

It has been suggested that a paradigm shift is occurring in the social sciences. The previous paradigm that has dominated the modernist era during the 20th Century could be characterized as objectivism or realism. The new paradigm, which could be described as a constructivist perspective, is based on the assumption that personal realities are socially constructed. This perspective assumes that there can be no observations that are independent of the observer. Personal meanings are created by people whose means of construction come from their culture, their language, and their interactions with others. the meetings described below are intended for people who use a constructivist perspective to make sense of their experiences. It is assumed that the "knower" actively constructs knowledge.

The meetings will take place in Seattle, Washington, from July 9-12, 1997, under the auspices of The XIIth International Congress of Personal Construct Psychology. The tradition for these biennial conferences began in 1975 at the University of Nebraska. The ideas of George Kelly provided a framework for these early meetings. Since that time there has been considerable development and elaboration of Personal Construct Psychology (PCP) and other constructivist perspectives. Welcoming the development of other constructivist perspectives, organizers of past International Congresses on PCP have invited spokespersons for compatible perspectives to PCP meetings. For example, Kenneth Gergen, representing a social contructivist perspective, and Jerome Bruner, representing a narrative psychology perspective, participated in the XIth International Congress on PCP in Barcelona , Spain. The XIIth Congress will expand on the practice of encouraging participation by people with compatible constructivist perspectives.

This gathering of people with parallel or overlapping interests and related points-of-view will permit conversations and group discussions about theory, research, and professional practices framed by constructivist perspectives. The meetings will also permit the exploration of potential benefits that constructivist perspectives may offer to adaptation and evolution of the human species. Such interactions might encourage new partnerships of collaboration involving brainstorming and planning of future activities based on constructivist perspectives.