PROTOTYPICALITY OF SELF AND DIFFERENTIATING AMONG OTHERS IN TERMS OF PERSONAL CONSTRUCTS
Jack R. Adams-Webber · Journal of Constructivist Psychology · 2003
Bipolar constructs were elicited individually from each of 53 participants. They evaluated themselves dichotomously on every construct, and then indicated on a scale of 1 to 10 their degree of confidence in each of their self-evaluations. Participants also rated 10 personal acquaintances from 1 to 5 on every construct. Their degree of confidence concerning their own self-evaluations across constructs correlated significantly with the extent to which they differentiated among their acquaintances in terms of the same constructs (r = 0.53, p < 0.0001), and with how definitely (i.e., extremely) they rated them (r = 0.65, p < 0.0001). It was argued that the contrasting poles of personal constructs represent fuzzy sets without distinct logical boundaries and the self can function as a prototype to which information about others is compared in evaluating them on the basis of each construct.