THE IMPLICATION POTENTIAL OF PERSONAL CONSTRUCTS IN RELATION TO THEIR SUBJECTIVE IMPORTANCE AND ORDER OF ELICITATION

Abstract

Kelly's (1955) Role Construct Repertory Test (rep test) and Fransella's (1972) Bipolar Implication Grid (impgrid) were used to test three related hypotheses: (1) personal constructs that are elicited relatively early in the rep test are subjectively more important than constructs that are elicited later, (2) the former tend to be more ‘meaningful ‘than the latter in terms of their implication potential (cf. Lemon and Warren, 1974), and (3) the implication potential of personal constructs correlates with their relative subjective importance. Data elicited from 11 female and 6 male Canadian undergraduates were consistent with all three hypotheses. These results were discussed in relation to previous findings within the framework of personal construct theory.