GEORGE KELLY, THE MAN, HIS EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL CAREER
GEORGE KELLY, THE MAN, HIS EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL CAREER

Summary/Abstract: George Alexander Kelly is usually recognised as one of the greatest and most significant psychologists and personality theorists of the middle of the 20th century. In almost all the books related to psychology, he is regarded as the inventor of Personal Construct Theory. Some of the most important books written by him are Understandable Psychology (1932), Inductive Trigonometry (1935), Handbook of Clinic Practice (1935) and his major theoretical work entitled The Psychology of Personal Constructs (1955). This article, based on a detailed, meticulous analysis of George Kelly’s biography, explores the psychologist’s early life, his education and professional career. Therefore, the main purpose of this article is to underline all the small, accurate steps he had taken before he became a well-known psychologist. George Kelly was born on April 28th 1905, in a small town in Kansas. Some of his early education was received at home, but nevertheless, in 1926, he graduated with a degree in Mathematics and Physics. At first, his intention was to become an aeronautical engineer, but he changed his mind after he spent a year at University of Edinburgh, and came back to the United States, holding in his hands a bachelor’s degree in education. That was the key moment which convinced him to generate interest in psychology. Even if Kelly’s widespread reputation belongs to his contributions to personality psychology, the truth is that, his remarkable contributions began in clinical psychology, during the years spent at Fort Hays State University. He also worked as an aviation psychologist during World War II, but shortly after the war came to an end, he became a professor and lectured at numerous universities throughout the world. The psychologist did not publish many books in his lifetime, but, one thing is for sure – he wrote and lectured extensively. George Kelly died unexpectedly on March 6th, 1967, when he was compiling a new book.

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