Sociality and Hostility: A Pernicious Mix

Abstract

This paper will caution against a ‘cosy’ view of George Kelly’s notion of sociality since the role relationships that are facilitated by construing the other’s construction processes are not necessarily benign. It will be argued that it is when sociality is combined with hostility, in Kelly’s sense of extorting validational evidence for constructions, that it is most likely to become pernicious. Examples of noxious sociality will be presented from various different relationship domains, both at the personal and international level, including terrorism, torture, and bullying. There will also be consideration of the strategies, particularly dehumanization, that the individual who engages in such behavior may employ to avoid guilt. The role of commonality in addition to sociality in providing an ethical basis for actions will be stressed.

Notes

1 Kelly’s (1969a) term for reversing one’s position on a construct dimension.

2 In the sense of being more logically inconsistent.

3 Although empathy and sociality are different concepts, the perspective-taking or role-taking component of empathy (Wispé, 1986), which is tapped by several of the items in the questionnaire used in this study, is not dissimilar to Kelly’s notion of sociality.

4 Perhaps unsurprisingly, since he claims to have been ‘inspired,’ and his own project ‘blessed,’ by Breivik, the perpetrator of these attacks listed amongst the reasons for his actions ‘To agitate the political enemies of my people into action, to cause them to overextend their own hand and experience the eventual and inevitable backlash as a result…To incite violence, retaliation and further divide between the European people and the invaders currently occupying European soil’ (New Zealand Mosque Shooter, 2019).

5 Such individuals may attract the label of ‘psychopathic’ and, from a traditional psychiatric viewpoint, be considered not to experience guilt feelings. However, from a personal construct theory perspective, they would be seen as no less able to experience guilt than anyone else, although in their case this might occur if they found themselves behaving towards others in a humane, soft manner!