A theory of social action: Why personal construct theory needs a superpattern corollary

Kelly's Commonality and Sociality corollaries deal with shared meanings. In this article, the authors revisit Kelly's early work on superpatterns to d emonstrate the relationship between superpatterns and the concept of corpor ate construing (Balnaves & Caputi, 1993) as a way of extending the Commonal ity and Sociality corollaries. The authors argue that corporate construing is joint action Constructs in such an action originate from corporate, not personal, agents. Corporate agency entails an -ticipation in joint action o f the mode of representation of everyone else (sensus communis), justificat ion of the joint action (reasons as good reasons), recognition that a perso nal action is corporate (the same) within a style of reasoning (a system of specialized techniques or corporate constructs). It is not the individual patterns of personal constructs, or an individual's interpretations of his or her own actions, that is relevant in an explanation of personal actions. It is an understanding of the genre, the overall template, the superpatter n.