© McGraw-Hill Theories of Personality Sullivan Chapter 8 © 2009 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

© McGraw-Hill Outline Overview of Interpersonal Theory Biography of Sullivan Tensions Dynamisms Personifications Levels of Cognition Stages of Development Cont’d

© McGraw-Hill Outline Psychological Disorders Psychotherapy Related Research Critique of Sullivan Concept of Humanity

© McGraw-Hill Overview of Interpersonal Theory Emphasizes Importance of Various Developmental Stages Healthy Human Development Is a Function of One’s Ability to Establish Intimacy with Another –Anxiety may interfere with this

© McGraw-Hill Biography of Sullivan Born in New York in 1892 Socially immature and isolated as a child, but forms one close relationship with a boy 5 years older Received his medical degree in 1917 Gained a position at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Washington, D.C. working with Schizophrenic Patients

© McGraw-Hill Biography (cont’d) Ability to work with schizophrenics won him a reputation as a “clinical wizard” Moved to New York in 1930 to open private practice, where he met Horney, Fromm, and others Helped to establish Washington School of Psychiatry Died alone in Paris in 1949 at age 56

© McGraw-Hill Tensions Tension Is a Potentiality for Action That May or May Not Be Experienced in Awareness Needs –Tensions brought on by biological imbalance between a person and the environment –Tenderness is most basic interpersonal need –Can relate either to the general well-being of a person (general needs) or to specific zones (zonal needs) –Can be either physiological or interpersonal Anxiety –Tension that is disjunctive, diffuse, and vague –All infants learn to be anxious through the empathic relationship they have with their parents –A complete absence of anxiety and other tensions is called euphoria Energy Transformations –Tensions transformed into overt or covert actions

© McGraw-Hill Dynamisms Typical Behavior Patterns That Characterize a Person Throughout a Lifetime Malevolence –A feeling of living among one’s enemies Intimacy –Need for tenderness; involves a close personal relationship between two people of equal status Lust –Isolating tendency, based solely on sexual gratification and requires no other person for its satisfaction Self-System –Consistent pattern of behaviors that protects people against anxiety and maintains their interpersonal security

© McGraw-Hill Personifications The Images That People Acquire of Themselves and Others –Bad-Mother, Good-Mother –Me Personifications Bad me Good me Not me –Eidetic Personifications Imaginary traits that people project onto others

© McGraw-Hill Levels of Cognition Ways of Perceiving, Imagining, and Conceiving –Prototaxic Level Earliest experiences that are impossible to put into words or to communicate to others –Parataxic Level Experiences that are prelogical and result when illusory correlation is assumed –Syntaxic Level Experiences that are consensually validated and can be accurately communicated to others

© McGraw-Hill Stages of Development Thread of Interpersonal Relations Runs Throughout the Stages –Infancy Ages birth to 2 Infant’s primary interpersonal relationship is with the mother –Childhood Ages 2 to 6 Mother continues as primary interpersonal relationship, although children of this age often have an imaginary friend

© McGraw-Hill Stages of Development (cont’d) –Juvenile Era Ages 6 to 8 ½ Characterized by a need for peers and playmates, and ends when one finds a chum Children should learn the skills at this stage that will enable them to move through the later stages of development –Preadolescence Ages 8 ½ to 13 Characterized by intimacy with one (usually same sex) person Genesis of the capacity to love

© McGraw-Hill Stages of Development (cont’d) Early adolescence –Ages 13 to 15 –Genital interest erupts and lustful relationships appear –Intimacy and lust exist as parallel but separate needs Late Adolescence –Age 15  –Intimacy and lust are experienced in the same person Adulthood –Successful completion of late adolescence culminates in adulthood –Marked by a stable love relationship

© McGraw-Hill Psychological Disorders All psychological disorders have an interpersonal origin and must be understood with reference to social environment Deficiencies found in psychiatric patients are found in every person to a lesser degree Psychological difficulties are not unique, but come from same interpersonal difficulties we all face Two broad classes of schizophrenia –Organic –Situational

© McGraw-Hill Psychotherapy Therapist is a participant observer who establishes an interpersonal relationship with the patient and provides opportunity for syntaxic communication Sullivanian therapists attempt to help patients develop foresight, discover difficulties in interpersonal relations, and restore their ability to participate in consensually validated experiences

© McGraw-Hill Related Research The Pros and Cons of “Chums” for Girls and Boys –Rose (2002); Rose et al. (2007) Co-rumination was associated with better friendships for both sexes, and was also associated with increased depression and anxiety for girls, but not for boys Imaginary Playmates –Gleason (2002); Gleason & Hohmann (2009) Children who develop imaginary friends are more creative, imaginary, intelligent, friendly, and sociable

© McGraw-Hill Critique of Sullivan Sullivan’s Theory Is: –Moderate on Organizing Knowledge, Guiding Action, and Internal Consistency –Low on Generating Research and Parsimony –Very Low on Falsifiability

© McGraw-Hill Concept of Humanity Equal Emphasis on Optimism and Pessimism, Determinism and Free Will, and Teleology and Causality Unconscious over Conscious Social Influence over Biology Similarity over Uniqueness