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8 interpersonal theory
Harry Sullivan's interpersonal theory suggests that personality is formed through social interactions, emphasizing the influence of society on individual development. Key concepts include dynamics of tension and energy transformation, alongside distinct phases of personal development from infancy to late adolescence. Critics highlight the abstract nature of his ideas and question the empirical support for his claims.
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8 interpersonal theory
- 1. Harry Sullivan’s Interpersonal Theory Presentedby: Mary Anne A. Portuguez, MP, RPm
- 2.
- 3. BRIEF BIOGRAPHY • HarryStack Sullivan, (born Feb. 21, 1892, Norwich, N.Y., U.S.— died Jan. 14, 1949, Paris), U.S. psychiatrist who developed a theory of psychiatry based on interpersonal relationships. Sullivan received his M.D. from the Chicago College of Medicine and Surgery in 1917. At St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Washington, D.C., he came under the influence of the psychiatrist William Alanson White. After 1930 Sullivan devoted himself chiefly to teaching and elaborating his ideas, working with social scientists
- 4. BASIC TENET People aresocially created animals. Sullivan emphasized that society is the actual creator of people’s personalities. He stressed the importance of interpersonal theory. The human being does not exist as a simple personality; its personality can only exist in relation to others.
- 5. Energy System • Tensions •Action Energy transformation, transforms tensions into covert or overt behaviors and are aimed at satisfying needs and reducing anxiety.
- 6. TWO TYPES OFTENSIONS • Needs, tensions brought on by biological imbalance between a person and the physiochemical environment, both inside and outside the organism. • Anxiety,
- 7. Dynamism • Smallest unitemployed in the study of the individual. It is defined as the relatively enduring pattern of transformation which recurrently characterizes the organism in its duration as a living organism. • It may be equated to a habit.
- 8. Two Classes ofDynamisms • Specific to the body Zonal needs (may satisfy the general needs) • Tensions (potential for actions)
- 9. Three Classes ofDynamism: • Disjunctive dynamisms include those destructive patterns of behavior that are related to the concept of malevolence • Isolating dynamisms include those behavior patterns (such as lust) that are unrelated to interpersonal relations • Intimacy and the Self-system
- 10. Self-system • a consistentpattern of behaviors that maintains people’s interpersonal security by protecting them from anxiety. Two security operations: Dissociation includes those impulses, desires, and needs that a person refuses to allow into awareness. Selective inattention, is a refusal to see those things that we do not wish to see. It differs from dissociation in both degree and origin.
- 11. Personification • It isan image that one has of himself/herself or of another person. It is a complex web of feelings, attitudes, and conceptions that grows out of experiences with the need- satisfaction and anxiety. • Personifications shared by most people are called stereotypes.
- 12. The Good Me,the Bad Me, and the Not Me • Sullivan made a distinction among three selves: • The ‘good me’ versus the ‘bad me’ based on social appraisal and the anxiety that results from negative feedback • The ‘not me’ refers to the unknown, repressed component of the self
- 13. The Developmental Epochs 1.Infancy, the child begins the process of developing, but Sullivan did not emphasize the younger years to near the importance as Freud. 2. Childhood, development of speech and improved communication is key in this stage of development. 3. Juvenile era, need for playmates and the beginning of healthy socialization 4. Preadolescence, the child’s ability to form a close relationship with a peer 5. Early adolescence, need for friendship to a need for sexual expression 6. Late adolescence, need for friendship and need for sexual expression get combined; long term relationship is primary focus.
- 14. Evaluation of Sullivan’sTheory • Sullivan incited interest in interpersonal theory, particularly on aspects of agency and communion • Critics note the abstract nature of his concepts and the resultant lack of empirical testing • The role of interpersonal factors in his theory may be overextended
Editor's Notes
- #5 the first American to construct a comprehensive personality theory, believed that people develop their personality within a social context. Without other people, Sullivan contended, humans would have no personality.
- #7 Needs Although needs originally have a biological component, many of them stem from the interpersonal situation. The most basic interpersonal need is tenderness. Tenderness is a general need because it is concerned with the overall wellbeing of a person.
- #10 Intimacy grows out of the earlier need for tenderness but is more specific and involves a close interpersonal relationship between two people who are more or less of equal status.
- #11 Anxiety is a product if interpersonal relations being transmitted originally from the mother to the infant and, later in life, by threat’s to one’s security. He believed that the self-system is a product of the irrational aspects of society.