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PSYCHOLOGY Paper No. 5: Personality Theories
Module No. 5: Murray’s Theory of Needs
After attending preparatory school – Groton, he registered at
Harvard University. He took history but got average grades as
he favoured “the three Rs—Rowing, Rum and Romanticism”. His career through a tricky road
reached personality studies. He loathed his college psychology course, dropping out after the
second lecture. When he taught a psychology course himself is when he did attend to the subject.
In 1919, Murray graduated at the top of his class from Columbia University Medical School. He
taught physiology at Harvard after completing his M.A. Biology from Columbia. He did a 2-year
surgery internship at a hospital in New York and following which he spent 2 years at the
Rockefeller Institute conducting biomedical research in embryology. In 1927, Murray received
his doctorate in biochemistry from Cambridge University.
Murray’s empathy and sensitivity for others became durable during his internship as he became
fascinated by the psychological aspects in his patients’ lives. He read Carl Jung’s Psychological
Types in fascination in 1923. Murray faced a serious personal problem after few weeks of
finishing the book. He fell in love with an attractive, depressive, rich married woman - Christiana
Morgan who was equally amazed with Jung’s work. He did not wish to leave his wife of seven
years but neither did he wish to renounce his lover as her lively, creative nature was contrary to
his wife making both indispensable to Murray. He lived in conflict for two years then on
Morgan’s suggestion, he went to meet Carl Jung in Zurich. Jung resolved his trouble by
instruction and illustration. Jung, who was having an open affair with a younger woman and yet
lived with his wife, counselled Murray with the same and this carried on for the subsequent forty
years.
Jung not only solved his career and personal dilemmas; he made Murray conscious of the span of
the unconscious. Murray noted, “The great floodgates of the wonder-world swung open. I had
experienced the unconscious” (1940). His outlook toward the man who guided him during his
predicament varied severely over the years. His early approval of Jung’s analysis became scornful
rejection. He held that Jung “believe anything I told him that was along the lines that he liked, but
he would overlook what did not fit his theories” (Anderson, 1988).
In 1927, psychologist Morton Prince offered Murray an appointment at the Harvard
Psychological Clinic for studying personality. For his preparation, Murray undertook classical
Freudian psychoanalysis and felt that the analyst was bored by his placid complex-lacking
childhood.
Morgan & Murray (1935) developed Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), a projective measure of
personality. The TAT was a best-seller for Harvard University Press. Regardless of the magnitude
of Morgan’s involvement, the publication had only Murray as author. At 94, long after death off
Morgan, he endorsed that she was “part of every paper he wrote and every lecture he gave, and
that her very presence at the clinic raised the caliber of his thinking” (Douglas, 1993).
In 1938, Explorations in Personality: A Clinical and Experimental Study of Fifty Men of College
Age was published, assuring his instant triumph as a personality theorist. Murray joined the U.S.
Army as assessment director for Office of Strategic Services (OSS) to screen candidates for
dangerous assignments during World War II. In 1951, owing to his interest in literature, he
published an examination of the psychological connotations of Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick.
He conducted research, refined his theory and trained generations of psychologists at Harvard
until he retired in 1962. He was recipient of Gold Medal Award by American Psychological
Foundation and the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award by American Psychological
Association.
In 1988, Murray died at the age of 95 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He viewed the total of his
profession as a “series of failures and unfulfilled promises [and] could not escape the feeling that
he had not quite made the grade” Henry A. Murray Research Centre for the Study of Lives was
established by Radcliffe College in his memory.](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/henry-murray-pdf-230515113619-67f33d71/75/Henry-Murray-Pdf-pdf-3-2048.jpg)
Henry-Murray-Pdf.pdf
- 1. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ PSYCHOLOGY Paper No.5: Personality Theories Module No. 5: Murray’s Theory of Needs Subject PSYCHOLOGY Paper No and Title Paper No. 5: Personality Theories Module No and Title Module No. 5: Murray’s Theory of Needs Module Tag PSY_P5_M5 Table of Contents 1. Learning Outcomes 2. Introduction 3. A look into Murray’s life 4. Murray’s Personology 4.1 Principles of Personology (Study of personality) 4.2 The Divisions of Personality 4.3 Personality Development in Childhood 5. Murray’s Theory of Needs 5.1 Motivators of Behaviour: Needs 5.2 Needs: Types 5.3 Needs: Characteristics 6. Assessment in Framework of Murray 6.1 OSS Assessment Program 6.2 Thematic Apperception Test 7. Reflections on Murray and his Personology 8. Summary
- 2. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ PSYCHOLOGY Paper No.5: Personality Theories Module No. 5: Murray’s Theory of Needs 1. Learning Outcomes After studying this module, you shall be able to Reflect on Murray’s life history. Identify the cornerstones of Murray’s Personology Review the idea of needs as motivators of behaviour. Know about assessment in theory by Murray. Evaluate the theory of needs by Murray. 2. Introduction Henry Murray’s approach to personality comprises of impact of unconscious and conscious forces, past, present and future and the influence of sociological as well as physiological factors. Murray’s appreciation of the effect on adult behaviour of experiences in childhood and ideas of id, superego and ego display the Freudian influence but at the same time, Murray gave exclusive elucidations of the concepts. His extensive divergence from mainstream psychoanalysis allows his approach to fall in line with the neo-Freudians instead of the lobby of loyal Freudian. Murray coined the label of “personology” to cater to his belief that personality psychology must focus on the entire life course of an individual. Murray’s system has 2 distinguishing characteristics that are refined slant to the idea of human needs and sources of data on which serves as the basis of the theory. The list of needs proposed by him is extensively used in clinical practice and research in personality. His data came from “normal” individuals (Harvard University’s male undergraduate students) and not from psychotherapy patients. A little data was also derived from empirical lab procedures and not case histories. By his personal charisma and his long standing association with a key university, Murray congregated and trained a number of psychologists who went on to achieve eminence and carried on his teachings. 3. A look into Murray’s Life Henry Murray was born 13 May 1893 in New York City. In his autobiography, Murray discussed his childhood with elements of maternal rejection, an exceptional sensitivity to others’ sufferings and Adlerian compensation for a physical defect but yet as “the average, privileged American boy.” Murray’s first reminiscences were of his advantaged background (Triplet, 1993) and he referred to “the marrow-of-my-being memory” as intriguing. At around age of 4, he looked at an image of a sad lady and sad son sitting together – similar to the gloomy picture utilized in Thematic Apperception Test. He recalled his mother saying “It is the prospect of death that has made them sad” (Murray, 1967). He construed this memory as indicative of the emotional ties to his mother dying prematurely as she hastily weaned him at 2 months of age and fussed over his siblings instead. He contended that his mother’s behaviour gave shape to his depressive personality. For Murray, his depression was the spring of “misery and melancholy” which he struggled to masquerade in daily behaviour through displaying an enthusiastic, jovial, and sociable manner (Murray, 1967). Such a detachment with his mother in childhood led him to doubt Freud’s Oedipus complex as it had no parallel in his own experience. Murray’s relationship with his two emotionally disturbed aunts made him sensitive to emotional problems and sufferings. Physical incompetence and speech impediment of stuttering drove Murray to recompense for his limits in theatre and sports and he later conceded “an Adlerian factor was at work” (Murray, 1967).
- 3. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ PSYCHOLOGY Paper No.5: Personality Theories Module No. 5: Murray’s Theory of Needs After attending preparatory school – Groton, he registered at Harvard University. He took history but got average grades as he favoured “the three Rs—Rowing, Rum and Romanticism”. His career through a tricky road reached personality studies. He loathed his college psychology course, dropping out after the second lecture. When he taught a psychology course himself is when he did attend to the subject. In 1919, Murray graduated at the top of his class from Columbia University Medical School. He taught physiology at Harvard after completing his M.A. Biology from Columbia. He did a 2-year surgery internship at a hospital in New York and following which he spent 2 years at the Rockefeller Institute conducting biomedical research in embryology. In 1927, Murray received his doctorate in biochemistry from Cambridge University. Murray’s empathy and sensitivity for others became durable during his internship as he became fascinated by the psychological aspects in his patients’ lives. He read Carl Jung’s Psychological Types in fascination in 1923. Murray faced a serious personal problem after few weeks of finishing the book. He fell in love with an attractive, depressive, rich married woman - Christiana Morgan who was equally amazed with Jung’s work. He did not wish to leave his wife of seven years but neither did he wish to renounce his lover as her lively, creative nature was contrary to his wife making both indispensable to Murray. He lived in conflict for two years then on Morgan’s suggestion, he went to meet Carl Jung in Zurich. Jung resolved his trouble by instruction and illustration. Jung, who was having an open affair with a younger woman and yet lived with his wife, counselled Murray with the same and this carried on for the subsequent forty years. Jung not only solved his career and personal dilemmas; he made Murray conscious of the span of the unconscious. Murray noted, “The great floodgates of the wonder-world swung open. I had experienced the unconscious” (1940). His outlook toward the man who guided him during his predicament varied severely over the years. His early approval of Jung’s analysis became scornful rejection. He held that Jung “believe anything I told him that was along the lines that he liked, but he would overlook what did not fit his theories” (Anderson, 1988). In 1927, psychologist Morton Prince offered Murray an appointment at the Harvard Psychological Clinic for studying personality. For his preparation, Murray undertook classical Freudian psychoanalysis and felt that the analyst was bored by his placid complex-lacking childhood. Morgan & Murray (1935) developed Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), a projective measure of personality. The TAT was a best-seller for Harvard University Press. Regardless of the magnitude of Morgan’s involvement, the publication had only Murray as author. At 94, long after death off Morgan, he endorsed that she was “part of every paper he wrote and every lecture he gave, and that her very presence at the clinic raised the caliber of his thinking” (Douglas, 1993). In 1938, Explorations in Personality: A Clinical and Experimental Study of Fifty Men of College Age was published, assuring his instant triumph as a personality theorist. Murray joined the U.S. Army as assessment director for Office of Strategic Services (OSS) to screen candidates for dangerous assignments during World War II. In 1951, owing to his interest in literature, he published an examination of the psychological connotations of Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick. He conducted research, refined his theory and trained generations of psychologists at Harvard until he retired in 1962. He was recipient of Gold Medal Award by American Psychological Foundation and the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award by American Psychological Association. In 1988, Murray died at the age of 95 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He viewed the total of his profession as a “series of failures and unfulfilled promises [and] could not escape the feeling that he had not quite made the grade” Henry A. Murray Research Centre for the Study of Lives was established by Radcliffe College in his memory.
- 4. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ PSYCHOLOGY Paper No.5: Personality Theories Module No. 5: Murray’s Theory of Needs 4. Murray’s Personology 4.1 Principles of Personology (Study of personality) 1. Personality is ingrained in the brain i.e. cerebral physiology of an individual directs and manages every facet of the personality. Personality depends on feeling states, beliefs, attitudes, fears, unconscious & conscious memories and values. For instance; certain drugs can alter the brain operation, therefore personality. 2. Tension reduction i.e. the process of reducing tension is the act that is satisfying, rather than getting a condition free of tension. Murray held that a tension-free being in itself a cause of anguish as we require stimulation and hustle and bustle to increase tension and then the satisfaction of reducing it. Ideal human state must always involve having a definite intensity of tension to reduce. 3. An individual’s personality is assembled by all the events occurring during the life of person and continues to develop over time. Therefore, a person’s past must be studied. 4. Personality transforms and progresses; it is not permanent or stagnant. 5. Murray highlighted the distinctiveness of each individual while identifying similarities among populace. For him, one human being is like no other person. 4.2 The Divisions of Personality Murray divided personality into 3 parts, using the Freudian terms of id, ego and superego but his notions are dissimilar to Freud’s propositions. The Id – Akin to Freud, Murray recommended that id is the storehouse of intrinsic impetuous propensities, providing vigour and direction to behaviour and is related with motivation. In Murray’s personology system, id has the primordial, immoral and licentious impulses like Freud depicted along with innate impulses that society regards as suitable and pleasing. Jung’s shadow archetype having both bad and good facets seems to be the predominant influence. The id has the predispositions for imitation, empathy, identification and mastery of one’s own environment and forms of love other than lustful ones. Moreover, Murray contended that the strength of the id differs among individuals, like one person may have more severe appetite than another and subsequently the quandary of managing id forces may not be the same for all. The Superego – Murray conceptualized superego as the internalization of the values, norms and rules that we use to appraise and review our and others’ behaviour. Superego’s essence is imposed in early childhood by authority figures like parents. In deviation from Freud, Murray rooted for influences beyond the parent–child interaction like one’s peer group, literature and mythology. Murray also held that the superego is not inflexibly crystallized by age of five (Freud) but goes on to develop the whole time, echoing the bigger intricacies and erudition of our experiences as we age. In Murray’s account, superego is not in invariable clash with the id as id contains both good and bad forces. Good forces need not be suppressed. The superego tries to prevent the communally improper impulses, but also determines how, where and when an suitable need can be fulfilled. As superego develops, the ego-ideal (sum of our ambitions and aspirations and what we can become at our best) also develops providing us with long terms goals. The Ego – The ego is the logical administrator of personality; modifying or delaying the id’s objectionable impulses. Murray broadened Freud’s idea of the ego by propositioning the ego as the essential organizer of behaviour that knowingly reasons, decides and directs the behaviour with will. Ego is more active in determining behaviour, not merely acting as id’s servant; it intentionally plans action. Ego suppresses id pleasure but also fosters pleasure by systematizing expression of suitable id impulses. Ego acts as
- 5. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ PSYCHOLOGY Paper No.5: Personality Theories Module No. 5: Murray’s Theory of Needs arbitrator between superego and id, favouring one over the other. For instance, on favouring the id, ego may steer personality toward a criminal lifestyle. The ego also could integrate these 2 facets of personality such that what we crave to do (id) is in accord with what the social order deems we should do (superego). Prospect for conflict between id and superego does exist in Murray’s system too. An ego strong enough can arbitrate successfully, but an ego weak makes personality as battlefield. Nonetheless, Murray did not judge that this clash was predestined. 4.3 Personality Development in Childhood Murray, inspired by Freud’s work, categorized childhood into 5 major stages characterized by a gratifying condition terminated inescapably by demands of the society. An unconscious personality complex influencing our later development is the outcome of each stage. Murray contended that all people experience these 5 complexes and there is nothing abnormal about them except when their manifestations are extreme, leaving the person fixated at that stage. Personality is not able to develop flexibility or spontaneity, a state interfering with the superego and ego formation. Childhood stages and corresponding complexes are shown in the following table. Table 1: Stages of Development Claustral Stage Foetus in womb - secure, dependent and serene. Simple claustral complex – Desire to be in places which are warm, dark, small, safe and secluded. For instance, instead of leaving bed in morning, people exhibit the longing to remain under blankets and those manifesting this complex tend to be oriented toward familiar and safe behaviours that were successful in the past, dependent on others and passive. Insupport form of the claustral complex – feelings of helplessness and insecurity causing the person to fear situations involving novelty and change like open spaces, fires, falling, earthquakes, drowning etc. Anti-claustral or egression form of the claustral complex –Need to escape from restrictive womblike surroundings. Including dread of confinement and suffocation, it is noticeable in a preference for change, fresh air, novelty, movement, open spaces, and travel. Oral Stage Anal Stage Oral succorance complex – Combination of the need to be supported and protected, mouth activities and passive tendencies. A hunger for love, sympathy, affection, and protection, eating, sucking, drinking, kissing are some of the behavioural manifestations. Oral aggression complex – Shouting, verbal aggression, spitting and biting are some displayed oral and aggressive behaviours. Oral rejection complex – Picky and small eaters, fearful of oral contamination (like from kissing), desirous of seclusion and avoiding being dependent. Anal rejection complex –Persons with this complex are dirty, disorganized, preoccupied with faeces-like material like dirt, clay, mud, plaster, anal humour and defecation. Aggressiveness is displayed by throwing things, dropping things, setting off explosives and firing guns. Anal retention complex – Manifested through neatness, cleanliness and orderliness, saving and collecting things. Urethral Stage Genital or Castration Stage Exclusive to Murray’s system, bedwetting, sexual cravings, excessive ambition, self-love distorted sense of self-esteem and exhibitionism form the urethral complex, which is also referred to as Icarus complex. Like Greek figure, Icarus who flew so close to the sun that the wax of his wings melted, these persons aspire too high and their dreams are crushed by failure. Disagreeing with Freud about the core of anxiety in adult males as castration, Murray proposed Castration complex as a boy’s fantasy that his penis might be cut off. Such a fear, he contended grows out of childhood masturbation and the parental punishment accompanying it.
- 6. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ PSYCHOLOGY Paper No.5: Personality Theories Module No. 5: Murray’s Theory of Needs 5. Murray’s Theory of Needs 5.1 The Motivators of Behaviour: Needs Most significant input to personality research by Murray was how needs can be used to explain behaviour motivation. He held that “motivation is the crux of the business and motivation always refers to something within the organism” (Robinson, 1992). Involving physicochemical brain force, need organizes, directs intellectual and perceptual abilities. Needs could be because of internal processes like thirst or because of environmental events, they rouse a level of tension which the living being tries to lessen by acting to gratify the needs. Needs invigorate and trigger behaviour in the suitable direction for need satisfaction. Murray’s investigation led to the formation of a catalogue of 27 needs across 6 domains. A person may not have all the needs but one could experience all these needs across life span. Table 2: Murray’s List of Needs Domain Need for Definition Ambition Needs Achievement To complete difficult tasks, rise above obstacles and attain expertise. Exhibition To make an impact on others through actions and words, even if in a shocking manner. Recognition To illustrate achievements to others and gain recognition for these. Materialistic needs Acquisition (Conservance) To attain things. Retention To store things that have been obtained. Order To make things tidy, neat and clean. Construction To create and construct things. Power needs Abasement To submit and acquiesce to others, accept blame and punishment. To get pleasure from misfortune and pain. Aggression To powerfully conquer an adversary, taking revenge, punishing and controlling them. Autonomy To be freed from constrictions, resist oppression and take over authority. To be reckless and free. Blame avoidance To not be assumed responsible for things done. Contrariance To resist the persuasive urging of others. Deference To be in awe of a superior individual, flattering them and being acquiescent and following their rules. Dominance To be in command of one's surroundings, rule other people through command or subtle persuasion. Harm avoidance To flee or shun injury, pain and death. Infavoidance To keep away from being embarrassed or disgraced. Status defense needs Counteraction To try again to make up for failure, proudly in quest to surmount obstacles. Defendance To guard oneself against blame or attack, hiding failures of the self. Affection needs Affiliation To be devoted to another person, satisfying them and getting their friendship and attention. Nurturance To facilitate the helpless, feeding and keeping them from danger. Play To enjoy oneself by fun, laughter and relaxation. Rejection To disconnect oneself from a disapprovingly viewed person or object, not including or discarding it. Sex To form affiliation that directs to sexual intercourse.
- 7. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ PSYCHOLOGY Paper No.5: Personality Theories Module No. 5: Murray’s Theory of Needs Succourance To have self's needs fulfilled by someone or something like being helped, nursed, consoled, forgiven and loved. Information needs Cognizance To look for knowledge and raise questions to understand. Sentience To take pleasure from sensuous impressions Exposition To grant information to educate others. 5.2 Needs: Types Primary (viscerogenic) and secondary (psychogenic) needs: Primary needs are required for basic survival of self and species and arise from bodily states. While secondary needs have no specific origin in the body and may arise indirectly from primary needs and are basically concerned with emotional satisfaction Reactive and proactive needs: Reactive needs entail a response to a particular thing in the environment and are stimulated merely when that entity appears. For instance, harm avoidance as a need appears in presence of a threat. While proactive needs are spontaneous needs stimulated independent of the environment and elicit appropriate behaviour on arousal. For instance, a person who is hungry looks for food immediately without waiting for an advertisement for a pizza. 5.3 Needs: Characteristics Prepotency: Needs vary in the exigency with which they urge behaviour. For instance, if the need for air is not satisfied, it will dominate behaviour, taking priority above other needs. Fusion of needs: Some needs are complementary and can be fulfilled by some behaviour or a set of behaviours. For example, acquiring fame and wealth satisfies the needs of achievement, dominance, and autonomy. Subsidiation: In a situation where one need is triggered to assist satisfying another need. For instance, to gratify need for affiliation one has to be with other people but one need to be obsequious toward them, so deference need is invoked. Here, deference need is then subsidiary to the affiliation need. Press: Murray acknowledged childhood events can shape the development of definite needs &can trigger those needs later in life. Basically environmental events or entities force the person to operate in a certain manner. Thema (unity thema): Combining individual features (needs) with the environmental aspects coerce our behaviour (presses) in a unique and coherent manner; thema formed unconsciously by childhood experiences, becomes an influential force in shaping personality and behaviour. 6. Assessment in Framework of Murray Murray’s modus operandi for personality assessment differed from Freud and other neopsychoanalytic theorists. Murray did not standard psychoanalytic methods as dream analysis and free association as his work was never with emotionally disturbed persons. In a thorough appraisal of ‘normal’ personality employing varied methods like interviews, objective and projective tests and questionnaires covering goals, social interactions, family relations, ethical standards, sexual development, childhood memories, sensory-motor learning and mechanical and artistic abilities, Murray collected data from 51 undergraduate male students at Harvard University.
- 8. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ PSYCHOLOGY Paper No.5: Personality Theories Module No. 5: Murray’s Theory of Needs 6.1 The OSS Assessment Program Murray ran an assessment program to choose individuals to act as saboteurs and spies in hazardous situations for Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during the World War II (1941– 1945). Prospective candidates were interviewed, given the projective tests of Rorschach and TAT and varied questionnaires. Candidates also participated in situational tests (stressful situations simulating experiences expected on the job) and their behaviour was closely observed. This revolutionary endeavour at selection of employees through all-encompassing assessment of personality evolved into the thriving assessment-center methodology extensively used in modern businesses. 6.2 The Thematic Apperception Test Thematic Apperception Test, a projective technique based on the defense mechanism of projection, is a collection of vague pictures portraying straightforward scenes. The individual taking the test is requested to create a story describing the people and objects of the picture, together with what the persons are thinking and feeling and what may have led up to the situation. As in projection, a person attributes disconcerting impulses onto someone else, the TAT allows the person to assign feelings onto the characters and thereby revealing his troubling thoughts to therapist or researcher. Interpreting TAT responses is a fairly subjective process. He saw TAT as a booby trap that might grasp more embryo psychologists than patients. Client exposes parts of his self in composing a story to elucidate the picture. Then psychologist divulges parts of himself in composing an explanation of the patient’s story. TAT can expose substantial valuable information in the hands of a skilled clinician. However because of its subjectivity, information obtained ought to be used as supplementary data to more objective techniques than as the lone diagnostic mode. Despite lack of standardized procedures for administering, scoring and inferring TAT with its low criterion-related validity, TAT still keeps being used for assessment, research and therapy (Kaplan & Saccuzzo, 2005). 7. Reflections on Murray and his Personology Murray has had a remarkable enduring influence on personality studies. Of most significance is the list of needs that continues to add value to employee selection, clinical diagnosis and research, and the techniques for personality assessment. His originality and personal impact on 2 generations of personology researchers at Harvard have had a long-term effect than the actual details of his theory. While evaluating his position, one major problem that arises is that only a few portions of his work has been published. His colleagues with access to his broad speculations felt Murray’s influence most keenly. Main criticisms were of the novelty, incorporativeness and complexity of the theory leading to no substantive research and a loss of vigour. Murray's input to personology was partially conceptual and partially methodological. His key theoretical contribution was to understand that the ultimate focus of personality psychology should be the individual life and he created life- historical concepts such as "thema" and "unitythema". He also developed TAT as a system identifying motivations outside of personal awareness and tapping first-person imaginative narrative structures that went beyond autobiographical materials. Under the psychoanalytic influence, Murray attempted to discover the "unconscious" motivations or psychobiological energetic sources of behaviour - "needs" and used TAT to find out individual differences in these needs. At a general level, personality psychology is constituted of three strands of work: the measurement and correlation of traits or individual difference, the study of individual lives, and the experimental study of psychological processes. He had a noteworthy influence on at least the first two traditions. Jerry S. Wiggins (2003) in Paradigms of Personality Assessment reviewed the
- 9. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ PSYCHOLOGY Paper No.5: Personality Theories Module No. 5: Murray’s Theory of Needs history of assessment of personality in five traditions: multivariate, interpersonal, psychodynamic, personological and empirical. He argued that Murray had more influence on assessment of personality across these schools than another individual. 8. Summary Murray’s upbringing was marred by depression, maternal rejection, and Adlerian compensation. The working principle is the reliance of psychological processes on physiological processes. Changing the intensity of need induced tension is essential to personality. We produce tension to have satisfaction of reducing it. Murray assumed an optimistic outlook of human nature, oriented toward the future and grants us the capability to grow and develop. 3 divisions of personality are the id, ego, and superego. Id contains primitive, amoral impulses and tendencies for empathy, imitation and identification. Ego consciously decides and wills the course of behaviour. Superego is shaped by parents, peer groups, and cultural factors. Complexes, unconsciously directing adult development, are prototypes formed in 5 stages of development in childhood. Claustral complex entails secure womb existence. Oral complex entails the aesthetic enjoyment of sucking nourishment. Anal complex entails the delight resulting from defecation. Urethral complex entails the gratification accompanying urination. Castration complex entails genital satisfaction & fantasy of cutting off of penis. Needs are physiologically based theoretical constructs arising from internal processes or environmental events, rouse a tension level that must be reduced; thus, they energize behaviour. Needs might be primary arising from inner bodily processes, or secondary related to emotional and mental satisfaction. Proactive needs are spur-of-the-moment and do not depend on environmental entities; reactive needs entail a reaction to a precise environmental entity. Murray’s value lies in his listing of needs and his modus operandi for assessing personality like TAT based on projection.