Downloaded 1,081 times
Uploaded byLethane Sakiwat
Sullivan interpersonal theory
Harry Stack Sullivan was an American psychiatrist who developed an interpersonal theory of personality. He believed that personality is shaped through relationships with others from childhood onward. Sullivan emphasized the importance of early friendships and how they form the basis of personality. His theory viewed personality as being inseparable from the social contexts and interpersonal relationships that people experience. Mental disorders were seen as having interpersonal origins related to problems within social environments. Sullivan made significant contributions to psychotherapy and is considered the first to develop an comprehensive interpersonal theory of personality.
More Related Content
Similar to Sullivan interpersonal theory
Sullivan interpersonal theory
- 1. Harry Stack Sullivan 1892-1948 SULLIVAN INTERPERSONAL THEORY RespondEfficiently to Different Behavior
- 2. Sullivan’s CORE IDEAS FirstAmerican to construct a Comprehensive Personality Theory Emphasizes childhood friendships in the formation of personality - Chumship, intimacy, & Security Personality is shaped from our relationships with others Personality can never be isolated from the complex of interpersonal relations in which the person lives - i.e., Personality cannot be separated from our social worlds
- 3. Sullivan’s Background Sullivanwas born in 1892 in Norwich, New York son of a poor working man and the farmer He grew up isolated, and was a loner Obtained his MD at 25 from a small Chicago medical school, then was a psychiatrist at a mental hospital in Maryland Viewed as a ―clinical wizard‖ in the treatment of schizophrenia Never Married He moved from obscurity to fame in 8 years
- 5. Tensions potentially for actionor actions themselves (i.e., energy transformations) that may not be experienced in awareness. Needs Tensions brought on by a biological imbalance between the person and the physiochemical environment, both inside and outside the organism. Can be physiological or interpersonal The most basic interpersonal need is that of tenderness.
- 6. Anxiety anxiety is disjunctiveand calls for no consistent actions for its relief. Anxiety is the chief disruptive force blocking our development of good interpersonal relations.
- 8. Energy Transformation Tensions thatare transformed into actions, either overt or Needs to represent an imbalance between biology and the covert. environment that signal the individual to engage in action.
- 9. 3 Major Dynamisms 3Self Personifications 7 Developmental Stages Abnormality Concept of Humanity Anxiety & Energy Transformations
- 10. DYNAMISM Typical behavior patterns that characterizea person throughout a lifetime. The ways in which an individual typically meets his or her needs or deals with anxiety DYNAMISM S Disjunctive/malevolent – negative interpersonal behavior Conjunctive/ intimacy – positive interpersonal behavior Isolating/ Lust – unrelated to interpersonal
- 11. wishing evil toothers. Disjunctive destructive patterns of behavior related to malevolence. Feeling of living among one„s enemies Arises around age 2 or 3 Caused by parental neglect or rejection
- 12. Conjunctive beneficial patternsof behavior such as intimacy and the selfsystem. Grows out of early needs for tenderness Emerges in the “chumship” Prepubescent best friend relationship with a peer of equal status Decreases anxiety and loneliness
- 13. Isolating patterns ofbehavior that are unrelated to interpersonal behavior (e.g., lust). Self-centered needs Based largely on sexual gratification
- 14. Representations of selfand other Mental images that we acquire during development to help us understand ourselves and the world Personifications help maintain emotional equilibrium and reduce anxiety Separation of the good vs. bad Self Personifications The Bad Me A cognitive approach to understanding personality. The Good Me The Not Me PERSONIFICATIONS
- 15. grows from experiencesof punishment and disapproval Represents those aspects of the self that are considered negative and hidden from others and possibly the self. Anxiety results from recognition of the bad me Recalling an embarrassing moment a past action Guilt about
- 16. results from experienceswith reward and approval Experiences associated with tenderness and intimacy Everything we like about ourselves The part of us we share with others and prefer to focus on because it produces no anxiety Persona ?
- 17. anxiety provoking experiencesthat invoke security operations may become dissociated from self to form the not-me. Security operations = Sullivan„s concept of defense mechanisms Experiences that are denied Experiences that are kept out of awareness and repressed Acknowledging not-me experiences creates high anxiety/ negative emotion.
- 18. 7 Developmental Stages Each stageinvolves specific interpersonal challenges or tasks, and specific types of interpersonal relationships Personality change is most likely during the transitions between stages Personality continues to evolve from infancy through adulthood Infancy Childhood Juvenile Era Preadolescence Early Adolescence Late Adolescence Adulthood STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT
- 19. A. Infancy Tenderness frommothering one Learns anxiety from the mother through empathy B. Childhood Imaginary playmate (i.e., eidetic Practice social personification) relations/ rehearsal Safe, secure relationships to practice with no threat of negative consequences C. Juvenile Era Need for peers of equal status Children learn how to compete, compromise, and cooperate.
- 20. F. Late Adolescence Feelboth intimacy and lust toward the same person Learn how to live in the adult world Discovery of self G. Adulthood Person establishes a stable relationship with a significant other person.
- 21. MENTAL DISORDERS All mentaldisorders have an interpersonal origin and can be understood only with reference to the person„s social environment. Interpersonal theories emerge in 1980„s and 1990„s Psychotherapy Promoted Interpersonal Psychotherapy Pioneered the notion of the therapist as a participant observer. Originated Group Psychotherapy ABNORMALITY
- 22. Sullivan saw personalityas being largely formed from interpersonal relations. Insisted that humans have no existence outside the interpersonal situation. Theory emphasizes: social influences over biological ones; Rates high on unconscious determinants, average on free choice, optimism, and causality, and low on uniqueness CONCEPT OF HUMANITY