HARRY SULLIVAN: INTERPERSONAL THEORY Flashcards
the first American to construct a comprehensive personality theory
Harry Stack Sullivan
without other people, humans would have no personality
Interpersonal Theory
most crucial stage of development is
Preadolescence
children first possess the capacity for intimacy but have not yet reached an age at which their intimate relationships are complicated by lustful interests
Preadolescence
Structure of Personality
Tensions
potentiality for actions
Tension
Actions
Energy Transformations
________ transform tensions into either covert or overt behaviors.
Energy Transformations
two types of tensions
Needs and Anxiety
brought on by biological imbalance between a person and the physiochemical environment
Needs
are episodic
Needs
they are likely to recur
Needs
most basic interpersonal need
Tenderness
primary caretaker
“The Mothering One”
tenderness requires actions from at least ______
two people
concerned with the overall wellbeing of a person
General Need
tenderness is a _______
General Need
arise from a particular area of the body
Zonal Needs
vague and disjunctive and calls forth no consistent actions for its relief
Anxiety
chief disruptive force blocking the development of healthy interpersonal relations
Anxiety
complete lack of tension
Euphoria
Energy Transformations become organized as typical behavior patterns that characterize a person throughout a lifetime
Dynamisms
same as traits or habit patterns
Dynamisms
two major classes of Dynamisms
those related to specific zones of the body
those related to tensions
the second class is composed of three categories
disjunctive
isolating
conjunctive
destructive patterns of behavior that are related to the concept of malevolence
Disjunctive Dynamisms
behavior pattern that are unrelated to interpersonal relations
Isolating Dynamisms
beneficial behavior patterns (intimacy and self-system)
Conjunctive Dynamisms
evil and hatred
Malevolence
malevolent actions often take the form of
Timidity, Mischievousness, Cruelty, or other kinds of Asocial or Antisocial Behavior
more specific and involves a close interpersonal relationship between two people who are more or less of equal status
Intimacy
intimacy is not similar with _______
Sexual Interest
isolating tendency
Lust
powerful dynamism during adolescence which often leads to a reduction of self-esteem
Lust
most complex and inclusive of all the dynamisms
Self-System
a consistent pattern of behaviors that maintains people’s interpersonal security by protecting them from anxiety
Self-System
it is the principal stumbling block to favorable changes in personality
Self-System
used to reduce feelings of insecurity or anxiety that result from endangered self-esteem
Security Operations
a powerful brake on personal and human progress
Security operations
two important security operations
Dissociation
Selective Inattention
impulses, desires, and needs that a person refuses to allow into awareness
Dissociation
refusal to see things that we not wish to see
Selective Inattention
people acquire certain images of themselves and others
Personifications
three basic personifications that develop during infancy
bad mother
good mother
me (good, bad, not me)
imaginary playmates
Eldetic Personification
ways of perceiving, imagining, and conceiving
Levels of Cognition
three levels or modes of experience
prototaxic
parataxic
syntaxic
experiences that are impossible to communicate
Prototaxic Level
experiences that are personal, prelogical, and communicated only in distorted form
Parataxic Experiences
experiences are meaningful interpersonal communication
Syntaxic Cognition
neonates - needs that can’t be communicated
Prototaxic Level
a person assumes a cause-and-effect relationship between two events that occur concidentally.
Parataxic Level
consensually validated and that can be symbolically communicate can take place
Syntaxic Level
stages of development
Infancy Childhood Juvenile Era Preadolescence Early Adolescence Late Adolescence Adulthood
infants become humans through tenderness received from the mothering one
Infancy
continues until the appearance of the need for playmates of an equal status. the mother remains the the most significant other person. eldetic playmates
Childhood
period of rapid acculturation
Childhood
children learn cultural patterns of cleanliness, toilet training, eating habits, and sex-role expectations
Period of Rapid Acculturation
ends when one finds a single chum to satisfy the need for intimacy
Juvenile Era
child should learn to compete, compromise, and cooperate
Juvenile Era
intimacy with same gender
Preadolescence
is the genesis of the capacity to love
Preadolescence
significant relationships of this age are typically
boy-to-boy or girl-to-girl chums
carefree time of life
Preadolescence
need for sexual love, advent of lustful relationships
Early Adolescence
both lust and love toward the same person
Late Adolescence
people can establish love relationship with at least one significant other person
Adulthood
all _____ have an interpersonal origin and can be understood only with reference to the patient’s social environment
Psychological Disorders
they are derived from the same kind of interpersonal troubles faced by all people
Psychological Disorders
Psychotherapy aims to improve a patient’s __________
relationship with others
the therapist serves as _______ becoming part of an interpersonal face-to-face relationships with the patient and providing the patient an opportunity to establish syntaxic communication with another human being
participant observer
