Interpersonal Theory Sullivan

7/27/2019 Interpersonal Theory Sullivan

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Deals with peoples characteristic

interaction patterns

Sullivan insisted personality is shapedalmost entirely by the relationships wehave with people

He believed that a close interpersonalrelationship has the power to transforman immature preadolescent into apsychologically healthy individual


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A typical pattern of behavior

Specific dynamisms include

Malevolence Intimacy

Lust

The self-system


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Most inclusive of all dynamisms

Pattern of behaviors

Protects us against anxiety andmaintains our interpersonal security

Tends to stifle personality change

Experiences that are inconsistent with ourself-system threaten our security andnecessitate our use of security operationssuch as dissociation or selectiveinattention


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People acquire certain images of selfand others throughout thedevelopmental stages

These subjective perceptions arepersonifications

Bad Mother, Good Mother

personification Me Personification

Eidetic Personification


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Bad mother personification grows out ofinfants experiences with a nipple that does notsatisfy their hunger needs

All infants experience this even though their realmother may be loving and nurturing

Infants later acquire a good motherpersonification

become mature enough to recognize the tenderand cooperative behavior of their mother

These two personifications combine to form acomplex and contrasting image of the realmother


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During infancy, children acquire threeme personifications

The bad-me, which grows from experiencesof punishment and disapproval

The good-me, which results from experienceswith rewards and approval

The not-me, which allows a person todisassociate or selectively inattend theexperiences related to anxiety


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People often create imaginary traits thatthey project onto others

Included in these eidetic personificationsare the imaginary playmates that pre-school aged children often have

These imaginary friends enable childrento have a safe and secure relationshipwith another person even though thatperson is imaginary


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Sullivan recognized three levels ofcognition, or ways of perceiving things

Prototaxic Parataxic

Syntaxic


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Experiences that are impossible to putinto words or to communicate to others

Newborn infants experience imagesmostly on a prototaxic level

Adults also frequently have preverbal

experiences that are momentary andincapable of being communicated


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Experiences that are prelogical andnearly impossible to accurately

communicate to others Included in these are flawed

assumptions about cause and effect,called parataxi distortions


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Experiences that can be accuratelycommunicated to others

Children become capable of syntaxiclanguage at about 12 or 18 months old


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Sullivan saw interpersonal developmentas taking place over seven stages, from

infancy to mature adulthood Personality changes

can take place at any time

are more likely to occur during transitionsbetween stages


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Period from birth until emergence ofsyntaxic language

Child receives tenderness from mother learns anxiety through an empathic

linkage with the mother


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Lasts from the beginning of syntaxiclanguage until the need for playmates of

equal status Primary interpersonal relationship

continues to be with the mother

Mother now differentiated from otherpersons who nurture the child


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Begins with the need for peers of equalstatus and continues until the child

develops a need for an intimaterelationship with a friend

Children should learn how to compete,compromise, and cooperate

These abilities, as well as an orientationtoward living, help a child developintimacy


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Perhaps the most crucial stage Mistakes made earlier can be corrected

during preadolescence

Mistakes made during preadolescence arenearly impossible to overcome later in life

Spans the time from the need for a singlebest friend until puberty

Children who do not learn intimacyduring preadolescence have addeddifficulties relating to potential sexual

partners during later stages


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With puberty comes the lust dynamism andthe beginning of early adolescence

Development during this stage marked by a coexistence of intimacy with a single friend of

the same gender

sexual interest in many persons of the oppositegender

If children have no preexisting capacity forintimacy, they may confuse lust with loveand develop sexual relationships that aredevoid of true intimacy


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May start at any time after age 16

Psychologically, it begins when a person

is able to feel both intimacy and lusttoward the same person

Characterized by

a stable pattern of sexual activity the growth of the syntaxic mode


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Late adolescence flows into adulthood

A time when a person establishes a

stable relationship with a significant otherperson and develops a consistentpattern of viewing the world

Documents

Interpersonal Theory Sullivan