Sullivan's interpersonal theory of personality

Sullivan's interpersonal theory of personality

Introduction:

An interpersonal theorist was Harry Stack Sullivan (1892-1949). He believed that individual behaviour and personality development are the direct result of interpersonal relationships. Sullivan’s major concepts include the following:

• Anxiety: Anxiety is the feeling of emotional discomfort, toward the relief or prevention of which all behavior is aimed. Sullivan believed that anxiety is the chief disruptive force in interpersonal relations and the main factor in the development of serious difficulties in living.


• Satisfaction of needs: Satisfaction of needs is the fulfillment of all requirements associated with an individual’s psychochemical environment. Sullivan identified examples of these requirements as oxygen, food, water, warmth, rest, activity, sexual expression anything that when absent, produces discomfort in the individual.


• Interpersonal Security: Interpersonal Security is the feeling associated with the relief from anxiety. He believed individuals have an innate need for interpersonal security.


• Self Esteem: Self Esteem is a collection of experiences or security measures adopted by the individual to protect against anxiety. Sullivan identified three components of self esteem which are based on interpersonal experiences early in life:


• Good me: Good me is the part of personality that develop in the response to positive feedback from the primary caregiver


• Bad me: Bad me is the part of personality that develops in the response to negative feedback from the primary caregiver.


• Not me: Not me is the part of the personality that response to situations that produce intense anxiety in the child. Feeling of horror, awe, and dread are experienced in response to situations.

Principles of sullivan's interpersonal theory of personality

1. Interpersonal relationship and personality development: According to Sullivan’s personality development proceeds through various stages involving different patterns of interpersonal relationship. At first for example interaction are mainly with parents who begin socialization of the child. Later with adolescence and a gradual emancipation from parents peer relationships become increasingly and in young adulthood intimate relationships are established. Failure to progress satisfactory through the various stages of development paves the way for later maladaptive behavior.

In this development Sullivan was concerned with anxiety arousing aspects of development of interpersonal relationships during early development. Since the infant completely dependent on significant others for meeting all physical and psychological needs lack of love and care lead to an insecure and anxious human being. Sullivan emphasized the role of early childhood relationship in shaping the self concepts, which he saw as constructed largely out of the reflected appraisals of significant others. For example if a little boy perceives others as rejecting him as being of little or no worth he is likely to view himself in a similar light and to develop a negative self- image that almost inevitably leads to maladjustment.

The pressure of the socialization process and the continual appraisal by others leads a child to label some personal tendencies as the “good me” and others as the “bad me”. Bed me is that is associated with the anxiety. With time the individual develops a self system that serves to protect him or her from such anxiety through the use of ego defense mechanisms. If anxiety arousing tendency is too service the individual perceives it as the “not me” totally screening it out of consciousness or even attributing it to someone else. Such action leads to incongruity between the individual’s perception and the world as it really is and may there for result in maladaptive behavior. Here we can readily see a similarity between Sullivan’s views and those of both Freud and Rogers.

 2.Social exchange, roles and games: three ways of viewing our relationship with other people will helpful in understanding both satisfying and hurtful interactions.

The social exchange view largely developed by Thibault and Kelly(1959) and homans(1961) is based on the premise that we form relationships with each others for the purpose of satisfying our needs.

Each person in the relationship wants something from the other and the exchange that results is essentially a trading or bargaining one. For example when a person feels that he has entered into a bad bargain- that the rewards are not worth the costs- he may attempt to work out some compromise or simply terminate the relationship.

A second way of viewing interpersonal relationship is in terms of social roles. Society prescribes role behavior for teachers generals and others occupying given positions designed to facilitate the functioning of the group. While each individual lends a personal interpretation to the role there usually are limits to the “script” beyond which the person is not expected to go. Similarly in intimate personal relationships each person holds certain role expectations in term of obligations rights, duties and so on that the other person in the relationship is expected to meet. If one spouse fails to live up to the other’s role expectations or finds them uncomfortable or if husband and wife have different conceptions or finds them uncomfortable or if husband and wife have different conceptions of what a wife or husband should be or do serious complications in the relationship are likely to occur.

Another view of interpersonal relationships focuses on the games people play. Eric Berne has pointed out that such games are  not consciously planned but rather involve a sort of role playing of which the person are either entirely or partially unaware. For example a woman who lacks self confidence may marry a man who is very domineering and then complain that she could do all sorts of outstanding things if it weren’t for you.

Such games presumably serve two useful functions

1. As substitutes for or defenses against true intimacy for which many people are unprepared


2. As stabilizers to help maintain a relationship. Such games however are likely to prove a poor substitute for an authentic relationship though called games in the sense of being ploys they are often deadly serious.


3. Interpersonal Accommodation: It is the process where by two persons evolve patterns or communication and interaction that enable to attain common goals, meet mutual needs and build a satisfying relationship.

People communicate in many verbal and nonverbal ways the individuals in a relationship use many cues in their attempts to attempts to interpret what is really being said to them. Sullivan believed that faulty communication is far common than most people realize especially in family interactions on an emotional level.

Psychopathology:    

The interpersonal model places strong emphasis on the unsatisfactory interpersonal relationships as the primary causal factor in many forms maladaptive behavior. Such relationships may extend back to child hood as when a boy’s self concept was distorted by significant others who appraised him as being worthless or when rigid socialization measures made it difficult for a girl to accept and integrate the bad me into her concept. However it is the individual’s current interpersonal relationship and their effects on behavior that are of primary concern. Thus the focus of therapy is on the alleviation of current pathogenic relationships and on helping the individual achieve more satisfactory relationships. Such therapy is concerned with verbal and nonverbal communication and social roles process of accommodation and the general interpersonal context of behavior and as might be expected strong emphasis is placed on the use the therapy situation itself as a vehicle for new learning of interpersonal skills.

The interpersonal model is handicapped by incomplete information concerning most aspects of interpersonal relationship. As a result many of Sullivan’s concepts and those of later investigators lack of limitations, however the interpersonal model has served to focus attention on the quality of the individuals close personal relationships as a key factor in determining whether behavior will be effective or maladaptive.

In reviewing these psychosocial models of human behavior the psychoanalytic, behaviorstic ,humanistic, existential and interpersonal – we have seen that each contributes to our understanding of psychopathology but that none alone seems to be account for the complex types of maladaptive behavior exhibited by human beings. Each has a substantial amount of research evidence to support it, yet each model also depends on generalization from limited kinds of events and observation. Such as schizophrenia for example: behavior stick model focuses on faulty learning and an environmental condition that may exacerbate on maintain such maladaptive behavior while the humanistic model focuses on problem relating to values meaning and personal growth. Thus it becomes apparent that adopting one model or another has important consequences. It influences our perception of maladaptive behavior as well as the types of evidence we look for and how we are likely to interpret the data.

 

Sullivan’s Stages of Personality Development:

• Infancy: Birth to 18 Month

During the beginning stage, the major developmental task for the child is the gratification of needs. This is accomplished through activity associated with the mouth such as crying, thumb sucking.

• Childhood: 18 Month to 6Years

At ages 18 month to 6 years, the child learns that interference with fulfillment of personal wishes and desires may result in the delayed gratification. He or she learns to accept this and feel comfortable with it, recognizing that delayed gratification often results in parental approval, a more lasting type of reward. Tools of this stage include the mouth, the anus, language, experimentation, manipulation, and identification.

 

 

• Juvenile: 6 to 9 Years

The major task of juvenile stage is formation of satisfactory relationships within peer groups. This is accomplished through the use of competition, co-operation, and compromise.

• Preadolescence: 9 to 12 Years

The task at the Preadolescence stage focus on developing relationships with persons of the same sex. One’s ability to collaborate with and show love and affection for another person begins at this stage.

• Early Adolescence: 12 to 14 Years

During early adolescence, the child is struggling with developing a sense of identity that is separate and independent from the parents. The major task is the formation of satisfactory relationships with members of the opposite sex.

• Late Adolescence: 14 to 21 Years

The late adolescence period is characterized by tasks associated with the attempt to achieve interdependence with the society and the formation of a lasting, intimate relationship with a selected member of opposite sex. The genital organs are the major developmental focus of this stage.

Factors influencing the Interpersonal Communication

1. Values, Attitudes and Beliefs: Values, attitudes and beliefs can influence interpersonal communication.

1. Culture or Religion: Culture values are learned and differ from society to society.

For example: In some European countries men may great each other with hugs and kisses. This behavior was appropriate in those cultures but would communicate a different message in the United States.

Religion can influence interpersonal communication. Priests and ministers who were clerical collars publicly communicate their mission in life. The collar may influence the way in which others relates to them either positively or negatively. Other symbolic gestures such as wearing a cross around the neck or hanging a crucifix on the wall also communicate an individual’s religious beliefs.

 

• Social Status: Social status or powers have suggested that high status persons are associated with gestures communicate their higher power position.

For example: They use less eye contact have a more relaxed posture, use louder voice pitch, place hands on hips more frequently are power dresser have greater heights and maintain more distance when communicating with individuals considered to be of lower social status.

 

1. Gender: Gender influences the manner in which the individuals communicate. Each culture has gender signals that are recognized as either masculine or feminine and provide a basis for distinguishing between members of each sex.

 

1. Age: Age influences the interpersonal communication and it is more evident than during adolescence. In their struggle to separate from prenatal confines and establish their own identify adolescents generate a pattern of communication that is unique and changes from generation to generation.

For example: Word such as “dude”, cool have had special meaning for certain generation of adolescents.

1. Environment: Some individuals who feel uncomfortable and refuse to speak during a group therapy session may be open and willing to discuss problems privately on a one-to-one basis with the nurse.