Harry Sullivan's Personality Theory - Essay Example

Harry Sullivan’s Personality Theory al affiliation) Theory Overview According to Friedman, H.S. & Schustack, M.W. (2012), Henry Sullivan formulated the interpersonal theory. His childhood comprised of periods and prolonged times of isolation and loneliness, a fact that propelled him to develop the theory to emphasize on the essence and importance of developing interpersonal relations. From his research, he concluded that the daily interactions and relationships of an individual with people highly influence and shape their personality traits. Harry Sullivan mainly concentrated on the conception that was involved in the developmental stages of the personality theory. Tensions Harry likened the theory to an energy system in which energy existed in different forms as energy transformations (used to describe the real actions) or as tension (implying that there was potential for the occurrence of an action). The tensions split into two distinct classes of anxiety and needs as identified by Avis, M., Aitken, R., & Ferguson, S. (2012). 1. Needs Needs is a descriptive term that can be used to characterize a person’s overall well-being or a craving attributed to specific zones or regions such as genitals or the mouth. In most cases, general needs exist as interpersonal or psychological. Interpersonal needs include feelings of affection such as intimacy and tenderness while psychological needs include essential necessities such as food and clothing as put forward by Draguns, J. G. (2012). 2. Anxiety There exists a clear-cut distinction between needs and anxiety. Needs are conjunctive in nature which require the instigation of a specific act to fully satisfy it. On the other hand, anxiety takes a disjunctive form implying that consistent actions are not relevant for its satisfaction. For instance, infants gain their anxiety conscience through the association and emphatic relationship created and existing with their mothers. In the interpersonal theory, Sullivan deemed anxiety as the root destructive force that affects interpersonal relations as put forward by Friedman, H.S. & Schustack, M.W. (2012). The absence of anxiety in an individual together with the other forms of tensions is euphoria. Dynamisms Sullivan attributed dynamism to the various behavioral pattern exhibited by individuals characterizing them into distinct categories of malevolence, intimacy, lust and self-system as put forward by Friedman, H.S. & Schustack, M.W. (2012). These characteristics form the essence and fundamental behaviors and feelings exhibited in the developmental stages of an individual. Personifications Sullivan was clear in thought with his argument that individuals develop certain subjective elf-image perceptions and that of others through the developmental stages as identified by Stinson, J. L., Matsuura, Y., & Kahle, L. R. (2015). These perceptions would bring out distinctive characteristics of their view of people as either being good or bad, “me” personifications composed of “the bad-me”, “the good-me” and “not-me” developed during infancy. Sullivan also noted that individuals would also develop and create traits that are imaginary which they display to the others such as imaginary playmates and friends generating safe and secure relationships with others. Sullivan described this as eidetic personifications. Cognitive Levels Sullivan generated three cognitive levels of pratotaxic (experiences impossible to tell to others), parataxic (prelogical and impossible experiences to reveal) and the syntaxic level (experiences remembered and can be elaborated) as put forward by Friedman, H.S. & Schustack, M.W. (2012). Stages of Development From Sullivan’s perspective, Interpersonal development took place in seven sequential stages that begun in the infancy stage all the way to the mature adulthood stage. However, the theory acknowledged the fact that personality changes can evolve at any time but will be subject to the stage transitions in a person’s life as suggested by Friedman, H.S. & Schustack, M.W. (2012). 1. Infancy It refers to the period of a person’s life from conception to the emergence of the first syntaxic language that the infant produces. The period is marked with tenderness given by the mother. Anxiety spread and learnt though the infant’s emphatic linkage existing with the mother is developed. There are probabilities of anxiety biding and taking the form of terror. However, the particular form of terror is regulated by the protections of sympathy and apathy which are in-built and the somnolent separation or detachment which enables the baby to sleep as suggested by Friedman, H.S. & Schustack, M.W. (2012). Children using autistic language, which occurs, at the parataxic or prototaxic levels characterize the infancy stage. 2. Childhood The stage comes after infancy and commences from the start of the syntaxic language to the stage where the child seeks companions or playmates that are of the same or equal status in terms of age and level of development. The particular stage still bears the child’s unique interpersonal relationship or attachment with the mother who becomes a distinctive person who plays a major role in the nurturing process of a child as suggested by Friedman, H.S. & Schustack, M.W. (2012). 3. Juvenile Era The stage comprises of a child’s eagerness to have peers who belong to an equal status and last until the child begins to have the desire to have an intimate relationship, mostly with a member of the opposite sex. Children develop three distinct abilities in this particular stage, how to compromise, complete and cooperate as researched by Poropat, A. E., & Corr, P. J. (2014). These abilities foster intimacy, which become a vital component in the future developmental stages. 4. Preadolescence The theory regard this stage as crucial since mistakes the child has made in the preceding stages can me amended at this stage. However, habits developed at this particular stage become difficult to change in the future life of an individual. The particular stage begins fro when the child develops the need to have a single intimate friend to puberty as suggested by Friedman, H.S. & Schustack, M.W. (2012). Children who do not develop intimate relations at this age have difficulties in relating with members of the opposite sex whom they may be attracted to in their mater stages. 5. Early adolescence The stage comprises of lustful feelings developed by a child. Moreover, an urge to develop friendship with members of the same gender and to have an affiliation with a member of an opposite sex emerges. Here, intimacy is always coiled and takes the form of lust which may be confused for love leading to devoid relationships as suggested by Friedman, H.S. & Schustack, M.W. (2012). 6. Late Adolescence The period commences from age 16. However, psychologically, it is when an individual experiences intimacy and possesses lustful feelings for the opposite gender. Sexual activity and the syntaxic mode development characterize this stage since the young generation undergoes initiation into the adult world as suggested by Friedman, H.S. & Schustack, M.W. (2012). 7. Adulthood The establishment of stable relationships with a member of the opposite sex marks it. Consistencies in terms of worldviews are distinct as suggested by Friedman, H.S. & Schustack, M.W. (2012). Theory Limitations Bishop, D. (2013) in his research work proclaimed that the theory of personality and the approaches of psychotherapy have seized to undergo adoption in the modern times. This is because it exists as average when addressing issues of self-consistency. Its low rate in the application of parsimony demystifies the theory. The theory also fails to address key falsifiability issues based on the dynamisms in the developmental processes and shutters room for conduction of further studies and research. References Avis, M., Aitken, R., & Ferguson, S. (2012). Brand relationship and personality theory metaphor or consumer perceptual reality?. Marketing Theory, 12(3), 311-331. Bishop, D. (2013). Personality Theory as a Predictor for Agile Preference. Draguns, J. G. (2012). Personality Theory and Research: International Issues and Trends. In Internationalizing the Psychology Curriculum in the United States (pp. 95-130). Springer New York. Friedman, H.S. & Schustack, M.W. (2012). Personality: Classic theories and modern research, 5th. Ed. Allyn & Bacon: Heights, MA. Poropat, A. E., & Corr, P. J. (2014). Thinking bigger: The Cronbachian paradigm & personality theory integration. Journal of Research in Personality. Stinson, J. L., Matsuura, Y., & Kahle, L. R. (2015). Personality and Personal Values in Travel Destination. In Assessing the Different Roles of Marketing Theory and Practice in the Jaws of Economic Uncertainty (pp. 282-282). Springer International Publishing. Read More