Interpersonal Theory Sullivan

1. Interpersonal Theory(Sullivan) Laura Wheatley

2. Interpersonal Theory Deals with people�s characteristic interaction patterns Sullivan insisted personality is shaped almost entirely by the relationships we have with people He believed that a close interpersonal relationship has the power to transform an immature preadolescent into a psychologically healthy individual

3. Dynamism A typical pattern of behavior Specific dynamisms include Malevolence Intimacy Lust The self-system

4. The Self-System Most inclusive of all dynamisms Pattern of behaviors Protects us against anxiety and maintains our interpersonal security Tends to stifle personality change Experiences that are inconsistent with our self-system threaten our security and necessitate our use of security operations such as dissociation or selective inattention

5. Personifications People acquire certain images of self and others throughout the developmental stages These subjective perceptions are personifications Bad Mother, Good Mother personification Me Personification Eidetic Personification

6. Bad Mother, Good Mother Bad mother personification grows out of infants� experiences with a nipple that does not satisfy their hunger needs All infants experience this even though their real mother may be loving and nurturing Infants later acquire a good mother personification become mature enough to recognize the tender and cooperative behavior of their mother These two personifications combine to form a complex and contrasting image of the real mother

7. Me Personification During infancy, children acquire three �me� personifications The bad-me, which grows from experiences of punishment and disapproval The good-me, which results from experiences with rewards and approval The not-me, which allows a person to disassociate or selectively inattend the experiences related to anxiety

8. Eidetic Personification People often create imaginary traits that they project onto others Included in these eidetic personifications are the imaginary playmates that pre-school aged children often have These imaginary friends enable children to have a safe and secure relationship with another person even though that person is imaginary

9. Levels of Cognition Sullivan recognized three levels of cognition, or ways of perceiving things Prototaxic Parataxic Syntaxic

10. Prototaxic Level Experiences that are impossible to put into words or to communicate to others Newborn infants experience images mostly on a prototaxic level Adults also frequently have preverbal experiences that are momentary and incapable of being communicated

11. Parataxic Level Experiences that are prelogical and nearly impossible to accurately communicate to others Included in these are flawed assumptions about cause and effect, called parataxi distortions

12. Syntaxic Level Experiences that can be accurately communicated to others Children become capable of syntaxic language at about 12 or 18 months old

13. Stages of Development Sullivan saw interpersonal development as taking place over seven stages, from infancy to mature adulthood Personality changes can take place at any time are more likely to occur during transitions between stages

14. Infancy Period from birth until emergence of syntaxic language Child receives tenderness from mother learns anxiety through an empathic linkage with the mother

15. Childhood Lasts from the beginning of syntaxic language until the need for playmates of equal status Primary interpersonal relationship continues to be with the mother Mother now differentiated from other persons who nurture the child

16. Juvenile Era Begins with the need for peers of equal status and continues until the child develops a need for an intimate relationship with a friend Children should learn how to compete, compromise, and cooperate These abilities, as well as an orientation toward living, help a child develop intimacy

17. Preadolescence Perhaps the most crucial stage Mistakes made earlier can be corrected during preadolescence Mistakes made during preadolescence are nearly impossible to overcome later in life Spans the time from the need for a single best friend until puberty Children who do not learn intimacy during preadolescence have added difficulties relating to potential sexual partners during later stages

18. Early Adolescence With puberty comes the lust dynamism and the 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 opposite gender If children have no preexisting capacity for intimacy, they may confuse lust with love and develop sexual relationships that are devoid of true intimacy

19. Late Adolescence May start at any time after age 16 Psychologically, it begins when a person is able to feel both intimacy and lust toward the same person Characterized by a stable pattern of sexual activity the growth of the syntaxic mode

20. Adulthood Late adolescence flows into adulthood A time when a person establishes a stable relationship with a significant other person and develops a consistent pattern of viewing the world