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Harry Stack Sullivan (1892-1949)

(Engler, B. (2016). Theories of personality. Singapore: Cengage)

Basic Concepts
Sullivan defined personality as the characteristic ways in which an individual deals with other
people. Interpersonal relations constitute the basis of personality. Indeed, the very term
personality was only a hypothesis for Sullivan. It was merely an imaginary construct that is used
to explain and predict certain behaviors. Though Sullivan’s definition of personality stresses the
empirical components that we can directly observe rather than intrapsychic structures.
Anxiety and Awareness
Anxiety is a central concept in Sullivan’s theory, as it was for Freud. Sullivan conceived of
anxiety as any painful feeling or emotion that may arise from organic needs or social insecurity.
However, he emphasized the anxiety that arises from social insecurity and thought of anxiety as
interpersonal in origin, beginning with the child’s empathetic perception of the mother’s
concerns.
Sullivan also emphasized the empirical character of anxiety, pointing out that it can be described
and observed through a subjective description of how one feels or an objective notation of
physical appearance and reactions and through physiological changes that are indicative of
anxiety.
Sullivan appreciated that an individual may be unconscious or unaware of some of his or her
motives and behaviors. The ease with which a person can become aware of his or her
interpersonal relationships varies from individual to individual and can be objectively
demonstrated by talking with someone and observing that person’s actions.

Security Operations
In order to reduce anxiety and enhance security, we employ security operations which we are
usually unaware. It is an interpersonal device that are healthy if they do not jeopardize our
competence in interpersonal relations. Sullivan’s notion of security operations parallels Freud’s
concept of defense mechanisms. The primary difference lies on Sullivan’s stress on what is
observable and interpersonal. Some of the security operations that Sullivan described are
sublimation, selective inattention, and “as if” behavior.

Dynamisms
Sullivan maintained that we can observe certain processes in an individual’s interpersonal
relationships and that these processes can be used to describe the development of the individual’s
personality. One such process is dynamism, a pattern of energy transformation that characterizes
an individual’s interpersonal relations. The mother nurses the child and her activities lead the
infant to respond in certain ways, such as feeling satisfied and behaving contentedly.
*dynamism of fear: child who is afraid of strangers
* dynamism of lust: young male who seeks sexual relations with young women
*dynamism of self or self-system : one of the most significant dynamisms; made up of all of the
security operations by which an individual defends the self against anxiety and ensures self-
esteem. The dynamism arises from the child’s recognition of potentially anxious situations- that
is parental disapproval and rejection, and the child’s attempts to avoid them.
Out of the child’s experiences with rewards and anxiety, three phases of what will eventually be
“me” emerge.
*The term “good-me self” refers to the content of awareness when one is thoroughly satisfied
with oneself.
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*the “bad-me self” is the self-awareness that is organized around experiences to be avoided
because they are anxiety producing
* the “not-me self” entails aspects of the self that are regarded as dreadful and that cannot be
permitted conscious awareness and acknowledgment.
Personifications: group of feelings, attitudes, and thoughts that have arisen out of one’s
interpersonal experiences. Personifications of the good-mother and the bad-mother develop out
of satisfying our anxiety-producing experiences with the child’s mother. In fairy tales, these
personifications find expression as the good fairy and wicked stepmother or witch.
Stages of Development
Infancy: interpersonal relationships that crystallize around the feeling situation
Childhood: development of healthy relationships with one’s parents
Juvenile era: need to relate to playmates and same-sex peers
Preadolescence: a chum relationship, the beginning of intimate reciprocal human relationships.
Could entail overt homosexual genital activity.
Early Adolescence: lust dynamism and a stable heterosexual pattern of sexual satisfaction
Late adolescence: integration and stabilization of culturally appropriate adult social, vocational,
and economic behavior.