Chapter 4

Interpsychic Theories:
Alfred Adler, Harry Stack Sullivan

Alfred Adler (1870-1937)

Sickly and accident prone; developed fear of death

Average student but rose to superior position Studied medicine at the University of Vienna Was President of the International Psychoanalytic Association, but disagreed with Freuds perspective

Adlers Basic Concepts

Emphasized the importance of human culture and society in the development of personality Social Interest Finalism

Adlers Basic Concepts

Striving for superiority the drive for competence and effectiveness in whatever one strives to do
Inferiority feelings arise from childhood dependence Initially associated inferiority with femininity but later realized that society played a role in perpetuating male dominance Effects of exaggerated masculinity

Adlers Basic Concepts

Style of life influenced by
Family constellation (birth order) Family atmosphere (quality of emotional relationships in the family)

Adlers Basic Concepts

Creative self
Individuals create their own personalities Consciousness central to personality This view opposes Freuds emphasis on unconsciousness

Birth Order Characteristics

Conforming Less hostile More motivation Better student Get more recognition Assume leadership roles Closer to parents Have similar values to parents More anxious More aggressive More democratic More independent More popular Get into trouble More rebellious Tend to be a loner More lenient upbringing

Adlerian Psychotherapy
Neuroses = unrealistic life goals (fictional finalisms) Goals
Establish contact and win confidence of patient Disclose errors in patients lifestyle and provide insight into present condition Restore patients sense of reality Examine and disclose errors in goals and style of life Cultivate social interest

Assessment and Research in Adlers Theory

Adlers theory stems from clinical observations Primary tools of assessment include study of
Birth order Early memories Dreams

Emphasized philosophical rather than empirical Added criteria of usefulness to philosophical assumptions Contributions to counseling and education

Harry Stack Sullivan (18921949)

Born in New York, child of Irish Catholic farmers Shy and awkward, had difficulty getting along with peers in community Received medical degree from Chicago College of Medicine Entered psychiatry at age of 30

Sullivans Basic Concepts

Defined personality as the characteristic ways in which an individual deals with other people Anxiety and Unawareness
Anxiety is interpersonal in origin and observable May lead a person to be unaware of his or her motives and to develop devices to reduce anxiety (security operations)

Sullivans Basic Concepts

Dynamisms behavior that characterize interpersonal relations
Self-system

Personification group of feelings, attitudes, and thoughts that arise out of ones interpersonal experiences
Seldom accurate Basis of stereotypes

Sullivan's Stages of Development

Infancy Childhood Juvenile Era Preadolescence Early Adolescence Late Adolescence

Sullivans Basic concepts

Three cognitive processes
Prototaxic experience Parataxic experience Syntaxic experience

Psychotherapy, Assessment, and Research in Sullivans Theory

Psychotherapy Emphasized participant observation technique of assessment Interview (patient-therapist interaction)
Inception Reconnaissance Detailed inquiry Termination

Evaluation Sullivans Theory

Emphasized scientific approach through practice of research and participant observation Greatest contribution to psychotherapy, particularly in shifting treatment from intrapsychic world of individual to interpsychic relations of family
Interpersonal Psychoanalysis