Dilgam Mazahir Mammadov
THE THEORY OF PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS ( HARRY STACK SULLIVAN)
Abstract. One of the less popular, yet value-laden, approaches to personality
is Harry Stack Sullivan's Interpersonal Theory. This approach places a greater
emphasis on the development of personality. Sullivan explicitly rejected the
Freudian concept of libido. The feeling of anxiety, which arises against the
backdrop of tension during personality development, forms the foundation of the
Self-System.
Interpersonal relationships
play a vital role in the formation of personality. The core objective of the
Self-System is to focus on the reduction of anxiety and thereby ensure internal
stability. Rejecting the notion of psychic energy, Sullivan sought to explain
personality through a model of realized physical energy transformations, which
he termed dynamisms, manifesting as behavior. The primary dynamism of
personality is the Self-System. Sullivan associated these energy transformations,
or dynamisms, with the personality's genital areas and states of tension.
Sullivan emphasized that
personality development comprises seven stages and divided the stages of
cognitive development into three eras: prototaxic, parataxic, and syntaxic. The
role of individualization is a crucial factor in the formation of the
personality's fundamental categories. During this stage, the individual's core
beliefs about themselves and others are formed.
Sullivan posited that every
individual is born with a certain potential which is realized through
personality maturation. He maintained that with the realization of this
potential during adulthood, individuals require a lesser need for psychiatric
intervention, and a frame of reference (evaluation standard) for individuals is
established. Sullivan linked the genesis of cognitive disorders and various
other disorders primarily to the limited development of the syntaxic phase.
Key words: energy transformations, dynamism, Self-System, anxiety, tension, prototaxic, parataxic, syntaxic, developmental stages
