Feist−Feist: Theories of
Personality, Seventh
EditionII. Psychodynamic
Theories- Sullivan: Interpersonal
Theory
© The McGraw−Hill^229
Companies, 2009situation; that is, infants can learn that they are bad only from someone else, ordi-
narily the bad-mother.
The good-me personificationresults from infants’ experiences with reward and
approval. Infants feel good about themselves when they perceive their mother’s ex-
pressions of tenderness. Such experiences diminish anxiety and foster the good-me
personification. Sudden severe anxiety, however, may cause an infant to form the
not-me personificationand to either dissociate or selectively inattend experiences re-
lated to that anxiety. An infant denies these experiences to the me image so that they
become part of the not-me personification. These shadowy not-me personifications
are also encountered by adults and are expressed in dreams, schizophrenic episodes,
and other dissociated reactions. Sullivan believed that these nightmarish experiences
are always preceded by a warning. When adults are struck by sudden severe anxiety,
they are overcome by uncanny emotion. Although this experience incapacitates peo-
ple in their interpersonal relationships, it serves as a valuable signal for approaching
schizophrenic reactions. Uncanny emotion may be experienced in dreams or may
take the form of awe, horror, loathing, or a “chilly crawling” sensation (Sullivan,
1953b).
Eidetic Personifications
Not all interpersonal relations are with real people; some are eidetic personifica-
tions:that is, unrealistic traits or imaginary friends that many children invent in
order to protect their self-esteem. Sullivan (1964) believed that these imaginary
friendsmay be as significant to a child’s development as real playmates.
Eidetic personifications, however, are not limited to children; most adults see
fictitious traits in other people. Eidetic personifications can create conflict in inter-
personal relations when people project onto others imaginary traits that are remnants
from previous relationships. They also hinder communication and prevent people
from functioning on the same level of cognition.
Levels of Cognition
Sullivan divided cognition into three levels or modes of experience: prototaxic,
parataxic,and syntaxic.Levels of cognition refer to ways of perceiving, imagining,
and conceiving. Experiences on the prototaxic level are impossible to communicate;
parataxic experiences are personal, prelogical, and communicated only in distorted
form; and syntaxic cognition is meaningful interpersonal communication.
Prototaxic Level
The earliest and most primitive experiences of an infant take place on a prototaxic
level. Because these experiences cannot be communicated to others, they are diffi-
cult to describe or define. One way to understand the term is to imagine the earliest
subjective experiences of a newborn baby. These experiences must, in some way, re-
late to different zones of the body. A neonate feels hunger and pain, and these pro-
totaxic experiences result in observable action, for example, sucking or crying. The
infant does not know the reason for the actions and sees no relationship between
Chapter 8 Sullivan: Interpersonal Theory 223