Sullivan, Harry Stack (1892-1949), was an American psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who believed that an individual’s personality is formed by the person’s relationships with others. Sullivan called this the interpersonal theory of personality.
Sullivan’s theory describes several stages of personality formation. In each stage, different interpersonal relationships determine how the individual’s personality develops. For example, in infancy, the relationship with the mother counts the most. From ages 5 to 8, relationships with peers (friends and acquaintances) are the most important. In adolescence, relationships with members of the opposite sex have the greatest significance. During each stage, the individual learns to behave in a way that will enable him or her to deal successfully with the anxieties that arise from the relationships.
Sullivan was born in Norwich, N.Y. He graduated from the Chicago College of Medicine and Surgery in 1917 and served as head of the William Alanson White Psychiatric Foundation in Washington, D.C., from 1933 to 1943. In 1948, he helped to found the World Federation for Mental Health.
