Murray - Personology
Personality is located in the brain: "No brain, no personality."
- the person is an organic whole
- the parts can be studied separately, but "reconstruction" must follow analysis
- the "field," the environmental context, must be understood
- early childhood events are crucial in shaping adult behavior
- committed to "depth psychology" – unconscious determinants of behavior
Needs: - determinants of behavior within the person
"A need is a construct (a convenient fiction…) which stands for a force…in the brain
region, a force which organizes perception, apperception, intellection, conation and action in
such a way as to transform in a certain direction an existing, unsatisfying situation….It may be
weak or intense, momentary or enduring. But usually it persists and gives rise to a certain
course of overt behavior (or fantasy), which…changes the initiating circumstance in such a
way as to bring about an end situation which stills…the organism." (Murray, 1938, --. 123-124)
(See pp. 234 – 239 in Hall, Lindzey and Campbell's 1978 text, on Reserve in Cameron, for a
fuller discussion of needs.)
Primary needs – viscerogenic
- based in our physical being: needs for air, water, food, etc.
Secondary needs – psychogenic
- based in our psychological being: needs for recognition, achievement,
autonomy etc.
Overt (manifest) needs – needs that are allowed more or less direct and immediate
expression
- expressed in motor behavior
Covert (latent) needs – needs that are generally restrained or repressed
- expressed in fantasy or dreams
- exist covertly because of internal standards for acceptable conduct (superego)
Motives (Aim): – the specific goal adopted by a person as an expression of a need
- need is a physical condition
- motive is the subjective experience
The terms "Needs" and "Motives" are often used interchangeably.
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Press – determinants of behavior in the environment
Press is an external condition that creates a desire to obtain or avoid something.
alpha press – the way the environment exists in reality
beta press - the way in which the person views or interprets their environment
Behavior is most closely correlated with beta press.
Examples of Press:
Poverty
Parental rejection
Prolonged or frequent illness
Thema – an interactive behavioral unit
- deals with the interaction between needs and press; both the person and situation
must be considered
- can involve single subject-object interactions
E.g., someone is snubbed and responds in kind: rejection press triggered a rejection
need/motive
- can involve an individuals' characteristic reaction to a particular press
the person may repeatedly try harder after a failure: failure press triggers an
achievement need
Murray emphasized both the person and the situation must be unde
"…the biography of a [person] may be portrayed abstractly as an historic route of
themas…For an individual displays a tendency to react in a similar way to similar situations,
and increasingly so with age. Thus there is sameness (consistency) as well as change
(Murray, 1938, p. 43).
Assessing Needs (Motives)
Thematic Apperception Test
"…when a person interprets an ambiguous social situation he is apt to expose his own
personality as much as the phenomenon to which he is attending" (Murray, 1938, p. 531).
Apperception – projecting onto an outside (neutral) stimulus
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- assesses implicit motives (McClelland)
- good predictors of broad behavioral tendencies
Self-report – assesses motives related to specific goals
- predict how a person will act in a specific situation
Need for Achievement
Need for Affiliation
Need for Power
Need for Intimacy
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