INITIALLY NOT A PSYCHOLOGIST: SIGMUND FREUD

The eighth part of the series - Initially Not A Psychologist ...

Sigmund Freud

Sigmund Freud was the founder of the school of psychology, known as psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis is the first school of psychology dedicated to the treatment of mental illness. Freud also formulated the first comprehensive theory of personality. Psychoanalysis completely changed the course of the discipline of psychology. The contributions of Freud made him one of the most influential and popular psychologists ever. Sigmund Freud, however, did not begin his career as a psychologist. He, initially, was not a psychologist.
In his early days, Freud was interested in a career in law or politics. He changed his mind after listening to a lecture on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's essay on nature and reading the work of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. The works of Goethe and Darwin made him interested in science, which made him decide to study medicine. He felt that studying medicine would allow him to be involved in scientific research.
During his medical studies, Freud was highly influenced by the physician and physiologist Ernst Wilhelm von Brucke, who was one of the founders of the materialistic-positivistic movement in physiology. After getting his medical degree, in 1881, Freud continued to work in Brucke's laboratory as a researcher in physiology. During this time, Freud became highly inspired by Henry von Helmholtz and his mechanical physiology. His main interest was research in physiology, but due to financial concerns, and after getting advice from Brucke, Freud decided to change his career plans and begin his practice in medicine.
He then went to the Vienna General Hospital to study under the psychiatrist, neuropathologist, and anatomist Theodor Meynert. Meynert was one of the best-known brain anatomists of that time. After studying under Meynert, Freud became an expert in diagnosing brain damage. Freud made significant discoveries as a neurologist. Later, in 1891, he wrote the monograph called On Aphasia, in which he criticized the localization of function of the brain, the theory that suggests the specific brain areas are associated with specific functions. This is considered to be a significant contribution to neuropsychology.
While working as a neurologist, Freud realized that many of his patients were suffering from hysteria, and did not actually have neurological symptoms. At that time, the French neurologist, Jean-Martin Charcot was very well known for using hypnosis to treat hysteria. Freud received a small postgraduate grant that allowed him to study under Charcot. Till this visit, Freud was a materialist-positivist physiologist. He believed that all disorders, including hysteria, had a neurophysiological explanation. He believed that psychological explanations of disorders are non-scientific.
Charcot had a huge influence on Freud. Charcot believed that hysteria is a real disorder, which involves dissociated ideas. He also felt that hypnosis can be used to treat hysteria. Charcot also believed that hysteria has a sexual basis. These ideas laid the foundation for Freud to develop his psychoanalysis. 
Hysteria, according to Charcot, involving dissociated ideas indicated the role of the unconscious mind. Hypnosis, then, was used by Charcot to access uncovered memories and emotions within the unconscious mind. The role of the unconscious mind and sexuality in hysteria changed Freud’s belief that hysteria has a psychological explanation and not a neurophysiological explanation.
In 1886, after studying with Charcot, Freud returned to Vienna and got involved in private practice as a neurologist. After some time, Freud thought of treating hysterical patients, and not just neurological patients. Initially, he tried the traditional methods of neurology, such as electrotherapy, but he did not find them to be effective for treating hysteria. He then realized the significance of Charcot’s method of hypnosis in treating hysteria. He also realized the relevance of what he had learned from the physician Joseph Breuer.
Freud had known Breuer from the time when he was a medical student. He was very close to Breuer, and saw him as his mentor. At that time, Breuer was involved in the treatment of the woman known as Anna O, whose real name was later revealed to be Bertha Pappenheim. This was the case that eventually led to the beginning of psychoanalysis. 
Breuer had discovered that the origins of the physical symptoms of Anna O were in traumatic experiences. Further, when these experiences were given conscious expression, the physical symptoms disappeared. Breuer called this the cathartic method, because the emotional release of the traumatic symptoms led to a relief, causing the physical symptoms to disappear.
In 1889, in order to improve his skills in hypnosis, Freud visited the physicians Auguste Ambroise Liebeault and Hippolyte Bernheim, at the Nancy School. From them, he learned about posthypnotic suggestion, which suggests that an idea planted during hypnosis has an influence on a person's behavior, even when they are not aware of it. This confirmed what he had learned from Charcot, and turned out to be important for Freud in suggesting the role of the unconscious mind in behavior. Freud also learned about posthypnotic amnesia, from Liebeault and Bernheim, which is that patients tend to forget what they experience during hypnosis, but such memories return if they are encouraged to remember it. This also turned out to be important for Freud to develop his idea of psychoanalysis.
Even though learning about hypnosis played an important role in Freud establishing psychoanalysis, he did not find hypnosis to be an effective method of treatment for hysteria. He soon abandoned hypnosis and adopted the cathartic method used by Breuer. Later, Freud modified Breuer’s method to develop his own, which he called free association.
In 1895, Breuer and Freud published the book Studies on Hysteria, in which they discussed the case of Anna O, and outlined the basic tenets of psychoanalysis. They suggested that hysteria is caused by a traumatic experience that has not been expressed adequately and is, thus, manifested by physical symptoms. According to them, symptoms are a symbolic representation of traumatic experiences that have been repressed, that is, the experiences are not consciously aware, but held back in the unconscious to prevent anxiety.
Freud suggested that even though the traumatic experiences are repressed, they still have a strong influence on the person’s behavior and personality. In this sense, Freud had emphasized the significance of the unconscious mind in behavior. Freud, however, was not the first person to suggest this. Before him, philosophers like Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Johann Friedrich Herbart, Gustav Theodor Fechner, Eduard von Hartmann, Arthur Schopenhauer, and Friedrich Nietzsche had written about the role of the unconscious on behavior. Freud in some way was influenced by these philosophers.
Before the publication of the book, Breuer had expressed his dissatisfaction with it, because he felt that Freud had overemphasized the role of sexuality in hysteria. He had asked Freud not to get it published, but he still went ahead with it. Due to this Breuer parted ways from Freud. The year 1895, the date of the publication of Studies on Hysteria, is considered to be the beginning of the school of psychoanalysis.
In the next few years, Freud published a number of significant works, in which he refined his concepts and even introduced new ideas and concepts. In 1900, Freud published one of his most important works called The Interpretation of Dreams. In the book, he suggested that dreams are a way to reveal the unconscious. He outlined a new method called dream analysis, in this book. He also introduced the concept of the Oedipus Complex in this book. In 1991, Freud published his next significant work called The Psychopathology of Everyday Life. In this book, Freud emphasized that psychoanalysis can be used to explain normal behavior as well, and not just abnormal behavior. 
In 1905, in his book Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality, Freud outlined the stages of childhood development, which he called psychosexual stages. In his book The Unconscious, published in 1915, he systematically elaborated on the unconscious mind. Specifically, he distinguished between the different layers of the mind, which are the conscious, preconscious, and unconscious mind. In 1920, in his book Beyond the Pleasure Principle, Freud wrote about instinctual drives that govern behavior. In his book, The Ego and the Id, published in 1923, Freud introduced his tripartite model suggesting that the mind is divided into three components - id (pleasure principle), ego (reality principle), and superego (morality principle). He also suggested that these three components are always in conflict and that their dynamic interaction determines personality.
A significant event, not just for psychoanalysis, but the history of psychology, in general, took place in 1909. Granville Stanley Hall, the founder and first president of APA (American Psychological Association), invited Sigmund Freud to deliver lectures on psychoanalysis, at Clark University, USA. Stanley Hall was the president of Clark University at that time. Freud’s lectures were very well received, giving him a lot of recognition and popularity. This was the first time that psychoanalysis was exposed to a non-European audience.
Freud’s visit to America made psychoanalysis extremely popular. It gave psychoanalysis a wide acceptance, and even played a role in making psychology to be way beyond just an academic discipline. It also led to the expansion of the subfield of clinical psychology. The concepts of psychoanalysis such as the unconscious mind, free association, dream analysis, psychosexual stages, etc. made psychology hugely popular and even had a strong influence on art, literature, and pop culture. Freud’s psychoanalysis, in this way, had completely widened the scope of psychology and changed the course of the history of psychology.
From an initial inclination towards law and politics, then being interested in scientific research after being exposed to the works of Goethe and Darwin, making him study medicine, and then making a shift from research in physiology to practicing as a neurologist due to financial constraints, and then getting involved in treating hysteria after being influenced by Breuer, Charcot, Liebeault, and Bernheim, as well as being influenced by Liebniz, Herbart, Fechner, Schopenhauer, and Nietzsche eventually developing psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud became known as one of the most popular and influential psychologists.

THE CONCEPT OF SELF-ACTUALIZATION

The concept of self-actualization, over the years, has gained a lot of popularity. It has made experts as well as lay persons from varying backgrounds to be highly interested in the idea. The popularity of the concept is reflected in its usage in a wide range of areas such as teaching, counseling, healthcare, leadership, and management.

The pioneer of humanistic psychology, Abraham Maslow, in the mid-20th century (1950s to 1960s), popularized the concept of self-actualization in the context of his theory of personality and motivation. According to Maslow, self-actualization is an innate tendency. It is the tendency of individuals to realize and fulfill their true potential and abilities. It is the desire to become more and more what one idiosyncratically is and to become what one is fully capable of becoming.

Abraham Maslow

This suggests that the concept of self-actualization is about individuals being unique in their own way. The state of self-actualization, according to Maslow, is not about being a better person. Instead, it is about being the person that one is supposed to be, which indicates that every individual is unique in their own way. Thus, for every individual, the idea of self-actualization is going to be different from the other.

Self-actualization is about individuals reaching their full existential capacity. It is not about achievement or becoming an extraordinary individual. It is actually about personal growth and fulfilling one’s potential to the highest level possible, whatever the endeavor may be. It is an intrinsic unfolding process, which does not rely on any rewards system.

Further, self-actualization is not about striving for specific goals or reducing a deficiency. It is about striving for stimulating and challenging tasks and events, and by doing so, enriching one’s life. Instead of accepting life as it is, self-actualization involves constantly seeking new challenges, and avoiding secure and routine behaviors and attitudes.

Maslow’s description of the concept of self-actualization was a moving away from the causal tradition in psychology. Maslow opposed the existing deterministic perspectives of psychoanalysis and behaviorism. He suggested that behavior is not driven by a cause, something that has already existed. Behavior, instead is driven by a future state that the individual is striving for. This is called teleology or the teleological perspective.

For Maslow, self-actualization is a future state that individuals strive for and it is not a cause that has already existed. It is not something that is pushing the individual, but it is actually pulling the individual. This makes self-actualization describe behavior from the teleological perspective, which is a shift from the traditional physical sciences approach (determinism) that psychology had been following.

Like Maslow, the humanistic psychologist Carl Rogers also emphasized on self-actualization. Around the same time as that of Maslow, Rogers suggested that self-actualization is innate, and it is the greatest motivating factor of individuals. Rogers believed that people have an innate tendency to enhance themselves. According to Rogers, self-actualization or the actualizing tendency (as he referred to it) is an active, controlling drive towards the fulfillment of potential, which helps in maintaining and enhancing the self.

Carl Rogers

Rogers, further, suggested that human beings have a tendency to always seek new experiences and avoid environments that lack stimulation. From his clinical experiences, Rogers suggested that people have a directional tendency to grow and have new and varied experiences.

Additionally, Rogers suggested that human beings are basically good. Human beings develop this innate goodness when society is helpful. According to Rogers, people are not able to develop their innate goodness due to faulty socialization patterns. In this regard, Rogers suggested unconditional positive regard to be very important. If parents or caregivers show unconditional positive regard then the child grows into a healthy individual. Therefore, according to Rogers society and socialization patterns play a role in self-actualization.

Rogers suggested that self-actualization is the highest level of psychological health. He referred to self-actualized people as psychologically healthy individuals or fully functioning persons. Rogers described the fully functioning person as actualizing and not actualized because he believed that growth never ends - it is always a work in progress. Rogers believed that his concept of self-actualization is similar to that of Maslow.

In describing the concept of self-actualization, Maslow borrowed the psychoanalyst, Carl Jung’s idea of the self archetype and the transcendent function. Archetypes are archaic, generalized, emotionally toned collections of associated images derived from the collective unconscious (aspects of the unconscious that have its roots in the ancient past of the entire species). In the early to mid-20th century, Jung suggested that the self archetype is innate and has the potential of being realized in everyone. It involves a process called the way of individuation and leads towards self-realization.

 

Carl Jung

According to Jung, the way of individuation is a process by which individuals become the definite, unique being that they are. It is about fulfilling the peculiarity of the individual. Jung, therefore, suggests that the self is the final goal of striving. This self-realization does not come easily. The person has to go through a wide range of experiences and make many efforts to resolve conflicts within the psyche.

The self, according to Jung, becomes a unifying force by the transcendent function. The transcendent function works towards the ideal goal of perfect wholeness. It reveals the essential person by producing and unfolding the original, potential wholeness.

Apart from Jung’s self archetype, the concept of self-actualization used by Maslow has also been found to be similar to the psychoanalyst Alfred Adler’s idea of striving for superiority. According to Adler, striving for superiority is the innate, ultimate drive of human beings to realize their full potential. In the early 20th century, Adler suggested that striving for superiority is a fundamental human need - people strive to feel superior to overcome their feelings of inferiority and inferiority complex. This striving for superiority is not in the sense of social status and dominance. It is rather an urge for completion and perfection.

Alfred Adler

Adler suggested that striving for superiority is the final goal of all humankind. It unifies personality and makes all behaviors comprehensible. Adler also suggested that striving for superiority is a way to compensate the feelings of inferiority and weakness. People are always pushed by the need to overcome inferiority and pulled by the desire for completion and wholeness.

Even though the concept of self-actualization was popularized by Maslow, the term was originated by the neuropsychiatrist, Kurt Goldstein. Goldstein had a holistic approach. He was one of the major proponents of the holistic movement at the beginning of the 20th century. He criticized the reductionist approach and atomization in neurology that existed at that time. He opposed experiences to be viewed in terms of smaller components. He rejected the localization theory (each brain area has specific functions), suggesting that the brain functions as a whole, and if damage occurs in one brain area other areas take over the functioning of the missing brain area.

Kurt Goldstein

The holistic approach of Goldstein led him to introduce the concept of self-actualization. Self-actualization, according to Goldstein, is a striving for completeness. It is the organic principle by which individuals become more fully developed and complete. Goldstein, in the 1930s, suggested that self-actualization is the main motive of human nature. It is the creative trend of human nature. Human beings are governed by the strong tendency to actualize their potential. 

According to Goldstein, each individual has certain potentialities, which are expressed through interests, preferences, and aptitudes. The fulfillment of these potentialities is finding a way towards completeness and represents self-actualization.

Goldstein, further, suggested that even though self-actualization is a universal phenomenon, the process differs from person to person. This is because people differ with respect to their innate potentialities. These differences direct them in their own ways towards growth, development, and self-actualization. It also differs because of the different environments and cultures that they may belong to.

The concept of self-actualization is a part of Goldstein’s organismic theory. The organismic theory views the individual in totality and emphasizes the integration of personality. It is about viewing individuals in terms of a holistic and unified experience and viewing any event in the context of the organism.

Goldstein applied the Gestalt approach to his organismic theory. Gestalt psychology suggests that the mind has a tendency to organize experience into configurations and wholes. It emphasizes that the whole of anything is greater than the sum of its parts, indicating that consciousness or experience as a whole cannot be reduced to smaller components. 

The organismic theory formed the basis of Gestalt therapy. Gestalt therapy is a form of therapy that focuses on the individual’s present, in-the-moment experiences rather than examining the past. It also involves taking responsibility and understanding the context of the person’s life.

Self-actualization is a widely known concept in the discipline of psychology. The concept was popularized by the humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow, but it was the neuropsychiatrist Kurt Goldstein who originated the idea. Goldstein applied the Gestalt theory and used the findings of his studies of patients with brain damage in introducing the term. 

Additionally, Maslow’s description of self-actualization has been found similar to Carl Rogers’s idea of actualizing tendency, Carl Jung’s concept of the self archetype, and Alfred Adler’s idea of striving for superiority. The concept of self-actualization, therefore, provides a link between the fields of neuroscience, Gestalt psychology, humanistic psychology, and psychoanalysis.

This article can also be found on the blog Life and Psychology

INITIALLY NOT A PSYCHOLOGIST: WILLIAM MCDOUGALL

The sixth part of the series - Initially Not A Psychologist ...

William McDougall

William McDougall was a highly influential early 20^th century psychologist. He was significant in shaping and giving direction to the development of modern psychology. He made major contributions to areas of Experimental Psychology, Personality Psychology, Physiological Psychology, Social Psychology, Abnormal Psychology, and Parapsychology. McDougall, however, initially did not intend to have a career in psychology; he was initially not a psychologist.

After, initially, studying at Manchester University, McDougall went to Cambridge University for medical training, feeling that studying medicine will give him a thorough education. Later, in 1897, he obtained his degree in medicine, at St. Thomas Hospital, London. During his time at St. Thomas Hospital and before that at Cambridge, McDougall wanted to dedicate his life to study the nervous system, because he felt that the brain has all the secrets to human nature.

McDougall, however, changed his views when he read the classic Principles of Psychology by William James. After reading the book, McDougall felt that neurology may not be the only way to understand human nature. He felt that apart from neurology, psychology and philosophy can be very useful. He then decided to study psychology, and for that, he got a fellowship at St. John’s College, Cambridge.

After completing his education at Cambridge, in 1899, McDougall joined an Anthropological expedition to Torres Straits, in association with W. H. R. Rivers and Charles Rivers. There he conducted psychological tests on the native inhabitants and studied their sensory processes.

McDougall, then moved to Germany, and worked with G. E. Muller. He worked in the area of experimental psychology and psychophysics. It was during this time that McDougall had developed an interest in psychical research, which he was majorly involved in later on in his career.

From Germany, McDougall then moved back to London, and joined the Department of Psychology, at University College. He accepted a position to teach psychology. There, and later on at Oxford, McDougall was appointed as Reader in mental philosophy. He was teaching experimental psychology and did research on sensory processes.

In this way, McDougall, after being influenced by the work of William James, changed his career path, and established himself in psychology. His tenure in London began a series of his significant contributions in psychology.

While in London, McDougall became instrumental in the founding of the British Psychological Society (initially named The Psychological Society) and starting the British Journal of Psychology. The society, founded in 1901, began to raise the standards in teaching and practice of psychology, increase awareness in psychology, and increase the influence of psychology on the society.

From London, McDougall moved to Oxford and continued his significant contributions. In his book, Physiological Psychology, published in 1904, McDougall emphasized the significance of the biological approach over the more traditional philosophical approach that was being used during that time.

McDougall became one of the first psychologists to redefine psychology as the science of behavior. In 1905, he defined psychology as “the positive science of the living creature.” In his highly influential book, An Introduction to Social Psychology, published in 1908, McDougall elaborated on this, in great detail.

In the book, he suggested that psychology should not restrict itself to the study of consciousness and should focus more on all modes of functioning or what he called a “positive science of conduct or behavior”. McDougall suggested that psychology should be studying varied aspects of human behaviour and use multiple methods, including physiological methods, and not narrow it down to consciousness and introspection.

It is very evident that in today’s time, psychology is the study of all kinds of behaviors and conduct, and is not limited to consciousness. In this way, McDougall can be seen as the pioneer of contemporary psychology. His book is also regarded as one the major precursors to the discipline of Social Psychology, which emphasizes on social behavior in specific contexts.

In his book, An Introduction to Social Psychology, McDougall introduced his hormic psychology, which includes his instinct theory of motivation. Hormic means urge or impulse. Hormic psychology suggests that psychological activity has purpose, emphasizing on purposive behavior of individuals. This purposive behavior was not guided by the environment, unlike what psychologists at that time were emphasizing on. Instead, according to McDougall, it was instincts that were propelling this purposive activity.

Instincts are inborn patterns of behavior, that is, they are biological in nature. In his instinct theory of motivation, McDougall emphasized the role of instincts in social behavior. He suggested that individuals are pre-programmed to behave in certain ways. He suggested a number of instincts such as sleep, hunger, sex, gregariousness, comfort, curiosity, among others.

In 1920, McDougall joined the psychology department at Harvard. This was the department that was established by William James, whose work influenced McDougall to take up a career in psychology, rather than continuing with physiology and neurology. It, thus, meant a lot for him to be joining the department started by William James. In the same year, McDougall’s book The Group Mind got published. This book is considered to be the sequel to his An Introduction to Social Psychology, and in a way completed his work in explaining social behavior through his hormic psychology.

Later, in his books, An Outline of Psychology, published in 1923, An Outline of Abnormal Psychology, published in 1926, and Character and the Conduct of Life, published in 1927, McDougall elaborated on his instinct theory of motivation and used it to explain personality and abnormal behavior, giving emphasis to free will.

In 1927, McDougall moved to Duke University. He developed the psychology department over there and established a parapsychology laboratory. He had already had interest in psychical research and in 1920 and 1921 had been the president of the Society for Psychical Research and The American Society for Psychical Research, respectively. He was interested to find scientific evidence for psychical phenomena and encouraged research on it. In 1937, McDougall became the founding co-editor, with Joseph Banks Rhine, of the Journal of Parapsychology. He was instrumental in establishing parapsychology as a separate subfield of psychology.

McDougall remained in Duke University till his death in 1938. In his life time he published 24 books and more than 150 papers. His contributions to psychology are indelible.

Initially wanting to dedicate his life to neurology, McDougall, after reading the work of William James, changed his mind, and ended up making a highly influential career in psychology. He redefined the study of psychology by introducing his hormic psychology, became instrumental in establishing the disciplines of Social Psychology and Parapsychology, and made significant contributions to Experimental Psychology,  Physiological Psychology, Personality Psychology, and Abnormal Psychology.       

THE INDIVIDUAL AND SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS: FROM THEORIES OF MOTIVATION TO NEUROSCIENTIFIC DISCOVERIES

The discipline of psychology, from an early phase, right after its inception, has been emphasizing on the significance of social relationships. Psychologists, from the beginning, have been suggesting the role of relationships in individuals’ life. Over the years till contemporary times, theories and research, in psychology, have emphasized how social and interpersonal relationships play an integral role in guiding human thoughts, emotions, and behaviors, in shaping the psyche of the individual, and being an important source for individual and social wellbeing.

One of the earliest psychologists to extensively talk about social relationships is William McDougall. McDougall suggested that human beings are goal-oriented and purposive. He called his approach hormic psychology. Hormic means an urge or an impulse.

William McDougall

Hormic psychology suggests that psychological activity has a purpose, or goal, that prods the individual to action. The propelling force of such activity is termed as instinct. Instincts are inborn patterns of behavior that are not learned. McDougall was one of the pioneers of the instinct theory of motivation. His theory of motivation states that organisms are pre-programmed to behave in the way they do so. This includes seeking social relationships.

In 1908, McDougall wrote his highly influential book, Introduction to Social Psychology. This is one of the first books to emphasize on social behavior, and was a major precursor to the field of social psychology. It was in this book that McDougall introduced his instinct theory of motivation. In the book, he wrote a full chapter on what he called the gregarious instinct.

The gregarious instinct, according to McDougall, enables individuals to seek others and works as a motivation to have social interactions and develop affiliations. McDougall also writes that it is the gregarious instinct that makes people indulge in behaviors like cooperation, and leads people to sharing of feelings and emotions with as many people as possible. McDougal further suggests that the gregarious instinct is responsible for the development of civilizations. It is the gregarious instinct that makes people want to be in groups and socialize at a much larger scale, leading to the formation of cities and societies.

The gregarious instinct, therefore, plays a very important role with respect to social behavior and the development of social relationships. By the year 1932, McDougall had created a list of a number of instincts such as hunger, sex, sleep, curiosity, construction, comfort, among others, including the gregarious instinct.

Drawing inspiration from McDougall, Henry Murray, in the 1930s, developed his theory of needs, called personology. According to Murray, a need is something that is internally aroused or results from external stimulation that produces an activity on part of the individual, which continues till that need is satisfied.

Henry Murray

A need, as per Murray, may be weak or intense, momentary or enduring, but it gives rise to overt behavior leading or directing to reduction or satisfaction of the need. Murray, further, suggests that a need is related to underlying processes in the brain and is accompanied by feelings and emotions.

Murray listed a number of needs, among which is the affiliation need. The affiliation need is a psychological or psychogenic need and is characterized by being drawn towards cooperation, reciprocity, winning affection, and remaining loyal to others.

David McClelland

Murray’s theory led to a great deal of research, especially by the psychologist David McClelland. McClelland in his theory of social motives or social needs talked about three needs that lead to social outcomes. One of those three needs is the need for affiliation.

The need for affiliation is the desire to be with others and have harmonious relationships. It prompts people to have friends as well as maintain their friendships. The need for affiliation may differ from person to person, some being high and some being low on the need. Nevertheless, each and every person has this need to some extent or the other.

Abraham Maslow

Before McClelland’s research, Abraham Maslow, one of the pioneers of the humanistic movement in psychology, extended Murray’s personology, in the 1940s, and gave his theory of hierarchy of needs, in which he described a number of inherent needs that motivate individuals. Among these needs, Maslow talks about the belongingness needs.

The need for belongingness is the need to have friends and family. It is a natural tendency to belong to a larger group and enables people to experience companionship and have affectionate relationships. Empirical evidences suggest that deficits in belongingness and a lack of strong social bonds lead to lowered physical and mental health. Human beings, according to Maslow, are, thus, naturally and inherently driven towards belongingness.

Mark Leary

Roy Baumeister

Extensive research has been done on the need for belongingness in contemporary times. Leading researchers in this area are Roy Baumeister and Mark Leary. In the 1990s, Baumeister and Leary did extensive work on the need for belongingness suggesting that it is a pervasive need to develop long-lasting, positive, and significant interpersonal relationships. It involves a need for frequent, pleasant, and stable interactions. If such interactions are with the same people then it is more satisfying as compared to when they interact with a changing sequence of individuals. A lack of belongingness, according to Baumeister and Leary, leads to a feeling of severe deprivation and other psychological issues.

Emily Esfahani Smith

The need for belongingness is viewed as highly significant in understanding human behavior, and over the years a number of psychologists have emphasized its importance. More recently, in her book The Power of Meaning, published in 2017, Emily Esfahani Smith suggested that the fulfilment of the need for belongingness is one of the major factors to experience meaning in life.

Therefore, the instincts and underlying needs depicted in the early and modern theories of motivation show that individuals are inherently motivated to be with others and have relationships. They urge people to seek out others, spend time with them, and maintain satisfying relationships with them.

The idea of the individual and social relationships is appositely reflected in the concept of the self. The self is a construct that is referred to contain an individual’s organized and stable experiences. It is the cognitive and affective representation of an individual’s identity. In other words, it is the sum of what the person actually is. It is about phenomena that pertain to the individual.

William James

The concept of the self was introduced in psychology by William James, in his book The Principles of Psychology, published in the year 1890. According to James, the self is central to all of an individual’s experiences and that people divide the world into me and not me. This distinction that people derive is based on interactions with others. According to James, social interactions are the key to the self.

James also talked about the social self. The recognition that individuals get from others is referred to as the social self. This further led to the idea of many selves – suggesting that individuals have different sides to them, depending on the person with whom one interacts with. We maybe a completely different individual with one person as compared to the other, indicating how others are important in shaping the self.

George Herbert Mead

The views of William James were taken forward by George Herbert Mead, often considered to be the father of social psychology. Mead, in the early 1900s, argues that the self is a product of social processes. The self, according to Mead, arises in the process of social experiences and is based on an individual’s perception of how he/she looks to others. He further states that the self is a product of social interactions. His ideas were published posthumously in the book Mind, Self, and Society, in 1934.

Influenced by Mead, Harry Stack Sullivan, the founder of the interpersonal approach to psychology, and a post-Freudian, in the 1940s, placed great emphasis on the social, interpersonal basis of the development of the self. Sullivan preferred the term self-system, instead of self, conveying his notion that the self is not a static entity, structure, or being, but rather an active process, or dynamism. For Sullivan, the self, including individuality and uniqueness, is a product of interpersonal experience and social influence. The self-system is constructed out of the individual’s perceptions of others reactions, from reflected appraisals.

Harry Stack Sullivan

Sullivan extended his idea of interpersonal interactions shaping the self to his notion of personality. In his theory of personality called the interpersonal theory of psychiatry, Sullivan states that enduring patterns of human relationships form the essence of personality. He asserts that personality is the relatively enduring pattern of recurrent interpersonal situations, which characterizes an individual’s life. For Sullivan, personality cannot be isolated from interpersonal situations, and interpersonal behavior is all that can be observed as personality. He repeatedly insisted that personality is shaped almost entirely by the individual’s relationships.

The interpersonal approach to self and personality led to other post-Freudian views that gave emphasis to interpersonal relationships in the development of the individual. One of such perspective was the object relations theories. The object relations theories suggest that the essence of an individual cannot be understood without the understanding of the significant relationships of the individual. Objects are internalized representations of real people.

Heinz Kohut

The most influential object relations theorist is Heinz Kohut. Kohut is the founder of self psychology - a school of thought of psychoanalytic theory and therapy that explains psychopathology as the result of disrupted or unmet developmental needs. According to self psychology, the key issue in the formation of the self is the presence and absence of loving relationships. Kohut, in the 1960s, suggests that the receipt of empathic reactions from significant others is highly important for the healthy development of the self.

Kohut further suggested that healthy interactions with people who are important to an individual leads him/her to develop into an ideal personality type, where the individual is an independent and self-sufficient person. On the other hand, if this interaction is not healthy then it will lead the individual towards emptiness and insecurity. By suggesting the role of healthy interactions with significant others, Kohut was clearly emphasizing the significance of relationships in the development of the self.

Apart from the post-Freudians, the humanistic psychologists, especially Carl Rogers, have also emphasized the role of interpersonal relationships in the formation of the self. Self is the central concept of Rogers’s theory, which is why it is referred to as the self theory.

The self, according to Rogers, is patterned conscious perceptions experienced by the individual. The self is an outgrowth of what a person experiences, and an awareness of self helps a person differentiate himself/herself from others.

Carl Rogers

Rogers, in the 1940s, suggested that the self is a social product that is developed out of interpersonal relationships. For a healthy self to emerge, a person needs unconditional positive regard – love, warmth, care, respect, and acceptance – from parents/caretakers. This unconditional positive regard helps in having less discrepancy between the real self (what the person actually is) and the ideal self (what the person wants to become), a state referred to as congruence by Rogers. This state of congruence leads to the condition of becoming oneself, eventually making the individual what Rogers calls a fully functioning person – a person who is well adjusted and is close to his/her true potential.

Susan Anderson

These perspectives of the self, right when it was introduced by William James to the post-Freudians and Rogers, vividly indicate that individual is shaped by his/her interpersonal interactions. This is further reflected in the emergence of the concept of the relational self, first proposed by Susan Anderson and Serena Chen, in early 2000s. They suggest

Serena Chen

that the self is relational, in the sense, that it is entangled with significant others that has implications for self-definition, self-evaluation, self-regulation, and daily functioning, which is all in relation to others. By significant others, Anderson and Chen mean someone who has been highly influential in the individual’s life and someone in whom the individual is or was emotionally invested.

The concept of relational self indicates that each of the significant others are linked to the self, capturing unique aspects of that relationship. Therefore, the self is shaped by the significant others, if they are present both physically as well as symbolically.

Influenced by this, a number of interpersonal theorists state that the concept of the relational self reflects that relationships are incorporated in the self and that the self is defined in terms of interpersonal relationships. By being tied to the self, these relationships influence behavior, cognition, and affect of the individual, as well as perceptions of the self.

Therefore, theories of self indicate that individuals are shaped by their relationships. Some theorists suggest general interpersonal interactions to shape the self, and some give emphasis on healthy interactions with significant others in the formation of the self.

Along with theories of motivation and self, more recently, advances in neurosciences suggest that human beings are in fact built to have appropriate social relationships. The biological system of human beings is structured in such a way that it helps them develop proper interpersonal interactions. This is explicitly depicted in the field of social neuroscience.

John Cacioppo

Social neuroscience is the biological approach to social behavior. It was proposed by the neuroscientists John Cacioppo and Gary Berntson in 1992. Social neuroscience is an integrative field that examines the involvement of the nervous, endocrine, and immune systems in socio-cultural process. It examines how the brain drives social behavior and in turn how the social world influences brain and biology. It is a comprehensive attempt to understand mechanisms that underlie social behavior by combining biological and social approaches.

Gary Berntson

Social neuroscience has led to the discovery that the brain of human beings are built in such a way that it guides people to have social interactions. The neural circuitry of human beings is designed in such a way that it enables people to socialize with each other. There are a number of areas spread in the brain that act together and are responsible for people to interact with each other. These brain regions are collectively termed as the social brain.

Michael Gazzaniga

The term social brain was introduced into neuropsychology by the psychologist, and founder of cognitive neuroscience, Michael Gazzaniga in 1985 in his studies of disturbances in social and emotional communication after damages in the right hemisphere. The term was then more prominently used by Leslie Brothers in 1990. Brothers in her studies with monkeys proposed that there are a set of brain regions that are dedicated to social cognition. With the advent of brain imagining techniques, the social brain has also been discovered in human beings, and neuropsychologists like Ralph Adolphs have found similar results in humans as that of monkeys.

Ralph Adolphs

The social brain is a set of distinct but fluid and wide-ranging neural networks that synchronize around relating to others. Neuroscientists suggest that these social centers are mainly in structures of the prefrontal area of the brain in connection with areas in the sub-cortex, especially the limbic system (set of brain structures responsible for emotions, motivation, memory, and olfaction). However, other brain areas apart from these have also been discovered to constitute the social brain.

Giacomo Rizzolatti

During any kind of social interaction, regions in the social brain work together to fine tune the activity and orchestrate the bodily movements and emotions to make the person attuned to that social action. The specific brain cells called the mirror neurons play a very important role in this. The mirror neurons were first discovered in the early 1990s by the neurophysiologist Giacomo Rizzolatti.

The mirror neurons, found in the social brain, connect the brain of one person with that of the other. The mirror neurons immediately get active and start function during a social interaction. These neurons sense both the move that the other person is about to make and their feelings, and instantly prepares the individual to respond appropriately. For instance, if a person smiles the mirror neurons detect that and make the other individual to smile back. Or, if a person waves his/her hand, the mirror neurons detect that and make the other individual to wave back. Emotions have been found to be contagious because of the mirror neurons. In these ways, mirror neurons function during any social activity in the brain region that is responsible for that action.

The social circuits together keep things operating smoothly during interactions. Damage to any of these social centers impairs the ability to attune. It leads to making poor interpersonal decisions, misjudge the feelings of other people, and are incapable in coping with the social demands of life.

Howard Gardner

Interpersonal intelligence, one of the multiple intelligences proposed by the Harvard psychologist Howard Gardner, the the mid-1980s, is an important factor in social interactions. Interpersonal intelligence is the ability to perceive and make distinctions in the moods, intentions, motivations, and feelings of other people. It includes sensitivity to facial expressions, voice, and gestures; the capacity for discriminating among many different kinds of interpersonal cues; and the ability to respond effectively to those cues in some pragmatic way. These aspects have been to be associated with the frontal lobe, right temporal lobe, and the limbic system.

Reuvan Bar-On

Emotional intelligence - a set of abilities related to self and social awareness – is another important aspect that helps in having appropriate social interactions. Reuvan Bar-On, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, on the basis of lesion studies (studies on patients who have brain injuries in clearly defined areas) identified several brain areas crucial for the abilities of emotional intelligence. Other findings using different methods support the same conclusion. These brain researches suggest that there are unique brain centers associated with specific aspects of emotional intelligence, including aspects that help in social interactions.

For instance, abilities to solve interpersonal problems, managing impulses, expression of feelings effectively, and relating with others, have been found to be associated with the prefrontal cortex. Empathy, the ability to understand the emotions of others, has been found to be associated with the right somatosensory cortex and the insula. A large number of studies have also found the amygdala (center of emotions in the brain) to be associated with empathy.

Cameron Carter

Research has identified many specific chemicals that are synthesized in the brain to be associated with social behaviors that play a role in social interactions. Cameron Carter and Eric Keverne, in early 2000s, found that the neurotransmitters (chemicals in the brain that the brain cells use to communicate) such as dopamine and endogenous opioids play a role in social bonding. Additionally, hormones such as oxytocin, vasopressin, corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF), and adrenal hormones, including corticosterone are also responsible for social bonding.

The human brain, thus, not only guides people in socializing with others, but it also works in order to help people in having appropriate social interactions, which in turn help in having better relationships. The human brain, is therefore, built to make human beings form proper social relationships.

In the discipline of psychology, the notion of humans being social in nature, like to be in groups, and have social interactions, can be said to have begun with the early theories of motivation. This notion was strengthened by the perspectives of the social self and the beginning of the interpersonal approach to psychology. Finally, the advances in neuroscientific techniques gave proper evidence that the brain plays a very important role in fine-tuning social interactions to help in having appropriate social relationships.