Henry Alexander Murray

(1893-1988)
Biographical Background
He was born in New York, City in May 13,1893.
Murray referred to his depression as his marrow of misery and melancholy and attempted to
mask in his everyday behavior by developing a cheerful and outgoing manner. This Lack of
childhood attachment to his mother later caused Murray to question Freuds description of the
Oedipus complex because it did not coincide with his childhood experience.
Murray received little formal training in psychology. After 6 years in two private schools in New
York; he went to Groton a private preparatory school in Massachusetts.
He obtained his B.A. from Hanvard, where he majored in history but received only belowaverage grades.
Murray spent three weeks with Carl Jung in Zurich during an Easter vacation from Cambridge
and emerged a reborn man He had experienced the unconscious and thereafter devoted
himself exclusively to psychology and to probing the deepest recesses of personality.
Robinson ( 1992 ) suggests that Murray had a number of troubling intellectual and emotional
shortcomings and although he kept a traditional marriage, he was involved in a torrid affair with
Christiana Morgan, a talented married woman who was also interested in the work of Carl Jung.
Morgan made important contributions to the early development of psychoanalysis, especially in
the area of feminism and also to Murrays theory of personality, for which she was never given
proper recognition (Douglas, 1993), she also coauthored the Thematic Appearance Test (TAT), a
significant projective technique widely used in personality assessment.
He was awarded the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award of the American Psychological
Association and the Gold Medal Award of the American Psychological Foundation for his
contributions to psychology.
Murray died in 1988
The Principle of Personology
No brain, no personality - this comment sums up the first principle in Murrays personology (this
term for the study of personality)
Personology - is the study of individual human lives and the factors that influence their course.
Murray did not believe that the concept of personality refer to any real physical substance.
He believed that it is useful to separate the total behavior of a person into identifiable and
manageable units:
A. Proceeding (basic unit ) is a short, significant behavior pattern that has a clear beginning and
ending. Proceeding are interactions between the subject and another person or object in the
environment.
B. Serial (a succession of proceedings) is a planned series of proceedings which leads toward a
goal. Each proceeding in the series may be seen as having a sub goal bring the individual
closer to the final goal.
C. Ordination (serial programs are governed by mental processes) enables us, once we
understand our world, to develop a strategy for coping with it. Ordination also permits us to
develop schedules or plants for resolving conflicting proceedings.
Murrays Basic Divisions of Personality
ID- is the repository of all innate impulsive tendencies. It provides energy and direction to behavior and is
concerned with motivation. The id also encompasses innate impulses that society considers acceptable
and desirable.
SUPEREGO- is defined by Murray as the internalization of the cultures values and norms, by which
rules we come to evaluate and judge our behavior and that of others.
EGO- is the rational governor of the personality, it tries to modify or delay the ids unacceptable
impulses.

Murrays Needs
List of Needs
Category of Needs
- To govern or direct
Dominance
Primary needs (viscerogenic needs) arise from
To
respect
and
internal bodily states and include those needs
Deference
conform
required for survival, as well as such needs as sex
- To behave
Autonomy
and sentience.
independently
Secondary needs (psychogenic needs) arise
- To attack and flight
Aggression
indirectly from primary needs. They are called
- To yield and
Abasement
secondary, because they are developed only after
surrender
the primary needs.
To
succeed
at
a
hard
Achievement
Reactive needs involve a response to something
task
specific in the environment and are aroused only
- To be erotic
Sex
when that object appears.
- To find joy in
Sentience
Proactive needs do not depend on the presence of
sensuousness
a particular object. They are needs that elicit
To show off and
Exhibition
appropriate behavior whenever they are aroused.
attract attention
- To have fun
Play
- To relate to others
Affiliation
- To exclude others
Rejection
- To seek help
Succorance
- To give help
Nurturance
- To guard against
Infavoidance
embarrassment
To protect ones self
Defendance
from abuse
- To face failure with
Counteraction
continued effort
- To stay away from
Harm
danger
avoidance
- To organize things
Order
- To seek
Understanding
comprehensions
Characteristics of needs
Subsidiation a situation in which one need is activated to aid in satisfying another need.
Press the influence of the environment and past events on the current activation of the need
Thema combination of press and need that brings order to behaviour
The Stages of Personality Development in Childhood
Claustral Stage the fetus in the womb is secure, serene and dependent. These conditions we may all
occasionally wish to reinstate or re-establish.
-

Simple claustral complex is the desire to be in a small, warm and dark place that is safe and
secluded.
People who have the insupport form of the claustral complex center on feelings of insecurity and
helplessness that cause the person to fear a variety of life situations.
The anticlaustral or egression form of the claustral complex is based on a need to escape from
restraining womb-like conditions.

Oral stage - oral succorance complex features a combination of mouth activities, passive tendencies, and
the need to be supported and protected.
-

Oral aggression complex combines oral and aggressive behaviors.

Behavioral characteristics of the oral rejection complex include vomiting, being picky about food,
eating little, fearing oral contamination (such as kissing); and desiring seclusion, and avoiding
dependence on others.

Anal stage - anal rejection complex wherein there is a preoccupation with defacation, anal humor, and
feces-like material such as dirt, mud, plaster, and clay.
-

People may be dirty or disorganized

The anal retention complex is manifested in accumulating, saving, and collecting things, and in
cleanliness, neatness, and orderliness.
Aggression is often associated with this.

Urethral stage - The urethral complex is associated with excessive ambition, a distorted sense of selfesteem, exhibitionism, bed-wetting, sexual cravings, and self-love.
-

Sometimes called the Icarus Complex

Genital or castration stage - In Murrays castration complex, Murray disagreed with Freuds contention
that fear of castration is the core of anxiety in adult males.
-

Murray believed such a fear was rooted in the childhood discovery of masturbation by the parents
and the fear of their punishment.

Apperception - act of interpreting the environment and perceiving the meaning of what is going on in a
situation.
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) - consists of a set of ambiguous pictures depicting simple scenes.
The person is asked to tell a simple story describing the people and objects in the picture, what might
have happened before and after their main story of the picture.
-

Was derived from Freuds defense mechanism of projection. In projection, a person attributes or
projects disturbing impulses onto someone else.
The projection is on the people in the pictures, which may reveal hidden conflicts, thoughts,
feelings, and fears of the subject being evaluated.
Is a subjective test and should only be used in conjunction with other tests to make a diagnosis for
a subject.
Strengths
Of particular importance is his list of
needs, which is a continuing value for
research, clinical diagnosis, and employee
selection and his techniques for assessing
personality.
The list of needs has had considerable
impact
on
the
construction
of
psychological tests. Further, the concept
of need and the importance Murray
placed in motivation in his system have
influenced the modern study of
personality

Weaknessess
Only a portion of his works is published.
Research has been conducted on some of
his ideas, particularly the achievement
and affiliation needs, and the assessment
techniques, but only few where put to
experimental test.
His research method in the study of
Harvard undergraduates were questioned.
The Diagnostic Council may have been
democratic, but is hardly scientific.
Some concepts were defined vaguely.
His classification of needs may be overly
complex and a great deal overlap exist
among them.
It is unclear how the needs are related to
personality and how needs develop within
the individual

References:

Buss, D. & Larsen, R. (2008). Personality Psychology: Domains of Knowledge about Human
Nature. New York: Mc Graw-Hill Companies
Engler, B. (2012). Theories of Personality. Singapore: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, Inc.
Schultz, D. & Schultz, S. (2009). Theories of Personality, 9th ed. USA, Wadsworth Cengage
Learning Inc.