Henry Murray Paper

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Daniel Williams Feb. 14th, 2002 Intro. To Personality Theories Research Paper Henry Murray's Needs Henry Murray developed "personology," the integrated study of the individual from physiological, psychoanalytical, and social viewpoints. His background in medicine, biology, Freudian and Jungian psychoanalysis, and clinical and experimental psychology enabled him to develop this interdisciplinary approach to psychology. His theory indicates that properties are the underlying characteristics of personality that are expressed in various ways in various ways in the person's behavior. These properties are known as needs, which have been sighted as his Murray's most important contribution to theory and research in personality. Like with Maslow, needs do range in importance. But, Murray added other distinctions between the needs that he speaks of.

Diagnosis of needs does require the understanding of the equivalence of meaning for the individual. This means that how needs are satisfied does depend on the individual person. The factors include the individual's reacting state, perception of the situation, the goal that is in mind, coordination of words and actions to obtain satisfaction, and the overt effect.

Murray did theorize that all desire to obtain what is needed originate from operations of the brain.

Needs may arise in two different ways, either biological symbols or from the environment itself. In both cases, a tension is present that is followed by the urge to extinguish that tension. When it comes to a primary (viscerogenic) need, a tension is produced by a biochemical being released by the brain to act as an impulse to the nerves of the body. An example of this is when you become thirsty. When your cells and all fluid producing glands begin to run low of water by at least five percent, the brain begins to tell the body through a dry mouth and a feeling of...