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The Self-System

Harry Stack Sullivan (1953) developed the concept of a "self-system," which is the individual's collection of self-perceptions. The self-system actively protects one from information that would cause one to reevaluate all pre-existing self-perceptions. It does this through a process of "selective inattention." Part of this process is taking evasive maneuvers that allow one to maintain congruence between one's interpersonal world and one's self-perceptions. Such evasive maneuvers include avoiding certain segments of the Interpersonal Circle that usually result in behaviors in others that disconfirm one's self-system, and consequently forcing others to give way to one's own interpersonal strategy, regardless of their own wishes.
 

 
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