Malevolent Transformation: Some Clinical and Developmental Notes

The notion of malevolent transformation is presented in a highly condensed way by Sullivan. Essentially he observes that when a child has a need for tenderness and has been rebuffed, in one way or another, he develops a foresight of this rebuff and takes on a malevolent attitude which can be best described in Sullivan's own words: “Once upon a time everything was lovely, but that was before I had to do with people” (Sullivan, 1953, p. 216). Sullivan admits that he formulated his concept partly because he was searching for an etiology “calculated to get around the idea that man is essentially evil” (Sullivan, 1953, p. 213).

Sullivan's concept of learned malevolence is located in the childhood era from approximately the third year of life.¹† It is in this stage that the child is being rapidly socialized in the oughts and ought-nots of his society. He has already begun to learn by reward and punishment and has responded by being (1) obedient and/or (2) rebellious. The (3) malevolent outcome is seen as a third possible outcome in the childhood struggle with parents as authority figures who can now inflict pain as punishment. Partly because of the culture's expectation that the child be socialized, and partly because of destructive warps in the parents’ lives, the child learns that when he needs tenderness and does what he used to do to receive the tenderness (e.g., crying), this outcome is

by no means assured. Instead the child may be treated in such a way as to evoke anxiety and at t