The association of measures of Angyal’s biopositive and bionegative system principles with other constructs and associations with suicidality

In a sample of undergraduates, a history of suicidal ideation was predicted by the pattern of noncommitment positively and negatively with the trend toward homonomy. A history of attempted suicide was predicted by autonomy scores positively and negatively with the trend toward homonomy. Andras Angyal (1965) proposed a holistic theory of personality which viewed the mind as a system. Systems have a system principle, that is, a description of how the elements of the system are organized. Angyal argued that the mind has two basic system principles, a healthy system principle (a biopositive system principle) and a pathological system principle (a bionegative system principle). Each of these had two components. The biopositive system principle was composed of a trend toward autonomy (the desire to grow at the expense of the environment) and a trend toward homonomy (the desire to integrate with the environment). The bionegative system principle also had two components: the pattern of vicarious living (the tendency to adopt a false self in order to be what others, especially parents, want you to be) and the pattern of noncommitment (the tendency to reduce anxiety that is aroused by an inconsistent environment by developing obsessive-compulsive habits).