Adlerian

• • He published a study on Organ Inferiority and Its Psychical Compensation
• Alfred Adler's Biography:

  • Adler was an outgoing and gregarious young boy surrounded by family, friends, and acquaintances
  • He was the 2nd born among 7 children and had many friends
  • Social networks and connections were important to Adler
  • He had a rivalry with his older brother
  • Adler had poor health as a child, almost died of pneumonia, and his physician once said he was lost
  • At age 4, his younger brother Rudolf died
  • At age 5, he decided his main goal in life would be to conquer death
  • Adler gave up his specialization and went into psychiatry
• Adlerian Theory of Personality:

  • Adler stressed a positive view of human nature
  • Individuals can control their fate by helping others (social interest)
  • Early interactions with family, peers, and teachers determine the role of inferiority and superiority in their lives
• Freud vs. Adler:

  • Freud reduced all motivation to sex and aggression, while Adler believed people are motivated by social influences and striving for superiority and success
  • Freud put high emphasis on the unconscious, while Adler believed people are responsible for who they are and present behavior is shaped by their view of the future
  • Psychologically healthy people are aware of their actions and motivations
• The Six Tenets of Adlerian Theory:

  • The dynamic force behind behavior is the striving for success or superiority
  • People's subjective perceptions shape their behavior and personality
  • Personality is unified and self-consistent
  • The value of human activity must be seen from the viewpoint of social interest
  • The self-consistent personality structure develops into a person's style of life
  • The style of life is molded by people's creative power
• Striving for success and superiority:

  • Everyone begins life with physical deficiencies that activate feelings of inferiority
  • Psychologically unhealthy individuals strive for personal superiority, while healthy individuals seek success for all humanity
  • Both are guided by a final goal
• The Final Goal:

  • Each person has the power to create a personalized fictional goal
  • By age 4 or 5, children can set their final goal
  • Neglect or pampering in childhood affects the clarity of the final goal
  • People create and pursue many preliminary goals in striving for the final goal
• The Striving Force as Compensation:

  • People strive for superiority or success as a means of compensation for feelings of inferiority or weakness
  • The striving force is innate but its nature and direction are influenced by feelings of inferiority and the goal of superiority
• Striving for Personal Superiority:

  • Some people strive for superiority with little concern for others, motivated by exaggerated feelings of personal inferiority
  • Healthy individuals strive for success beyond themselves and maintain a sense of self
• Subjective perceptions:

  • People strive for superiority or success to compensate for feelings of inferiority, shaped by their subjective perceptions of reality or expectations of the future
• Fictionalism:

  • Our most important fiction is the goal of superiority or success, guiding our style of life and giving unity to our personality
  • Fictions are ideas that influence people as if they really existed, based on Adler's teleological view of motivation
• Physical Inferiorities:

  • People develop beliefs to overcome physical deficiencies and become superior
  • Feelings of inferiority stimulate subjective feelings that lead to striving for perfection or completion
  • Some people compensate for inferiority by moving towards psychological health and a useful style of life
• Unify and Self-Consistency of Personality:

  • Each person is unique and indivisible, with a fundamental unity of personality
  • Inconsistent behavior does not exist, viewed from the perspective of a final goal
  • Erratic behavior gives the person an advantage in interpersonal relationships
• Organ dialect:

  • The disturbance of one part of the body affects the entire person and expresses individual goals
  • Physical conditions can reflect a person's style of life and desires
• Adler believed that conscious and unconscious are two cooperating parts of the same unified system
• The degree of social interest developed during childhood years determines whether people's behavior leads to a healthy or unhealthy style of life
• Social Interest:

  • German term: Gemeinschaftsgefuhl
  • Attitude of relatedness with humanity and empathy for each member of the human community
  • A person with well-developed social interest strives for the perfection of all people in an ideal community
  • Social interest is a necessity for perpetuating the human species
• Origins of Social Interest:

  • Rooted as potentiality in everyone, originated from the mother-child relationship during early infancy
  • Seeds of social interest sown during early months
  • Marriage and parenthood involve developing a bond that encourages mature social interest and cooperation
• Importance of Social Interest:

  • Adler's yardstick for measuring psychological health
  • Social interest is the sole criterion of human values
  • Not synonymous with charity and unselfishness
• Style of Life:

  • Includes a person's goal, self-concept, feelings for others, and attitude toward the world
  • Product of heredity, environment, and a person's creative power
  • People with a healthy style of life express their social interest through action
• Creative Power:

  • Implies movement, a salient characteristic of life
  • People are creative beings who act on their environment and cause it to react to them
  • Adler used the analogy "The law of the doorway"
• Abnormal Development:

  • Factor underlying maladjustments is underdeveloped social interest
  • Neurotics tend to set goals too high, live in their own world, and have a rigid style of life
• External Factors in Maladjustment:

  • Exaggerated physical deficiencies lead to feelings of inferiority
  • Pampered style of life involves weak social interest and a desire to maintain a parasitic relationship
  • Neglected style of life develops from feeling unloved and unwanted
• Safeguarding Tendencies:

  • Patterns of behavior that protect a person's self-esteem
  • Excuses, aggression, depreciation, accusation, self-accusation, withdrawal
• Family Constellation:

  • Refers to birth order, gender of siblings, and age spread
  • Birth order and family relationships determine lifestyle and place in the world
• Birth Order:

  • Oldest Child:
  • Positive traits: nurturing, protective, good organizer
  • Negative traits: highly anxious, exaggerated feeling of power, critical of others
  • Second Child:
  • Positive traits: highly motivated, cooperative
  • Negative traits: highly competitive, easily discouraged
  • Youngest Child:
  • Positive traits: realistically ambitious
  • Negative traits: pampered style of life, dependent on others
  • Only Child:
  • Positive traits: socially mature
  • Negative traits: exaggerated feelings of superiority, low cooperation
• Concept of Humanity:

  • Adler's theory emphasizes free choice over determinism, optimism over pessimism, and social over biological influences