Pt.2 Adler

• Alfred Adler: Individual Psychology


  "The goal of the human soul is conquest, perfection, security, superiority. Every child is faced with so many obstacles in life that no child ever grows up without striving for some form of significance"
• Adler became a charter member of Freud's organization, the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society in 1902
• In 1911, Adler left Freud's organization and organized his society known as the Society of Individual Psychology
• The main tenets of Adlerian Theory

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

  • The sole dynamic force behind people's actions is the striving for success or superiority
  • Superiority-the person strives for self-perfection
  • Success-the person strives for perfection with humankind and actions of people who are motivated by highly developed social interest
• The Final Goal


  • People strive towards their final goal either through personal superiority or the goal of success of all humankind
  • Fictional and no objective existence
  • Product of creative power
  • It reduces the pain of inferiority feelings
• Striving Force as Compensation

  • strive to overcome feelings of inferiority or inadequacy by developing skills or traits in other areas (ex. person who feels inadequate in physical strength may strive for compensation by excelling in academics)
• Striving for Personal Superiority


  Their goals are personal, and their strivings are motivated largely by exaggerated feelings of personal inferiority (ex. paulit ulit kang bumabagsak sa devpsych pero nag-aaral ka pa rin despite it since you have a goal)
• Striving for Success


  • People can see others not as opponents but as people with whom they can cooperate for social benefit
  • Psychologically healthy people strive for the success of all humanity, but they do so without losing their identity
• Fictionalism

  • people's expectations of the future and act as if these fictions are true (ex. magiging millionaire psychologist)
• Physical/Organ Inferiorities


  • Adler believed that all humans are "blessed" with organ inferiorities, which stimulate subjective feelings of inferiority and move people toward perfection or completion (ex. pinanganak kang wala kang kamay, pero you still want to draw kaya you used your feet to prove you can still do it)
• Organ Dialect


  People often use a physical disorder to express their style of life, a condition Adler (ex. may sakit ka sa puso so you developed a cautious personality since limited lang yung kaya mong gawin esp sa physical strength)
• Conscious thoughts are those that are understood and regarded by the individual as helpful in striving for success. Unconscious thoughts are those that are not helpful
• Social Interest


  • Adler's somewhat misleading translation of his original term Gemeinschaftsgefuhl
  • Strives not for personal superiority but for perfection for all people in an ideal community. Your capacity to help other people (ex. bumagsak sila sa quiz kaya tinulungan ko sila mag-review)
• Origins of Social Interest

  Although social interest exists as a potentiality in all people, it must be fostered in a social environment. Adler believed that the parent-child relationship can be so strong that it negates the effects of heredity
• Style of Life


  • Includes a personal goal, self-concept, feelings of others, and attitude toward the world
  • Established on the 4th to the 5th year of a person's life
  • Ability to choose new ways of reacting to their environment
  • Express their social interest through action
• Creative Power


  • Choose personality and character
  • The person creates the style of life- creates himself, his personality, and his character
• Adler's theory of individual psychology


  • Ability to choose new ways of reacting to their environment
  • Express their social interest through action
• Adler's final tenet

  The style of life is molded by people's creative power
• Social interest


  • the capability of you helping the well-being of an community
• Mistaken styles of life

  • Ruling type- Deprecation complex and they always seek to dominate others
  • Getting type- Becoming user-friendly and dependent
  • Avoiding type- Avoid commitment and avoiding the possibility of defeat
  • The Healthy Style of Life- The person must act in ways beneficial to others
• External factors in maladjustment


  • Lack of social interest
  • Setting goals too high
  • Dogmatic style of life
  • Living in their own private world
• Exaggerated physical deficiencies


  • Overly concerned with themselves and lack consideration for others
  • Fear defeats more than they desire success (ex. may vertigo ako then ine-exaggerate ko yung symptoms to get sympathy with other people)
• Pampered style of life


  • They expect others to look after them, overprotect them, and satisfy their needs (ex. maluho ka, gusto mo may iphone 14 ka kahit wala kang pera)
• Neglected style of life


  • Leads to distrust of other people (ex. self centered and have a narcissist personality)
• Safeguarding tendencies(determinism kay adler)


  • Excuses- "Yes, but" & "If only"
  • Aggression- Depreciating others' accomplishments, accusing others of being responsible for one's failures, or self-accusation
  • Withdrawal- Moving backward, Standing still, Hesitating, Constructing obstacles
• Masculine protest


  Assertion of masculine qualities by males and females because these are linked with competence, superiority, and control
• Adler speculated that birth order differences would begin to disappear when families became less competitive and autocratic and more cooperative and democratic
• Critique of Adler's individual psychology

  • Rates high on ability to generate research, organize data, and guide the practitioner
  • Moderate rating on parsimony, but lacks operational definitions
  • Rates low on internal consistency
  • Rates low on falsification because many of its related research findings can be explained by other theories
• Adler's concept of humanity


  • People are forward-moving, social animals who are motivated by goals they set (both consciously and unconsciously) for the future
  • People are ultimately responsible for their unique style of life
  • Rates high on free choice, social influences, and uniqueness; very high on optimism and teleology; and average on unconscious influences
• Withdrawal

  • Moving backward- reverting to a more secure life (ex.yaw mong gumalaw, dyan ka nalang)
• Standing still- avoid responsibilities (ex. ayaw mong sumali sa mga org, or shi kasi gusto mo jan ka nalang)
• Hesitating- hesitate when faced difficult problems (ex. mixed signals or indecisive ka)
• Constructing obstacles- gumagawa ka ng problema mo para masabi ng iba na kaya mo pero pag di mo nagawa nagdadahilan ka (ex. manipulative and gaslighter)
• Ego for Adler

  • Decision making
• Birth Order

  • Only Child- spoiled
  • Oldest- Authoritarian or strict
  • Second- Competitive and more successful
  • Middle- Fighter of injustice
  • Youngest- dependent and wants to be the bigger person
  • Twin- one is usually active than the other
  • Ghost Child- child that is born after death, rebellious
• • Only boy among girls- try to prove he is the man
  • Only girl among boys- dependent and helpless, may become a tomboy or outdo bros
  • All boys- yung bunso na lalaki dinadamitan ng nanay ng pambabae since all boys nga!
  • All girls- opposite ng all boys
  • Adopted child- spoiled and demanding