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Theories of Personality (Adler: Individual Psychology) - Coggle Diagram
Theories of Personality (Adler: Individual Psychology)
Chapter Outline
Style of Life
Creative Power
Social Interest
Unity and Self-Consistency of Personality
Abnormal Development
Subjective Perceptions
Applications of Individual Psychology
Striving for Success or Superiority
Related Research
Introduction to Adlerian Theory
Critique of Adler
Biography of Alfred Adler
Concept of Humanity
Overview of Individual Psychology
Overview of Individual Psychology
Adler was an original member of Freud's psychoanalytic group, but he never saw himself as a disciple or a follower of Freud
If fact, throughout his life he carried with him the note Freud had sent to him proposing the establishment of an organization of physicians
Adler saw the invitation as Freud's recognition of Adler as an equal. After Adler broke from that group, he built a theory of personality that was nearly diametrically opposed to that of Freud
Whereas Freud's view of humanity was pessimistic and rooted in biology, Adler's view was optimistic, idealistic, and rooted in family experiences
Biography of Alfred Adler
However, personal and professional differences between the two men led to Adler's departure from the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society in 1911. Adler soon founded his own group, the Society for Individual Psychology
Adler's strengths were his energetic oral presentations and his insightful ability to understand family dynamics
Alfred Adler was born in 1870 in a Viennese suburb, a second son of middle-class Jewish parents. Like Freud, Alfred was a physician, and in 1902, he become a charter member of Freud's organization
He was not a gifted writer, a limitation that may have prevented him from attaining world recognition equal to that of Freud
Tenets of Individual Psychology
Adler evolved a basically simple and parsimonious theory. To Adler, people are born with weak, inferior bodies- a condition that leads to feelings of inferiority and a consequent dependence on other people
Although Alder's individual psychology is both complex and comprehensive, its main tenets can be stated into six main topics
Striving for success or superiority- the sole dynamic force behind people's actions is the striving for success or superiority
The Striving Force as Compensation
Because people are born with small, inferior bodies, they feel inferior and attempt to overcome these feelings through their natural tendency to move forward completion
The striving force can take one of two courses- personal gain (superiority) or community benefit (success)
Striving for Personal Superiority
Psychologically unhealthy individuals strive for personal superiority with little concern for other people
Although they may appear to be interested in other people, their basic motivation is personal benefit
The Final Goal
The final goal of success or superiority toward which all people strive unifies personality and makes all behavior meaningful
Striving for Success
In contrast, psychologically healthy people strive for the success of all humanity, but they do so without losing their personal identity
Subjective perceptions- People's subjective view of the world- not reality- shapes their behavior
Fictionalism
Fictions are people's expectations of the future
Adler held that fictions guide behavior, because people act as if these fictions are true.
Adler emphasized teleology over causality, or explanations of behavior in terms of future goals rather than past causes
Physical Inferiorities
Adler believed that all humans are "blessed" with physical inferiorities, which stimulate subjective feelings of inferiority and move people toward perfection or completion
Unity and self consistency of personality- Adler believed that all behaviors are directed toward a single purpose. When seen in the light of that sole purpose, seemingly contradictory behaviors can be seen as operating in a self-consistent manner
Organ Dialect
People often use a physical disorder to express style of life, a condition Adler called organ dialect, or organ jargon
Conscious and Unconscious
Conscious and unconscious processes are unified and operate to achieve a single goal
The part of our goal that is not clearly understood id unconscious; that part of our goal we fail to fully comprehend is conscious
Social Interest- Human behavior has value to the extent that it is motivated by social interest, that is, a feeling of oneness with all of humanity
Origins of Social Interest
Adler believed that the parent-child relationship can be so strong that it negates the effects of heredity
Although social interest exists as potentiality in all people, it must be fostered in a social environment
Importance of Social Interest
According to Adler, social interest is "the sole criterion of human values," and the worthiness of all one's actions must be seen by this standard
Without social interest, societies could not exist; individuals in antiquity could not have survived without cooperating with others to protect themselves from danger
Even today an infant's helplessness predisposes it toward a nurturing person
Style of Life
The manner of a person's striving is called style of life, a pattern that is relatively well set by 4 or 5 years of age
However, Adler believed that healthy individuals are marked by flexible behavior and that they have some limited ability to change their style of life
Creative power
Style of life is partially a product of heredity and environment- the building blocks of personality- but ultimately style of life is shaped by people's creative power, that is, by their ability to freely choose a course of action
Abnormal Development- Creative power is not limited to healthy people; unhealthy individuals also create their own personalities. Thus, each of us is free to choose either a useful or a useless style of life
External Factors in Maladjustment
Exaggerated physical defects, which do not by themselves cause abnormal development, but which may contribute to it by generating subjective and exaggerated feelings of inferiority
A pampered style of life, which contributes to an overriding drive to establish a permanent parasitic relationship with the mother or a mother substitute
A neglected style of life, which leads to distrust of other people
Safeguarding Tendencies
Both normal and neurotic people create symptoms as a means of protecting their fragile self-esteem
These safeguarding tendencies maintain a neurotic life style and protect a person from public disgrace (shame)
The three principal safeguarding tendencies are
Aggression, which may take the form of depreciating others' accomplishments, accusing others of being responsible for one's own failures, or self-accusation
Withdrawal, which can be expressed by psychologically moving backward, standing still, hesitating or constructing obstacles
Excuses, which allow people to preserve their inflated sense of personal worth
General Description
The most important factor in abnormal development is lack of social interest
In addition, people with a useless style of life tend to set their goals too high, have a dogmatic style of life, and live in their own private world
Masculine Protest
Boys are often taught early that being masculine means being courageous, strong, and dominant
The ultimate accomplishment for boys is to win, to be powerful, to be on top. In contrast, girls often learn to be passive and to accept an inferior position in society
The frequently found inferior status of women is not based on physiology but on historical developments and social learning
In contrast to Adler's more democratic attitude, Freud believed that anatomy is destiny and that women occupy the 'dark continent' of psychology
Both men and women sometimes overemphasize the desirability of being manly, a condition Adler called the masculine protest
Near the end of his life, Freud was still asking what women wanted. According to Adler, Freud's attitudes toward women would be evidence of a person with a strong masculine protest
In contrast to Freud's views on women, Adler assumed that women- because they have the same physiological and psychological needs as men- want more or less the same things that men want
Application of Individual Psychology
Early Recollections (Memories)
Adler believed that early memories are templates on which people project their current style of life
These recollections need not be accurate accounts of early event, but true or false, they have psychological importance because they reflect a person's current view of the world
A more reliable method of determining style of life is to ask people for their earliest recollections
Dreams
Adler believed that dreams can provide clues to solving future problems
However, dreams are disguised to deceived the dreamer and usually must be interpreted by another person
Family Constellation
Adler believed that people's perception of how they fit into their family is related to their style of life
He claimed that firstborns are likely to have strong feelings of power and superiority, to be overprotective, and to have more than their share of anxiety
Secondborn children (such as Adler) are likely to have strong social interest, provided they do not get trapped trying to overcome their older sibling
Youngest children are likely to be pampered and to lack independence, whereas only children have some of the characteristics of both the oldest and the youngest child
Psychotherapy
The goal of Adlerian therapy is to create a relationship between therapist and patient that fosters social interest
To ensure that the patient's social interest will eventually generalize to other relationships, the therapist adopts both a maternal and parental role
Related Research
For example, Susan Belangee (2006) found that dieting, overeating, and bulimia are unhealthy ways of compesanting for feelings of inferiority
Moreover, eating disorders suggest that a person’s Gemeinschaftsgefühl or social feeling is out of whack. Recently, Teresa Laird and Andrea Shelton (2006) examined binge drinking and birth order among college students.
Adler's theory of inferiority, superiority, and social feeling can be applied to health-related behaviors such as eating disorders and binge drinking
They found youngest children in a family significantly more likely to binge drink than older children
For example, research by Jon Kasler and Ofra Nevo (2005) found that early childhood recollections did match career types in adulthood, which is consistent with Adler's view
The researchers explained this using Adlerian theory, in that youngest children are more likely to be dependent, and dependent people are more likely to cope with stress by heavy drinking
Although family constellation and birth order have been widely researched, topics more pertinent to Adlerian theory are early recollections and career choice
Some evidence exists that early recollections change through the course of counseling. For example, Gary Savill and Daniel Eckstein (1987) found significant changes in both mental status and early recollections for a therapy group, but not for people in a control group.
Similarly, Jane Statton and Bobbie Wilborn (1991) found that recollections of preadolescent children changed after receiving therapy, whereas those of a control group did not.
These results tend to support Adler’s teleological approach to personality, in that early childhood experiences are less important than adults’ views of those experiences
Critique of Adlerian Theory
Individual psychology rates high on it ability to generate research, organize data, and guide the practitioner
It receives a moderate rating on parsimony, but because it lacks operational definitions, it rates low on internal consistency
It also rates low on falsification because many of its related research findings can be explained by other theories
Concept of Humanity
Adler saw people as forward moving, social animals who are motivated by goals they set (both consciously and unconsciously) for the future
People are ultimately responsible for their own unique style of life
Thus, Adler's theory rates high on free-choice, social influences, and uniqueness; very high on optimism and teleology; and average on unconscious influences.