Summary Personology - Psychology 213 (psych213)

ALFRED ADLER: Chapter 5

THE INVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY

BACKGROUND

 1870-1937
 Born in Vienna
 Second child of six children
 Psychiatric and physician
 Jewish
 Viennese culture
 From Judaism to Christian
 Developed own theory of individual psychology (addressing the uniqueness of the
individual’s behaviour formed by interaction with social environment.

How did Adler’s childhood influence his theory
 Difficult childhood
 Sickness and jealousy
 Suffered various illnesses (pneumonia and rickets (weakens skeleton)
 Rejected by mother after birth of his brother
 Closer to father
 Rejected Freud’s Oedipus complex
 Feelings of inferiority and compensation are central concepts of Adler’s theory

What was the nature of the relationship between Adler and Freud?
 Adler active member of Viennese Psychoanalytic
 He and Freud met once for Psychoanalysis discussion
 Never had intimate friendship, but worked closely together
 Differences of opinions b/t Adler and Freud led to formation of new society by Adler (Society
for Individual Psychology)

Why did Adler call his approach ‘individual Psychology’?
 To emphasise his belief
 Move away from psychoanalysis name
 To emphasise uniqueness of each person and holistic nature of human functioning

Is there only way to understand Adler’s theory and does his theory, strictly speaking, belong
to depth psychology?
 Initial concept influenced by medical background and freud’s theory
 Then formulated independent viewpoint
 Adler’s view: more human-oriented
 Did not agree with freud’s sexual drive
 ‘Striving for power’
 ‘Feelings of inferiority’
 Person-orientated framework
 Human is free to make own choices
 Complete human being- quest for superiority or perfection

,THE VIEW OF THE PERSON UNDERLYING

Why can Adler’s view underlying his theory be described as holistic, teleological and person-
orientated?

 Individual functions as a whole
 Personality can never be studied by personal components
 Does not draw distinctions b/t structural, dynamic, and developmental concepts (unlike
freud)
 Uses few concepts to explain behaviour
 From teleological vantage point in explaining behaviour
 Striving for superiority
 Teleological position- idea that behaviour is goal-directed (fictional finalism-individual’s goals
are fictions)
 Person as ‘master of his own destiny’
 Environment factors as being subordinate to individuals



THE STRUCTURE OF THE PERSONALITY

Does Adler make use of structural concepts to explain behaviour?

 Does not use structural concepts
 Personality as whole that functions to achieve self-determined goals
 CONSTITUTIONAL ATTRIBUTES
 Every individual is born with a set of genetically determined attributes
 Are potential in which interaction with environment and self play role in human
development

 SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT
 Feeling of inferiority develops because of a child ‘s first social interaction
 Infant comparing their dependency to the strength of parents in the social
environment
 Not genetically determined

 THE CREATIVE SELF
 Humans have ability to be creative in forming their own life goals and in planning
how to achieve them
 Creativeness as the capability of the whole person

 THE LIFESTYLE
What is a ‘lifestyle’, according to Adler, and how many does he distinguish?
 Compensating for feelings of inferiority and strive for superiority
 Lifestyle- individual specific goals and their own methods to reach it
 Four characteristics types of lifestyle:

, LIFESTYLE TYPES EXPLANATION
The active-constructive types Develops in family atmosphere-
cooperation, trust, respect, positive,
supportive. Tends to serve community
The passive-constructive types Adopt community oriented goals in a
passive manner(let others take
initiative) , likely to be friendly &
charming
The active-destructive type Selfish, work towards their goal
The passive-destructive Antisocial, lazy, passively aggressive




THE DYNAMICS OF THE PERSONALITY

What motivates a person, according to Adler?

 Experience of inferiority and striving for perfection are both motivational to a person
 Striving manifest in two ways: striving for power and social interest (activated by experience
of inferiority for compensation)


THE STRIVING FOR SUPERIORITY: THE STRIVING FOR POWER
 Activated by feelings of inferiority
 Feelings focused upon physical weakness
 In case of Individual person: baby feels inferior to its parents because they are bigger
 Weakness can be caused by genetic factors or environmental factors(like accidents, illness)
 Constitutional weakness: can make bodily organs vulnerable to diseases
 Psychological influence of organs weakness as most important

How do people cope with their weaknesses and feelings of inferiority?

 By three typical responses: compensation, sensitivity and overcompensation
 Compensation- attempt by an individual to make up for a weakness by developing the weak
organ to an extraordinary high degree.
 Sensitivity- refers to people’s preoccupations with their weakness, to the extent that they
are easily hurt if any reference is made to them
 Overcompensation- an overemphasis of strong points in an attempt to hide weaknesses
(similar to Freud’s reaction formular)


THE STRIVING FOR SUPERIORITY: SOCIAL INTEREST
 Human are weak
 Try to compensate their weakness with intellectual abilities-solid structure
 Striving leads to the formation of groups- social interest
 Social interest: includes an interest in other people and the ability to experience events form
the viewpoint of another
 Inferiority complex: acute feeling of inferiority characterised by extreme shyness or
aggressiveness as compensation for these feelings