Adler individual psychology

7/29/2019 Adler individual psychology

1/11

INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY

- ALFRED ADLER


2/11

Individual psychology was used by Adler to stress his belief thateach person is an integrated whole, striving to attain future

goals and attempting to find meaning in life while workingharmoniously with others.

Humans are motivated primarily by social urges. A person has an inherentnature that shapes his or her own personality.


3/11

ALFRED ADLER (1870-1937) He was born on Feb 7, 1870 of a middle class in

Vienna, Austria. He finished his doctorate inmedicine in 1895 from the University of

Vienna. He wrote the book The Practice and

Theory of Individual Psychology.


4/11

Major Theorieso ORGAN INFERIORITY - people are more vulnerable to disease in organs that are

less developed on inferior than other organs.

o FEELING OF INFERIORITY all children start life with feelings of inferiority sincethey are completely upon adults for survival. This feeling of being weak inferiorand impotent stimulate in the child an intense desire to seek power, therebyovercoming the feeling of inferiority. For Adler, to become more powerful meantto become more masculine and less feminine.

Masculine protestdrive to become more masculine

inferiority complex- If the child failed to meet certain life challenges during his act ofcompensation.

o STRIVING FOR SUPERIORITY - is a fundamental fact of life. Striving forsuperiority is an innate need; built in in all human beings at birth. It is themaster motive which leads people in the pursuits of a superior or perfect society.

Superiority complex - a person's feelings of superiority counter or conceal his or herfeelings of inferiority.


5/11

o STYLE OF LIFE means by which an individual attempts to gain superiority.

Lifestyle determines which aspects of life are focused on and how it gives a

person individual identity.

o FICTIONAL FINALISM is the fictional future goal which a person aspires.

Adler later calls it a guiding self ideal. This gave Adlers theory a strong

teleological (future oriented) component although it did not ignore the past

altogether.

o CREATIVE SELF - human beings are not simple passive recipients of

environmental or genetic influences. He is free to act upon these influences

according to how he or she sees fit.


6/11

o ORDER OF BIRTH AND PERSONALITY one of the factors that affect our

personality.

only child -is more likely than others to be pampered. The parents of theonly child have put all their eggs in one basket, so to speak, and are morelikely to take special care sometimes anxiety-filled care of their pride andjoy.

first childbegins life as an only child, with all the attention to him- orherself. Sadly, just as things are getting comfortable, the second childarrives and "dethrones" the first. At first, the child may battle for his orher lost position. He or she might try acting like the ,only to be rebuffedand told to grow up. Some become disobedient and rebellious, others

sullen and withdrawn. Adler believes that first children are more likelythan any other to become problem children. More positively, firstchildren are often precocious. They tend to be relatively solitary andmore conservative than the other children in the family.


7/11

second childis in a very different situation: He or she has the

first child as a sort of "pace-setter," and tends to become quite

competitive, constantly trying to surpass the older child. Theyoften succeed, but many feel as if the race is never done, and theytend to dream of constant running without getting anywhere.Other "middle" children will tend to be similar to the second child,although each may focus on a different "competitor."

youngest child -is likely to be the most pampered in a family withmore than one child. After all, he or she is the only one who isnever dethroned! And so youngest children are the second mostlikely source of problem children, just behind first children. On theother hand, the youngest may also feel incredible inferiority, witheveryone older and "therefore" superior. But, with all those "pace-

setters" ahead, the youngest can also be driven to exceed all ofthem.


8/11

VIEW OF HUMAN NATURE

Adler's view of human nature was direct conflict with that of

Freud's. While Adler acknowledge the presence of unconscious

forces, he minimized its significance by calling unconscious as

simply temporary awareness. He opposed Freud's rigidity by

enumerating the extent to which a person can achieve

conscious control over his or her behavior.


9/11

In a sense I have been referring to the creative self all along. It is

the self in its creative aspects that interprets and makesmeaningful the experiences of the organisms and that searches

foe experience that will aid in fulfilling the persons unique style

of life.

- Adlers concept of creative self theory

S f h diff


10/11

ADLER-Emphasized unconscious mind

- Future goals are unimportant

- Biological motives primary

- Pessimistic about human existence

- Dreams are used to detect contentsof unconscious mind

- Personality is completelydetermined by environmentalfactors

- Maximized importance of sex- Goal of therapy: to discover

repressed early memoriesincorporating social interest

FREUD

Summary of the differences

Between Adler and Freud

-Emphasized conscious mind

- Future goals are important

source of motivation

- Social motives primary

- Optimistic about human existence

- Dreams are tools in solving

problems

- Personality is determined partly by

the heredity individual themselves- Minimized importance of sex

- Goal of therapy : to encourage

lifestyle.


11/11

Documents

Adler individual psychology