ADLER Flashcards
It presents an optimistic view of people while resting heavily
on the notion of social interest, that is, a feeling of oneness with all humankind.
Individual Psychology
What are the four assumptions of Adler that make Individual Psychology different from Freud’s?
- Freud reduced all motivation to sex and aggression, whereas Adler saw people as being motivated mostly by social influences and by their striving for superiority or success
- Freud assumed that people have little or no choice in shaping their personality, whereas Adler believed that people are largely responsible for who they are
- Freud’s assumption that present behavior is caused by past experiences was directly opposed to Adler’s notion that present behavior is shaped by people’s view of the future
- In contrast to Freud, who placed very heavy emphasis on unconscious components of behavior, Adler believed that psycho-
logically healthy people are usually aware of what they are doing and why they are doing it.
True or False. Adler was part of the Freud circle.
True
When and Where was Alfred Adler born?
February 7, 1870; Rudolfsheim
Who was Adfred Adler’s rival growing up?
Sigmund Adler
True or False. Alfred Adler held deep religious convictions.
False
How different were Freud’s and Adler’s reactions when their sibling died?
- Freud had wished unconsciously for the death of his rival and when the infant Julius did in fact die, Freud was filled with guilt and self-reproach, conditions that continued into his adulthood.
- Adler would seem to have had a more powerful reason to be traumatized by the death of his younger brother Rudolf. Rather than being terrified or feeling guilty, Adler saw this experience, along with his own near death from pneumonia, as a challenge to overcome death.
True or False. Adler preferring intense one-to-one relationship and Freud feeling more comfortable in group situations.
False
True or False. Adler never considered Freud to be his mentor and believed somewhat naively that he and others could make contributions to psychoanalysis
True
True or False. To
Adler, people are born with strong, superior bodies. Therefore, a feeling of
unity with others (social interest) is inherent in people and the ultimate standard for
psychological health.
False
What are the six (6) main tenets of Aldlerian 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 self-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.
True or False. Adler reduced all motivation to a single drive.
True
Where did Adler reduce all motivations?
the striving for success or superiority.
The difference between how unhealthy and healthy individuals strive for either superiority or success
Psychologically unhealthy individuals strive for personal superiority, whereas psychologically healthy people seek success for all humanity.
Early in Adler’s career, he believed that this was the dynamic power behind all motivation, but he soon became dissatisfied with this term. (clue: isa sa motivation na sinasabi ni Freud)
Aggression
According to Adler (1956), people strive toward this goal of either personal superiority or the goal of success for all humankind.
Final Goal
True or False. The final goal is fictional and has no objective existence.
True
It is where one’s final goal is based.
Creative power
It is the people’s ability to freely shape their behavior and create their own personality.
Creative Power
At what age do children develop their creative power to the point where they can set their final goal?
4 or 5 years of age
True or False. A person’s final goal reduces the pain of inferiority feelings and points that person in the direction of either superiority or success.
True
True or False. If children feel neglected or pampered, their goal becomes conscious.
False
True or False. Adler (1964) hypothesized that children will compensate for feelings of inferiority
in devious ways that have no apparent relationship to their fictional goal.
True
What could be a goal of superiority for a pampered girl?
It may be to make her
parasitic relationship with her mother permanently.
True or False. If children experience love and security, their goal remains largely unconscious. On the other hand, if children feel neglected or pampered, they set a goal that is largely conscious and clearly understood.
False. If children feel neglected or pampered, their goal remains largely unconscious. On the other hand, if children experience love and security, they set a goal that is largely conscious and clearly understood.
Will healthy individuals be able to become completely conscious of their final goal?
No, but these healthy individuals understand and pursue it with a high level of awareness.
True or False. People strive for superiority or success as a means of compensation for feelings of
inferiority or weakness.
True
What do people desire that makes them have a need to overcome inferiority feelings?
Desire for completion
True or False. The striving force as compensation is developed and not innate.
False. both innate and developed
How can being innate towards perfection aid in setting a goal of superiority/success?
The innate movement toward perfection aids in setting a compensation for the deficit feeling, making one set a goal of superiority/success.
True or False. According to Adler, success is a collective concept.
False. Success is an individualized concept and all people formulate their own definition of it.
In Adler’s final theory, what are the two general avenues of striving?
- The first is
the socially nonproductive attempt to gain personal superiority - the second involves
social interest and is aimed at success or perfection for everyone.
True or False. According to Adler, individuals who strive for personal gain rather than being motivated by social interest and the success of all humankind are healthy individuals.
False. Psychologically healthy people are motivated by social interests and the success of all humankind.
True or False. Healthy people’s success is not gained at the expense of others but is a natural tendency to move toward completion or perfection.
True
True or false. People strive for superiority or success to compensate for feelings of inferiority based on reality, not on one’s perceptions or expectations of the future.
False.
This final goal guides our style of life and gives unity to our personality. It is also a goal we created
early in life and may not clearly understand.
Fictional final goal
Example of fiction described by Vaihinger
- Men are superior to women
- “Humans have a free will that enables them to make choices.”
- There is an omnipotent God who rewards good and punishes evil.
How did Vaihinger described fictions?
Vaihinger believed that fictions are ideas that have no real existence, yet they influence people as if they really existed.
Teleology or Causality. Adler’s emphasis on fictions is consistent with his strongly held ________ view of motivation
Teleology
True or False. Fictions bestow a purpose on all of people’s actions and are responsible for a consistent pat-
tern that runs throughout their life.
True
True or False. According to Adler, physical deficiencies only cause a particular style of life. They do not provide present motivation for reaching the future
goals.
False. Adler (1929/1969) emphasized that physical deficiencies alone do not cause a particular style of life; they simply provide present motivation for reaching future goals. Such motivation, like all aspects of personality, is unified and self-consistent.
Healthy people overcompensate the inferiority and retreat from other people
false. Healthy people move towards psychological health and a useful lifestyle
What are the inferiority complexes?
Psychological inferiority, overindulgence, neglect
The disturbance of one part of the body cannot be viewed in isolation; it affects the entire person. In fact, the deficient organ expresses the direction of the individual’s goal, a condition known as _______
Organ dialect
Through this, the body organs “speak a language which is usually more expressive and dis-
closes the individual’s opinion more clearly than words are able to do”
Organ dialect
True or False. According to Adler, the conscious and unconscious are opposing.
False. Unconscious and the conscious are two cooperating parts of the same unified system.
It is Adler’s somewhat misleading translation of his original Ger-
man term, Gemeinschaftsgefühl.
Social Interest
German word that means a feeling of oneness with all humanity. It implies membership in the social community of all people.
Gemeinschaftsgefühl.
True or False. Social interest must be developed before it can contribute to a useful style of life.
True
What are the origins of Social Interests?
Mother, Father, Environment
What are the two errors that should be avoided by the father?
- emotional detachment
- paternal authoritarianism
True or False. Social interest is synonymous with charity and unselfishness.
False. Example: A wealthy woman may regularly give large sums of money to the poor and needy, not
because she feels a oneness with them, but, quite to the contrary, because she wishes to maintain a separateness from them.
It is the term Adler used to refer to the flavor of a person’s life.
Style of Life
It is the product of the interaction of heredity, environment, and a person’s
creative power.
Style of Life
Difference of life styles between unhealthy and healthy individuals
- Psychologically unhealthy individuals often lead rather inflexible lives that are marked by an inability to choose new ways of reacting to their environment.
- Psychologically healthy people behave in diverse and flexible ways with styles of life that are complex, enriched, and
changing. Healthy people see many ways of striving for success and continually seek to create new options for themselves.
Three major life problems according to Adler.
neighborly love, sexual love, and occupation
It is due to under-developed social interests
Maladjustments
It makes each
person a free individual.
Creative power
It places them in control of their own lives, is re-
sponsible for their final goal, determines their method of striving for that goal, and contributes to the development of social interest.
Creative power
Personality type that have a tendency to be assertive, aggressive and dominant over others—in an unsocial way.
Ruling type
They strive for personal power—they push over anything or anybody who gets in their way, or manipulate situations and people (Personality type)
Ruling type
They posses a dominating attitude and confront life tasks in a hostile, antisocial manner.(Personality type)
Ruling type
Are sensitive people who have developed a shell around themselves which protects them, but they rely on others to carry them through life’s difficulties. (personality type)
The leaning/getting type
They have low energy levels and so become dependent and relate to the outside world in parasitic manner. (personality type)
The leaning/getting type
These have the lowest levels of energy and only survive by essentially avoiding life—especially other people. (personality type)
The avoidant type
Fearing failure more than desiring success, they run away from tasks of life—the goal is to sidestep all problems in life, thus avoiding any possibilities of failure. (personality type)
The avoidant type
This is the healthy person, one who has both social interest and energy—the epitome of maturity according to Adler.(personality type)
The socially-useful type
Such a person embodies high level of social interest and high level of activity. (personality type)
The socially-useful type
As socially oriented, this person expresses genuine concern for and communion with other people. (personality type)
The socially-useful type
What are the external factors in Maladjustment
Exaggerated Physical Deficiencies, Pampered Style of Life, Neglected Style of Life
They are Patterns of behavior to protect exaggerated self- esteem from public disgrace, To hide inflated self-image and to maintain current style of life
Safeguarding Tendencies
The most common of the safeguarding tendencies which are typically
expressed in the “Yes, but” or “If only” format.
excuses
safeguarding tendencies to safeguard their exaggerated superiority complex, that is, to
protect their fragile self-esteem.
Aggression
A form of aggression where there is a tendency to undervalue other people’s achievements and to overvalue one’s own.
Depreciation
A form of aggression where there is tendency to blame others for one’s failures and to seek revenge, thereby safeguarding one’s own tenuous self-esteem.
Accusation
A form of aggression where it is marked by self-
torture and guilt.
Self-accusation
It is often
aggressive, self-accusatory behavior.
Guild
A form of aggression where people devalue themselves in order to inflict suffering on others while protecting their own magnified feelings of self-esteem
self-accusation
Adler (1956) recognized four modes of safeguarding through withdrawal:
(1) moving backward, (2) standing still, (3) hesitating, and (3) constructing obstacles.
It is a safeguarding through withdrawal where there is tendency to safeguard one’s fictional goal of superiority by psychologically reverting to a more secure period of life.
Moving backward
It is a safeguarding through withdrawal where there is tendency to avoid all responsibility by ensuring themselves against any threat of failure.
standing still.
It is a safeguarding through withdrawal where there is a tendency to leave work when it becomes too difficult
Hesitating
a form of overcompensation that both genders employ in an effort to supplant feelings of inadequacy and inferiority.
Masculine protest
The least severe of the withdrawal safeguarding tendencies
constructing obstacles
