Alfred adler Flashcards
Inferiority feelings
-Source of human striving; strive to not feel inferior;
-Inherently condition of all people
-dependent on others to survive (parents); comparing oneself to people that have more power.
can be real or imagined
**Compensation
Motivation to overcome inferiority; Inferiority may be real or imagined;
Function of environment; when you can’t compensate the feeling of inferiority gets stronger stuck in a loop
Inferiority Complex
Inability to overcome for normal inferiority; looks like Low self-concept, helpless.
organic
abuse
spoiling
Superiority Complex
-Overcompensation for normal inferiority
-Self-centered, denigrates others
3 ways Inferiority complex develops in childhood
1- Organic inferiority
disability
born without (height ect)
2- Spoiling
single child- doesn’t have to compete with other siblings for parents attention, assumes more inferior because im not getting everything I want
3-Neglect
abused -needs not met
Superiority complex can develop in 2 ways
1- Need to become extremely successful
2-May just feel superior without need to demonstrate it (put others down, shows they are better)
Striving for superiority
-All people do this, Wholeness=perfection
-Urge toward perfection or completion
-Not an attempt to be better than others
Fictional Finalism
*Fictional Finalism:
Imagined or potential beliefs/goal that guides our behavior and decisions
Style of Life
Unique structure/pattern of striving (i.e., how we go about attaining goal of superiority)
-Influenced by social environment
Creative power of self
-creative power of self creates style of life
-we are not passively shaped by childhood
-Ability to create an appropriate style of life
4 styles of life
people have tendency to choose
1- Dominant
Attacking
2- Getting
Dependent
3- Avoiding
Ignores problems
4- Socially Useful
Cooperative
you choose your style of life but influenced by upbringing
Social Interest
-Innate potential to cooperate (with other people) to achieve goals
-modeled by mom
- Gemeinschaftsgefuhl
-“community feeling” Focus on community interest
Birth order/ ordinal positions
Sequence of sibling births is a major social influence; How you shape style of life, compensate
First born
Focus of attention, then dethroned; Battle to regain supremacy
Characteristics: used to leadership and looking after people in relation to siblings; more dominate, don’t change their mind easily; Intellectually developed; Organized, authoritarian; Insecure, hostile toward others.
Second Born
Older sibling as pacesetter; Competition may motivate 1st born;
Characteristics: Optimistic, competitive, ambitious, finds own area of success; Give up on tasks, underachiever (if they can’t surpass the first-born), metodator
Youngest
Pet of the family; Fast development to surpass others;
Characteristics: High achievers;
If pampered too much= overly dependent.
only child
Remain the focus of attention; Spend more time with adults;
Characteristics: Mature early; Disappointed when not the center of attention.
Free will
Nurture; Past & present focus; Uniqueness; Growth throughout life; Optimistic.
how would he would answer?
-Free will
-Nurture
-Past & present focus
-Uniqueness
-Growth throughout life
-Optimistic
social interest and drive for personal growth and superiority
social interest
-innate potential to cooperate with other others to reach a goal
-how well we get along with others to achieve a goal
Explain the dominate type, style of life
-dominate ruling attuite with social awareness
-attacks problem head on
-steam rolls others with little regard for social consequences
-leads to supriority comlplex
explain the avoiding type, style of life
-person who avoids any possible failure
-leads to infeoroty complex
explain the socially useful type of style
-cooperates with other and
-win win kind of person
-leads to whoelness and perfection (least common)
alders assessment
early childhood: recollections early themes create primary interests
dream analysis: feelings about current problem
measure of social interest
Adler’s criticisms
-inconsistent & unsystematic /concepts are seen as too broad
-disagreement with free will
-lack of public recognition
Ex
His theory power of self contradicts early childhood influence
Adler’s contributions to psych
influenced multiply theory
-equality of woman
-organic inferiority
-birth order
explain the getting type, stye of life
-most others to help them and highly depends on getting help form them
How does a style of life develop
-in childhood we all feel inferiority feelings, when we attempt to compensate and through that we develop our individual
Getting style of life
-depandant on others to get what you need
-leads to wholeness
