Chapter 3: Alfred Adler Flashcards
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 motivates people according to Alder?
social influences and by their striving for
superiority or success
Who is responsible for how people act?
Themselves
What shapes the present behavior of people in Individual Psychology?
View of the future
What is Alder’s view on psychologically healthy people?
They are aware of what they are doing/ they are conscious about their actions
Where was Adler born?
Rudolfsheim, Austria
When was Alfred Adler born?
February 7, 1870
What age did Adler have pneumonia?
5
Adler’s parents
Pauline and Leopold
What experience made Adler want to become a physician?
death of a brother and when he nearly died of pneumonia
His brother and rival
Sigmund Adler
What is Adler’s view?
y. To Adler, people are born with weak, inferior bodies—a condition
that leads to feelings of inferiority and a consequent dependence on other people
First tenet of Adlerian theory
The one dynamic force behind people’s behavior is the striving for success or superiority.
What is the final goal of Alfred Adler’s Psychology?
unifies personality and renders all behavior comprehensible.
What creates the Final goal?
creative power
What is the striving force for compensation?
People strive for superiority or success as a means of compensation for feelings
of inferiority or weakness
What is Striving for superiority?
Striving for personal gain. Domination over others.
Exaggerated feelings of inferiority
Inferiority complex
people who strive for personal gain are those psychologically healthy people who are motivated by social interest and the success of all humankind.
Striving for success
What is Adler’s second tenet?
People’s subjective perceptions shape their behavior and personality
What is fictionalism?
ideas that have no real existence, yet they
influence people as if they really existed
people develop a fiction or belief system about how to overcome these physical deficiencies and become big, strong, and superior
physical inferiorities
Third tenet of Adlerian theory
Personality is unified and self-consistent.
In choosing the term individual psychology
the deficient organ/inferior aspect expresses the
direction of the individual’s goal
Organ dialect
What is unconscious according to Adlerian theory?
that part of the goal that is neither clearly formulated nor completely understood by the individual.
What is the fourth tenet of Adlerian theory?
The value of all human activity must be seen from the viewpoint of social interest. For the benefit of humanity.
was ist gemeinschaftsgeist?
strives not for personal superiority but for perfection for all people in an ideal community.
Was bedeutet gemeinschaftsgeist auf englisch
community feeling or social feeling/interest
term Adler used to refer to the flavor of a person’s life. It includes a person’s goal, self-concept, feelings for others, and attitude toward the world. It is the product of the interaction of heredity, environment, and a person’s creative power
Style of life
When is style of life established according to Adler?
4 to 5 years old
What is the fifth tenet of Adlerian theory?
The self-consistent personality structure develops into a person’s style of life
What is the final tenet of Adlerian theory
Style of life is molded by people’s
creative power
places them in control of their own lives,
is responsible for their final goal, determines their method of striving for that goal, and contributes to the development of social interest. In short, creative power makes
each person a free individual
Creative power
the one factor underlying all types of maladjustments
Underdeveloped social interest
3 reasons for neurotics
- set their goals too high
- have their own private world
- rigid style of life
External factors for maladjustment
- exaggerated physical deficiencies
- pampered style of life
- neglected style of life
they tend to be overly concerned with themselves and lack consideration for others
Exaggerated Physical Deficiencies
They expect others to look after them, overprotect them, and satisfy their needs. They are characterized by extreme discouragement, indecisiveness, oversensitivity, impatience, and exaggerated emotion, especially anxiety
Pampered Style of Life
Children who feel unloved and unwanted
Neglected Style of Life
people create patterns of behavior to protect their exaggerated sense of self-esteem against public disgrace
Safeguarding Tendencies
protect a weak—but artificially inflated—sense of self-worth and deceive people into believing that they are more superior than they really are. One of the most commonly used. Deflection of problems.
Excuses
one of the most common safeguarding method used by people to protect their fragile self-esteem. Directly confronts issues.
Aggression
the tendency to undervalue other people’s achievements and to overvalue one’s own
Depreciation
the tendency to blame others for one’s own mistakes
Accusation
people devalue themselves in order to inflict suffering on others while protecting their own magnified feelings of self-esteem
Self-accusation
safeguarding through distance
Withdrawal
psychologically reverting to a more secure period of life
Moving backward
They safeguard their fictional aspirations because they never do anything to prove that they cannot accomplish their goals
Standing still
wasting time
hesitating
Some people build a straw house (easy to solve issues) to show that they can knock it down. To create a hoax sense of capability.
constructing obstacles
cultural and social practices—not anatomy—influence many men and women to overemphasize the importance of being manly
Masculine protest
what is the purpose of Adlerian therapy?
the chief purpose of Adlerian psychotherapy is to enhance courage, lessen feelings of inferiority, and encourage social interest
Establish courage, promote social interest, and lessen feelings of inferiority.
what are firstborns according to Adlerian theory?
intensified feelings of power and superiority, high anxiety, and overprotective tendencies
what are secondborns according to Adlerian theory?
Highly motivated
Cooperative
Moderately competitive
Highly competitive
Easily discouraged
