Chapter 3: Alfred Adler Flashcards
Individual Psychology
Presents an optimistic view of people while resting on the notion of social interest
Social Interest
Feeling of oneness with all humankind
Differences between Adler & Freud
Freud reduced all motivation to sexuals aggression while Adler saw people as motivated by social influences and striving for superiority or success
Freud assumed people have little or no choice in shaping their personality while Adler believed that people are largely responsible for who they are
Freud’s assumption that present behavior is caused by past experiences while adler believed that present behavior is shaped by people’s view of the future
Freud placed very heavy emphasis on unconscious components of behavior while Adler believed that psychologically healthy people are usually aware of what they are doing and why they are doing it
Main Tenets of Adlerian 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 in molded by people’s creative power
Striving for Superiority
The drive for all motivation; everyone begins life with physical deficiencies and strong feelings of competitiveness that activate feelings of inferiority; these feelings motivate a person to strive for either superiority of success; means of compensation for feelings of inferiority or weakness
Adler’s description of the Psychologically healthy vs psychologically unhealthy
Psychologically unhealthy individuals strive for personal superiority (striving for superiority)
Psychologically healthy individuals seek success for all humanity (striving for success)
Final Goal
unifies personality and renders all behavior comprehensible; reduces the pain of inferiority feelings and points that person in the direction of either superiority or success
Creative Power
People’s ability to freely shape their behavior and create their own personality;
General Avenues for Striving
The socially nonproductive attempt to gain personal superiority
Social interest and aimed at success or perfection for everyone
Inferiority Complex
Exaggerated feelings of personal inferiority
Fictions
Adler’s description of expectations of the future or their subjective perceptions of reality
Organ Dialect
When a deficient organ expresses the direction of an individual’s goal
Adler’s Conscious and Unconscious
Conscious thoughts are those understood and regarded by the individual as helpful in striving for success; unconscious thoughts are those that are not helpful
Determinant of living a healthy or unhealthy style of life
Depends on the degree of social interest that people developed during childhood years
Social Interest
Social feeling or community feeling; A feeling of oneness with all humanity; implies a membership in the social community of all people
Role of the Mother according to Adler
Mother’s job is to develop a bond that encourages the child’s mature social interest and fosters a sense of cooperation. She should have a genuine and deep-rooted love for her child (centered on a child’s well-being; The mother must have healthy relationships with people so she can broaden her child’s social interest; the mother cannot favor the child over the father so the child will not become pampered
Role of the Father according to Adler
Father must demonstrate a caring attitude toward his wife and other people; cooperates on an equal footing with the child’s mother in caring for the child and treating the child as a human being; avoids dual errors of emotional attachment and paternal authoritarianism; Emotional detachment may influence a child to developed a warped sense of social interest, a feeling of neglect, and a parasitic attachment to the mother
Style of life
The flavor of a person’s life; includes a person’s goal, self-concept, feelings for others, and attitude toward the world; product of the interaction of heredity, environment, and a person’s creative power
Creative Power
Places them in ocntrol 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
Underdeveloped Social Interest
The one factor underlying all types of maladjustments
Neurotics
Set their goals too high
Live in their own private world
Have a rigid and dogmatic style of life
External Factors in Maladjustment
Exaggerated Physical Deficiencies
Pampered Style of Life
Neglected Style of Life
Safeguarding Tendencies
Patterns of behavior created by people to protect their exaggerated sense of self-esteem against public disgrace; largely conscious and shield a person’s fragile self-esteem from public disgrace
Common Safeguarding Techniques
Excuses, Aggression, Withdrawal
Excuses
Typically express in the “yes, but” or “if only” format; protect a weak - but artificially inflated - sense of self worth and deceive people into believe that they are more superior than they really are
Aggression
Used to safeguard their exaggerated superiority comples to protect their fragile self esteem; takes the form of depreciation, accusation, & self-accusation
Depreciation
Tendency to undervalue other people’s achievements and overvalue their own; evident in aggressive behaviors such as criticism and gossip
Accusation
Tendency to blame others for one’s failures and to seek revenge, thereby safeguarding one’s own tenuous self esteem
Self-Accusation
Marked by self-torture and guilt; includes self-torture, masochism, depression, and suicide to hurt people close to them; Converse of depreciation, depreciate oneself to inflict suffering on others while protecting their own magnified feeling of self-esteem
Withdrawal
Running away from difficulties; Setting a distance between themselves and those problems
Safeguarding Through Withdrawal
Moving Backward, Standing Still, Hesitating, and Constructing Obstacles
Moving Backward
Tendency to safeguard one’s fictional goal of superiority by psychologically reverting to a more secure period of life; designed to ellicit sympathy
Standing Still
Not moving in any direction, thus avoiding all responsiblity by ensureing themselves against any threat of failure
Hesitating
Procrastinations which give them the excuse that “it’s too late now”
Constructing Obstacles
Building a straw house to show that they can knock it down
Masculine Protest
Cultural and social practices influence many men and women to overemphasize the importance of being manly
Family Constellation
Birth Order, the gender of their siblings, and the age spread between them
Firstborn Children
Have intensified feelings of power and superiority, high anxiety, and overprotective tendencies; dethroned from being an only child when the younger sibling is born
Secondborn Children
Begin life in a better situation for developing cooperation and social interest; personalities shaped by older sibling’s attitude towards them; matures towards moderate competitiveness
Youngest Children
The most pampered and run a high risk of becoming problem children; strong feelings of inferiority; lack a sense of independence
Only Children
Competes with parents; develop exaggerated sense of superiority and in inflated self-concept; lack well-developed feelings of cooperation and social interest; possess a parasitic attitude; expect other people to pamper and protect them
Early Recollections
Recalled memories yield clues for understanding patients’ style of life; reconstruction of eents to make them consistent with a theme or pattern that runs throughout their lives; shaped by the present style of life
Dreams
Provide clues for solving future problems; most dreams are self-deceptions and not easily understood by the dreamer
Psychopathology According to Adler
Results from lack of courage, exaggerated feelings of inferiority, and underdeveloped social interest
Purpose of Adlerian Psychotherapy
To enhance courage, lessen feelings of inferiority, and encourage social interest
Adler’s Concept of Humanity
High on Free Choide and Determinism; Low on causality; moderate on unconscious influences; high on social factors and on the Uniqueness of individuals
Adler’s concept of individuals
People are self-determining social creatures, forward moving, and motivated by rpesent fictions to strive toward perfection for themselves and society
