Chapter 5 part 1 Flashcards
Who is Alfred Adler?
Alfred Adler
*Developed the approach of individual psychology
*Contributions to understanding of personality
*Notion of striving for superiority
*Role of parental influence on personality development
*Effects of birth order
What was important about Adlers life?
Middle child (loser)
Childhood
*Marked by illness, awareness of death, and intense jealousy of his older brother
*Had feelings of inferiority
*Compensated for weaknesses through persistence
What are the differences between Adler and Freud?
Adler:
*Mind is an integrated whole
*Emphasis on conscious mind
*Future goals are an important source of motivation
*Optimistic about human existence
*Dreams important to learn about lifestyles
*Humans free to determine their own personality
*Minimized importance of sex
*Goal of therapy to encourage a lifestyle that includes social interest
Freud:
*Mind viewed as consisting of warring factions
*Emphasized the unconscious mind
*Future goals unimportant
*Biological motives primary
*Pessimistic about human experience
*Dreams analyzed to detect the contents of the unconscious mind
*Personality determined by heredity and environmental factors
*Maximized importance of sex
*Goal of therapy to discovered repressed early thoughts
What is Striving for Superiority (according to Adler)?
Single motivating force that can subsume all other motives
*Individual’s begin life with feelings of inferiority
*All individual actions aim to establish a sense of superiority over life’s obstacles
*Excessive feelings of inferiority lead to inferiority complex
*Social interest combined with superiority striving indicates mental health of a person
What is Striving for Superiority in short?
*Urge toward perfection or completion that motivates each person
*Innate goal, which is future oriented
What is Fictional finalism?
*Goals guide behavior toward a complete state of being
(Imagined of potential fictional goals)
These fictions are determinants of lifestyle:
*Mean world
*Good world
(Drive us (determinants of our goals))
“Fictions” are beliefs, goals, and ideals held by the individual that give meaning to their actions and attribute significance to their life.
_____ is the personality structure?
Lifestyle
*The psychological processes that we need to reach a goal.
*Established very young.
*Childhood experiences
*People use different means to reach the same goal.
Note: Obsessive goal: Striving for a goal to feel superiority (mistake in life goal)
What is Social interest?
*People’s innate ability to socialize.
*Crucial to adjustment
- Thinking of others around you
What is the striving process?
Striving is based on a unique feeling of inferiority that develops early on in life
What is Maladjustment?
*Feeling too inferior.
*Social interest not sufficiently developed.
*Striving for goals that will make you feel better than everyone.
*At odds with being social
What is the basic model?
Inferiority (start state)
Have a goal take you up!
All the wat to self-idea (fiction) Superiority
What do Feelings of inferiority do to us?
*Feelings of inferiority are motivational
*Drive to accomplish
*Healthy
*Need to succeed
*Overwhelmed by feelings of inferiority
*Inferiority complex
*Neurosis
Explain the Inferiority complex?
Develops when a person is unable to compensate for normal inferiority feeling
Characteristics - Have poor self-opinions, feel helpless, and find it difficult to cope with life demands
Explain the Superiority complex?
Develops when a person overcompensates for normal inferiority feelings
Characteristics - Boastful, self-centered, and tend to denigrate others
How do parents influence Personality Development?
Parental behaviors that lead to problems in children’s life
*Pampering
*Robs the child of independence and adds to feelings of inferiority
*Neglect - Children who receive little attention from their parents:
*Grow up cold and suspicious
*Are incapable of warm personal relationship
What are three causes of inferiority complexes?
- Organic inferiority (base- everyone has)
- Pampering
- Neglect
What is a Style of Life?
*Unique character structure or pattern of behaviors
*Expression of striving is different and unique for every person
- Influenced by social interactions
What are the mistaken lifestyles?
1. Ruling dominant type
Feel superior when dominant others (attacking)
What are the mistaken lifestyles?
2. Getting-leaning type
Expects to get things from others (dependent)
What are the mistaken lifestyles?
3. Avoiding Type
Avoid all situations where you feel not perfect (ignores problems)
What are the mistaken lifestyles?
4. Socially Useful Type
NOT A MISTAKEN LIFESTYLE
IDEA LIFESTYLE
Cooperative
Where do faulty lifestyles come from? (3)
- Physical Inferiority
*Compensation
*Overcompensation
*Inferiority complex
*Superiority complex - Spoiling and Pampering
*Up to others to satisfy every need - Neglect
*Child feels worthless and angry
*Looks at others with distrust
What are Safeguarding Strategies?
*Safeguarding strategies
*Similar to Freud’s defense mechanisms
Name some of the safeguarding strategies?
Excuses
*Aggression (3 forms)
*Depreciation
*Idealization
*Unrealistic high standards to judge people
*Solicitude
*Treating others as if they are incapable of caring for themselves
*Accusation
*Blaming others for shortcomings
*Self-accusation
*Distancing
*Moving backwards
*Creating obstacles
*No lose situations
*It was to hard anyways
*I was sick
(Birth order) Traits of first born
*Subjected to excessive attention from parents
*Arrival of second child ends the pampering
*Strong perception of inferiority
*Among firstborn we often find problem children, neurotics, criminals, drunkards, and perve
(Birth order) Traits of middle children
*Develop a strong superiority striving
*Highest achievers
*Try hard to catch up with their older siblings
(Birth order) Traits of last-born children
*Pampered throughout their childhood
*Vulnerable to strong inferiority feeling
