THOP3 Flashcards
He was weak and sickly as a child which
motivated him to be a physician
insisted that the whole human
race is “blessed” with organ
inferiorities. These physical handicaps have little or
no importance by themselves
but become meaningful when they stimulate
subjective feelings of inferiority,which serve as an
impetus toward perfection or completion.
Alfred Adler
Individual psychology holds that
everyone begins life with ____that activate feelings of
inferiority—feelings that motivate a
person to strive for either superiority
or success.
We are born
physical
deficiencies
Psychologically unhealthy individuals
strive for _____,
whereas psychologically healthy
people seek _____for all humanity.
personal superiority
Success
- people’s ability to freely shape their behavior
and create their own personality.
is empowered
with the freedom to create her or
his own style of life. Ultimately, all people are
responsible for who they are and
how they behave.
CREATIVE POWER
Some people strive for _____ with little or no
concern for others. Their goals are personal ones, and
their strivings are motivated largely by exaggerated
feelings of personal inferiority, or the presence of an
inferiority complex.
STRIVING FOR
PERSONAL
SUPERIORITY
In contrast to people who strive for personal gain are
those psychologically healthy people who are motivated
by social interest and the ____ of all humankind.
STRIVING FOR
SUCCESS
- it shapes the people’s behavior and
personality. - People strive for superiority or success to compensate for feelings of
inferiority, but the manner in which they strive is not shaped by reality
but by their____of reality, that is, by their fictions,
or expectations of the future.
SUBJECTIVE
PERCEPTION
Thoughts, feelings, and actions are
all directed toward a single goal and
serve a single purpose.
UNITY AND SELFCONSISTENCY
OF
PERSONALITY
Through ____ the body’s
organs “speak a language which is
usually more expressive and
discloses the individual’s opinion
more clearly than words are able to
do”
organ dialect,
____ thoughts are those that are understood and regarded by the individual as
helpful in striving for success, whereas ____thoughts are those that are not
helpful.
CONSCIOUS AND UNCONSCIOUS
can be defined as an attitude of
relatedness with humanity in general as well as
an empathy for each member of the human
community.
It originates from the mother-child relationship
during the early months of infancy.
used by Adler in measuring
psychological health and is thus
“the sole criterion of human values”
Social interest
is the 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.
Psychologically unhealthy individuals often lead rather inflexible lives that are marked by an inability to choose new ways of reacting to their environment.
In contrast, 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
Style of life
According to Adler, the
one factor underlying all types of
maladjustments
is ___
underdeveloped social
interest.
EXTERNAL
FACTORS IN
MALADJUSTMENT
People with these sometimes develop
exaggerated feelings of inferiority
because they overcompensate for their
inadequacy.
Exaggerated Physical
Deficiencies
EXTERNAL
FACTORS IN
MALADJUSTMENT
It lies at the heart of
most neuroses. This kind of people have
weak social interest but a strong desire to
perpetuate the pampered, parasitic
relationship they originally had with one or
both of their parents
Pampered Style of Life
EXTERNAL
FACTORS IN
MALADJUSTMENT
Abused and mistreated children
develop little social interest and tend
to create this. They
have little confidence in themselves
and tend to overestimate difficulties
connected with life’s major problems.
They are distrustful of other people
and are unable to cooperate for the
common welfare. They see society as
enemy country, feel alienated from all
other people, and experience a strong
sense of envy toward the success of
others.
Neglected Style of Life
Adler believed that people create patterns of behavior to protect their
exaggerated sense of self-esteem against public disgrace.
Freudian defense mechanisms operate unconsciously to protect the ego
against anxiety, whereas _____ are
largely conscious and shield a person’s fragile self-esteem from public
disgrace.
SAFEGUARDING
TENDENCIES
SAFEGUARDING
TENDENCIES
The most common of the safeguarding
tendencies are ___ which are
typically expressed in the “Yes, but” or
“If only” format.
These ___ protect a weak—but
artificially inflated—sense of selfworth
and deceive people into
believing that they are more superior
than they really are
help the person to protect their self-esteem by shifting the blame of their shortcomings.
Excuses
SAFEGUARDING
TENDENCIES
Adler held that some people use
aggression to safeguard their
exaggerated superiority complex, that
is, to protect their fragile self-esteem.
Aggression
SAFEGUARDING
TENDENCIES
is the tendency to
undervalue other people’s
achievements and to overvalue
one’s own.
Depreciation
SAFEGUARDING
TENDENCIES
the second form of an
aggressive safeguarding device, is
the tendency to blame others for
one’s failures and to seek revenge,
thereby safeguarding one’s own
tenuous self-esteem.
Accusation,
SAFEGUARDING
TENDENCIES
- marked by
selftorture and guilt.
Self-accusation
SAFEGUARDING
TENDENCIES
Personality development can be halted when
people run away from difficulties. Adler
referred to this tendency as _____ or
safeguarding through distance.
Withdrawal
SAFEGUARDING
TENDENCIES
is the tendency to
safeguard one’s fictional goal of
superiority by psychologically reverting
to a more secure period of life.
Moving backward
