INDIVIDUAL
PSYCHOLOGY
Alfred adler
(1870-1937)
ALFRED ADLER
1870-1937
Adler stressed a positive view of
human nature. He believed that
individuals can control their
fate. They can do this in part by
trying to help others (social
interest). How they do this can
be understood through
analyzing their lifestyle. Early
interactions with family
members, peers, and teachers
help to determine the role of
inferiority and superiority in
their lives.
Freud vs adler
Reduced all motivation People are motivated by
to sex and aggression social influences and
their striving for
superiority and success
People have little or no
choice in shaping their People are responsible
personality for who they are
Present behavior is Present behavior is
shaped by past shaped by people’s view
experiences of the future
Psychologically healthy
Put high emphasis on people are aware of
unconscious what they are doing and
why they are doing it
biography
Born: February 7, 1870 (Rudolfsheim, Vienna)
Father: Leopold (merchant)
Mother: Pauline (housewife)
Has 6 siblings
Nearly died at the age of 5.
Has a brother named Sigmund
Father’s favorite.
biography
At the age of 4, he decided to become
physician. (Rudolf)
Pampered by his mother because of his
sickness, but was dethroned at the age of 2 by
the arrival of another baby
Has vitamin D deficiency.
Poor in academic
Served military then began his private
practice as eye specialist.
Psychiatry and general medicine.
biography
Member of Wednesday (Vienna) Psychological
Society.
Society for Free Psychoanalytic Study (Society
for Individual Psychology).
He taught Individual Psychology at Columbia
University.
biography
He married Raissa Epstein (Russian)
Adler stayed in US while Raissa in Vienna.
Had 4 children: Alexandra & Kurt
(psychiatrists), Valentine (political prisoner)
and Cornelia (aspired to be an actress).
biography
He died on May 28, 1937 because of heart
attack.
The Six 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.
The style of life is molded by people’s creative
power
STRIVING FOR
SUCCESS/SUPERIORITY
Drive: striving for success/superiority
Everyone begins life with physical deficiencies
that activate feelings of inferiority
Inferiority feeling- the normal condition of all
people. It is the source of people human
striving.
Inferiority complex- a condition that develops
when a person is unable to compensate for
normal inferiority feelings.
STRIVING FOR
SUCCESS/SUPERIORITY
Personal superiority- goal is towards to
personal gain (psychologically unhealthy)
Striving for sucess-the urge towards perfection
or completion that motivates each of us.
Superiority complex- a condition that develops
when a person overcompensates for normal
inferiority feelings.
Striving for success and
superiority
Striving for superiority –people who
strive for personal superiority over
others
Striving for success – actions of
people motivated by highly
developed social interest
Both are guided by final goal
The Final Goal
Each person has the power to create a
personalized fictional goal
Provided by heredity and environment
Product of creative power – ability to freely shape their
behavior and create their own personality
The final goal reduces the pain of inferiority , feelings
and points that person in the direction of either
superiority or success
The Striving Force as
Compensation
People strive for superiority
or success as a means of
compensation for feelings of
inferiority or weakness
The striving force is innate
but its nature and direction
are due to feelings of
inferiority and to the goal of
superiority
The Striving Force as
Compensation
Without the innate movement
toward perfection , children would
never feel inferior, but without
feelings of inferiority they would
never set goal of superiority or
success
Striving for Personal
Superiority
People strive for superiority with
little or no concern for others
Goals are personal ones and
strivings are motivated by
exaggerated feelings of personal
inferiority or presence of
inferiority complex.
Striving for success
Healthy individuals concerned with goals
beyond themselves – capable of helping
others without demanding or expecting a
personal payoff – able to see others not as
opponents but as people with whom they can
cooperate for social benefit
Their own success is not gained at the
expense of others but is a natural tendency
to move toward completion or perfection
Striving for success
They maintain a sense of self –
seldom see problems from point of
view of society’s development than
from a strictly personal vantage
point
Social progress is more important to
them than personal credit
PeoPle’s subjective
perception shape their
behavior and personality
Fictional finalism- the idea that there is an
imagined or potential goal that guides our
behavior.
Fictionalism
Our most important fiction is the goal of superiority
or success – a goal we created early in life and may
not clearly understand
This guides our style of life, gives unity to our
personality
Fictions are ideas that have no real existence yet
they influence people as if they really existed
Ex: Men are superior than women
Humans have freewill that enable them to make
choices
God rewards good and punishes evil
Fictionalism
Adler’s teleological view of motivation
Teleology – explanation of behavior in
terms of its final purpose or aim.
Concern with future goals or ends
Causality – considers behavior as springing
from a specific cause. Concern with past
experiences that produce some present
effect
Freud ‘s view of motivation is causal
while Adler is teleological
Physical Inferiorities
People begin life small, weak and
inferior, they develop a fiction or
belief system about how to
overcome these physical
deficiencies and become big,
strong and superior
But even if they attain size,
strength and superiority, they may
act as if they are still small, weak
and inferior
Physical Inferiorities
He believed that the whole human race is
blessed with organ inferiorities. These
physical handicaps have little or no
importance but become meaningful when
they stimulate subjective feelings of
inferiority which serve as impetus toward
perfection or completion.
Physical Inferiorities
Some people compensate for these feelings of
inferiority by moving toward psychological health
and useful style of life
Ex: Beethoven overcame his handicap and made
significant contribution to society
Adler was weak as a child, and his illness
moved him to overcome death by becoming a
physician and competing with his older brother
and with Freud
Personality is unified
and self-consistent
Fundamental unity of personality and the
notion that inconsistent behavior does not
exist.
Organ dialect- the disturbance of one part of
the body cannot be viewed in isolation, it
affects the entire person.
-The body 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
Ex: a man suffering from
rheumatoid arthritis in his hands.
His stiff and deformed joints voice
his whole style of life. Without any
words, his hands speak of his desire
for sympathy from others.
Ex: A very obedient boy who wet
the bed at night send a message
that he does not wish to obey
parental wishes
Personality is unified
and self-consistent
Harmony between unconscious and
unconscious.
Conscious-regarded as helpful in striving for
success.
Unconscious- thoughts that are not helpful.
Conscious and unconscious
Adler believed that conscious and
unconscious are two cooperating
parts of the same unified system
Whether people’s behavior lead to a
healthy or an unhealthy style of life
depends on the degree of social
interest that they developed during
their childhood years.
Social interest
Gemeinschaftsgefuhl (German term)
“Community feeling” or social feeling.
Feeling of oneness with all humanity.
Attitude of relatedness with humanity in
general as an empathy for each member of
the human community.
Origins of Social Interest
Rooted as potentiality in everyone, originated
from the mother-child relationship during
early months of infancy.
Every person has had the seeds of social
interest sown during those early months.
Marriage and parenthood is a task for two:
Mother’s job is to develop a bond that
encourages the child’s mature social interest and
fosters a sense of cooperation.
The healthy love relationship develops from a
true caring for her child, her husband and other
people
Paternal detachment
creates a goal of personal
superiority
Paternal authoritarianism
may lead to an unhealthy
style of life
A child who sees the father
as a tyrant learns to strive
for power and personal
superiority
Social interest
Innate potential to cooperate with other
people to achieve personal and societal goals.
Mother’s role is very important in developing
social interest.
Importance of Social Interest
Social interest is the only gauge to be used in
judging the worth of a person
People who posses social interest are
psychologically mature
Immature people lack social interest are self-
centered and strive for personal power over others
Healthy individuals are genuinely concerned with
about people and have a goal of success that
encompasses the well being of all people
Social interest is not synonymous with charity and
unselfishness
Style of life
A unique character structure or pattern of
personal behaviors and characteristics by
which each of us strives for perfection.
Everything we do is shaped and defined by
our style of life.
Product of interaction of heredity,
environment and person’s creative power.
Starts at the age of 4 or 5.
Style of life
FOUR BASIC STYLES OF LIFE FOR DEALING
WITH PROBLEMS
Dominant type
Getting type
Avoiding type
Socially useful type
Style of life
FOUR BASIC STYLES OF LIFE FOR DEALING
WITH PROBLEMS
Dominant type
- ruling attitude with little social awareness.
- person behaves without regard for others.
Getting type
- expects to receive satisfaction from other
people and so becomes dependent on them.
Style of life
FOUR BASIC STYLES OF LIFE FOR DEALING
WITH PROBLEMS
Avoiding type
- makes no attempt to face life problems.
- they avoid difficulties and avoids any
possibility of failure.
Style of life
FOUR BASIC STYLES OF LIFE FOR DEALING
WITH PROBLEMS
These three types are not prepared to cope
with the problems of everyday life. They are
unable to cooperate with other people and the
clash between their style of life and the real
world results in abnormal behavior, which is
manifested in neuroses and psychoses. They
lack what Adler came to call social interest.
Style of life
FOUR BASIC STYLES OF LIFE FOR DEALING
WITH PROBLEMS
Socially useful type
- cooperates with others and acts in
accordance with their needs.
- Such persons cope with problems within a
well-developed framework of social interest.
Creative power
The ability to create an appropriate style of
life.
It makes each person a free individual.
A dynamic concept of implying movement which is
the most salient characteristic of life
Psychic life involves movement toward a goal
People are creative beings much more than a
product of heredity and environment who do not
only react to their environment but also act on it
and cause it to react to them
Adler used the analogy “ the law of the doorway”
The Six 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.
The style of life is molded by people’s creative
power
Abnormal development
Underdeveloped social interest is the factor
underlying all types of maladjustments.
Neurotics tend to:
Set their goals too high.
Live in their own private world.
Have a rigid and dogmatic style of life.
Abnormal development
EXTERNAL FACTORS IN MALADJUSTMENT
Pampered style of life
- has a weak social interest.
- overprotected and has parasitic relationship
with one or both parents.
Exaggerated physical deficiencies
- Has exaggerated feeling of inferiority.
Abnormal development
EXTERNAL FACTORS IN MALADJUSTMENT
Neglected style of life
- children who feel unloved and unwanted
- will developed little social interest.
- abused and mistreated children.
Safeguarding Tendencies
Patterns of behavior that protect a
person’s exaggerated sense of self-
esteem against public damage
Enables people to hide their
inflated self-image and to maintain
their current life style
Similar to Freud’s defense
mechanism
Abnormal development
SAFEGUARDING TENDENCIES
Excuses
- expressed in “yes, but..” or “if only”.
- these excuses protect a weak sense of self-
worth.
“Yes, I would like to go to college,but my children demand too
much of my attention.”
“If only I did not have this physical deficiency, I could compete
successfully for a job.”
Abnormal development
SAFEGUARDING TENDENCIES
Aggression
- use to safeguard their exaggerated
superiority complex.
*depreciation- undervalue other people’s
achievements and to overvalue one’s own.
-belittle another person.
“The only reason Kenneth got the job I applied for is because
he is an African American.”
Abnormal development
SAFEGUARDING TENDENCIES
Aggression
- use to safeguard their exaggerated
superiority complex.
*accusation- tendency to blame others for one’s
failure and seek revenge.
“I wanted to be an artist, but my parents forced me to go to
medical school. Now I have a job that makes me miserable”
Abnormal development
SAFEGUARDING TENDENCIES
Aggression
- use to safeguard their exaggerated
superiority complex.
*self-accusation-mark by self-torture and guilt.
“I feel distressed because I wasn’t nicer to my grandmother while
she was still living. Now, it’s too late.”
Abnormal development
SAFEGUARDING TENDENCIES
Withdrawal
- it occurs when people run away from
difficulties.
- setting up a distance between themselves
and their problem.
*moving backward, standing still, hesitating and
constructing obstacles.
Abnormal development
SAFEGUARDING TENDENCIES
Withdrawal
*moving backward- psychologically reverting to
a more secure period of life.
*standing still- people do not move in any
direction thus they avoid responsibilities by
ensuring themselves against any threat of
failure.
Abnormal development
SAFEGUARDING TENDENCIES
Withdrawal
*hesitating- people hesitate or vacillate when
faced with difficult problems. Their
procrastinations give them the excuse “It’s too
late now”. Compulsive behaviors are attempts
to waste time.
Abnormal development
SAFEGUARDING TENDENCIES
Withdrawal
*constructing obstacles- least severe.
-they protect their self-esteem and their
prestige by overcoming obstacles.
Freudian’s defense mechanism
operate unconsciously to protect
the ego against anxiety
Adlerian’s safeguarding tendencies
are largely conscious and shield a
person’s fragile self-esteem from
public defiance
Masculine protest
MASCULINE PROTEST
Adler believed that the psychic life of women
is essentially the same as that of men and that
a male-dominated society is not natural but
rather an artificial product of historical
development.
Masculine protest
MASCULINE PROTEST
Cultural and social practices not anatomy
influence men and women to overemphasize
the importance of being manly
Boys – being masculine means being
courageous, strong and dominant. Epitome
of success for boys is to win, to be powerful,
to be on top.
Girls – to be passive, and to accept an
inferior position in society
Applications of individual
psychology
AREAS OF PRACTICAL APPLICATION:
- FAMILY CONSTELLATIONS
- EARLY COLLECTIONS
- DREAMS
- PSYCHOTHERAPY
Applications of individual
psychology
FAMILY CONSTELLATIONS’
Refers to birth order, gender of siblings and age
spread between them
The number and birth order, as well as the
personality characteristics of members of a
family is important in determining lifestyle.
The family and reciprocal relationships with
siblings and parents determine how a person
finds a place in the family and what he learns
about finding a place in the world.
Birth Order
Positive Traits Negative Traits
Oldest Child
Nurturing and protective of others Highly anxious
Good organizer Exaggerated feeling of power
Responsible Unconscious hostility
Achiever Fights for acceptance
Must always be “right” whereas
others are always “wrong”
Uncooperative
Second Child/Middle Child
Highly motivated Highly competitive
Mediator Easily discouraged
Birth Order
Positive Traits Negative Traits
Youngest Child
Realistically ambitious Pampered style of life
Dependent on others
Wants to excel in everything
Only Child
Independent Exaggerated feelings of
superiority
Low feelings of cooperation
Inflated sense of self
Pampered style of life
Early Recollections
Refers to recalled memories that yield
clues for understanding both patient’s
final goal and their present style of life.
DREAMS
Dreams cannot foretell the future but they can
provide clues for solving future problems
Any interpretation of any dream must be
tentative and open to reinterpretation
Everything can be different
If one interpretation doesn’t feel right, try
another
Dreams are self-deceptions and not easily
understood by the dreamer
Dreams are disguised to deceive the dreamer,
making self interpretation difficult
