INDIVIDUAL Prepared by:

PSYCHOLOGY Ron Gabriel A. Peji

ALFRED
ADLER
• Born on February 7, 1870
in Rudolfsheim, a village
near Vienna
• Parents: Pauline and
Leopold Adler
• He had been weak and
sickly at the age of 5.
ALFRED
ADLER
• He had an older brother
named Sigmund who was
healthier than him.
• When he was four, he had a
younger brother named
Rudolf who died while
sleeping next to him.
ALFRED
ADLER
• He was an eye specialist
before he turned to
psychiatry.
• A member of the
Wednesday Psychological
Society formed by Freud.
ALFRED
ADLER
• He served as the
president of the Vienna
Psychoanalytic Society
(formerly WPS), then
resigned later.
ALFRED
ADLER
• He formed the Society
for Free
Psychoanalytic Study.
• He married Raissa
Epstein.
ALFRED
ADLER
• He died on May 28,
1937 in Aberdeen,
Scotland.
INDIVIDUAL
PSYCHOLOGY
• Focuses on the uniqueness and
individuality of every person.
• Adler emphasized that our personality is
a product of our social environments and
interactions and of our conscious, rather
than unconscious, strivings.
QUESTION!
Adler believed that a person can already
shape his final goal as early as:

a. 4 or 5 years of age
b. 4 or 5 months of age
c. 7 or 8 years of age
d. 8 or 9 years of age
QUESTION!
Adler believed that a person can already
shape his final goal as early as:

a. 4 or 5 years of age
b. 4 or 5 months of age
c. 7 or 8 years of age
d. 8 or 9 years of age
INDIVIDUAL
PSYCHOLOGY
• Holds that we all have fictional
finalisms—fictional goals set as early as
4 or 5 years of age, along with the
development of our creative power.
• Discusses about physical deficiencies
and feelings of inferiority.
INDIVIDUAL
PSYCHOLOGY
• If inferiority feelings are not resolved,
they may intensify and become
inferiority complex.
• However, if such feelings of inferiority
are overcompensated, a child may develop
superiority complex.
CONCEPT OF
HUMANITY
The Theory of Individual Psychology
is very high on free choice and
optimism, very low on causality,
moderate on unconscious influences,
and high on social factors and on the
uniqueness of individuals.
QUESTION!
Which among the following is true?
a. The manner in which people strive is basically shaped
by the realities of life.
b. Striving for success or superiority begins as a
potentiality, not actuality.
c. People’s final goals are always the mirror image of
their deficiencies.
d. Physical deficiencies are the greatest curse in the entire
human race.
QUESTION!
Which among the following is true?
a. The manner in which people strive is basically shaped
by the realities of life.
b. Striving for success or superiority begins as a
potentiality, not actuality.
c. People’s final goals are always the mirror image of
their deficiencies.
d. Physical deficiencies are the greatest curse in the entire
human race.
BASIC
ASSUMPTIONS
1. The only dynamic force that drives people
to action is the striving for success or
superiority.
2. Our personality and behavior are shaped by
our subjective perceptions of reality and
by our fictions or expectations of the future.
BASIC
ASSUMPTIONS
3. Our personality is unified and self-
consistent, thus, “What you want to
be is what you become.”
4. The morality of people’s actions can
only be determined in light of social
interest.
BASIC
ASSUMPTIONS
5. The consistent elements of our
personality define our style of life.
6. Our styles of life are molded by our
creative power. Hence, “You are
what you are because that is what
you wanted to become.”
KEY CONCEPTS
• Upon birth, people have a combination
of an innate striving force and physical
deficiencies, forming the feelings of
inferiority.
• Because of such inferiority feelings,
people set a goal to overcome them.
QUESTION!
If children feel overly pampered or
neglected, their goals in life will most
likely be:

a. conscious c. immature
b. unconscious d. self-defeating
QUESTION!
If children feel overly pampered or
neglected, their goals in life will most
likely be:

a. conscious c. immature
b. unconscious d. self-defeating
KEY CONCEPTS
• People who exaggerate their physical
deficiencies and are pampered or
neglected when they were children are
more likely to overcompensate for their
feelings of inferiority, developing
superiority complex.
KEY CONCEPTS
• Such people are also more likely to
exaggerate their inferiority feelings,
set goals that are too high and
unrealistic, and have a stronger
striving for superiority and personal
gain.
KEY CONCEPTS
• People with normal feelings of
inferiority compensate by
cooperating with others in the
society and developing a high
level of social interest.
QUESTION!
Adler suggested that the root of all types
of maladjustments is the:
a. underdeveloped social interest
b. birth order
c. final goal set too high
d. fiction which is too good to be true
QUESTION!
Adler suggested that the root of all types
of maladjustments is the:
a. underdeveloped social interest
b. birth order
c. final goal set too high
d. fiction which is too good to be true
KEY CONCEPTS
• All human activities
should be judged only
through social interest, the
feeling of oneness with
humanity.
QUESTION!
Which is not true regarding social interest?
a. Charity and unselfishness define social interest.
b. It is a task for both mother and father to develop
social interest among their children.
c. It is an attitude of relatedness with humanity.
d. People’s natural inferiority is a factor that forms
social interest.
QUESTION!
Which is not true regarding social interest?
a. Charity and unselfishness define social interest.
b. It is a task for both mother and father to develop
social interest among their children.
c. It is an attitude of relatedness with humanity.
d. People’s natural inferiority is a factor that forms
social interest.
KEY CONCEPTS
• The three major problems of life
are the sexual love, neighborly
love, and work. These problems
can only be resolved through
social interest.
KEY CONCEPTS
• Everything that we do is consistent
with what we want to achieve in the
future.
• There is no such thing as ‘absolute
reality.’ Our realities are based on our
subjective perceptions of situations.
KEY CONCEPTS
•Although the concepts of nature
and nurture play a great part in the
foundations of our personality, we all
have creative power—the facility to
freely shape or own styles of life.
KEY CONCEPTS
• We all use various safeguarding
tendencies either consciously or
unconsciously to protect our
inflated feelings of superiority
from public disgrace.
QUESTION!
Withdrawal is a safeguarding tendency proposed by
Adler. It has a subtype called ‘constructing
obstacles’ which involves building easy obstacles
that can be easily surpassed or overcome. If a
person who used constructing obstacles failed to
hurdle the obstacle made, he/she will most likely
engage to:
a. accusation c. excuses
b. depreciation d. standing still
QUESTION!
Withdrawal is a safeguarding tendency proposed by
Adler. It has a subtype called ‘constructing
obstacles’ which involves building easy obstacles
that can be easily surpassed or overcome. If a
person who used constructing obstacles failed to
hurdle the obstacle made, he/she will most likely
engage to:
a. accusation c. excuses
b. depreciation d. standing still
KEY CONCEPTS
• Such safeguarding tendencies include
excuses, aggression (depreciation,
accusation, self-accusation), and
withdrawal (moving backward,
standing still, hesitating, constructing
obstacles).
KEY CONCEPTS
• Masculine protest– the belief
that men are superior to women—
can cause many neuroses.
• People’s birth order reflect
some elements of their
personality.
KEY CONCEPTS
KEY CONCEPTS
RESEARCH 1
• Title: Inferiority Complex
and Self-Esteem among
Madrasah Students in
Bangladesh: A Real Crisis
RESEARCH 1
• Authors: Sultana, A. and Kabir,
S. (2018)
•Participants: 773 students from
various Madrasahs in
Bangladesh
RESEARCH 1
• Instruments Used: Bangla
adaptation of Rosenberg’s Self-
Esteem Scale and Pati’s
Inferiority Questionnaire
RESEARCH 1
• Results:
1. Males have lower self-esteem than
females;
2. Those with lower socioeconomic status
have lower self-esteem than those having
higher status;
RESEARCH 1
3. The place of residence has no significant
effect on self-esteem;
4. People who have different
socioeconomic status also have
significantly different levels of inferiority
complex;
RESEARCH 1
5. Gender and residence have no
significant effects on the inferiority
complex;
6. Self-esteem are negatively correlated
with inferiority complex.
RESEARCH 2
• Title: Social Interest and
Motivation
• Author: Stoykova, Z. (2013)
RESEARCH 2
• Participants: 167 students majoring in
Preschool and elementary school
pedagogy, social pedagogy, and special
pedagogy. 132 of them were pursuing
Bachelor’s degree, while the remaining
35 were pursuing Master’s degree.
RESEARCH 2
• Instruments Used: Social Interest
Scale by J. Crandall and a Bulgarian
approbation of the test entitled
Motivation for Achievement by I.
Paspalanov and D. Shtetinski
RESEARCH 2
• Results:
1. The level of social interest formed during the
early formative years up to adolescence
affects an individual’s professional
orientation. People who have above-average
or high level of social interest are more likely
to pursue helping professions.
RESEARCH 2
2. Social interest is negatively correlated with
motivation for personal achievement. However, it
was also found out that the strength of such
correlation depends on multiple personal,
interpersonal, and social factors, confirming that
the social interest formed with and by the family is
more consistent, while its development with other
people is relatively insignificant.
THANK YOU!