Alfred Adler - Individual pscyhology Flashcards
(29 cards)
Six major tenants of Alder’s individual psychology
striving for success or superiority
People’s subjective perceptions
unified and self-consistent
social interest
self consistent personality develops in your style of life
style of life molded by creative power
Some Differences Between Adler and Freud
Freud’s views;
- Motivation stems from basic evolutionary drives related to sex and aggression
- People have little to no choice in shaping their personality
- Present behaviour is caused by past experiences (causality)
- Heavy emphasis on unconscious components of behaviour (that we don’t understand)
Adler’s views
- People are motivated largely by social influences and by striving for superiority and success
- People are largely responsible for who they are
- Present behaviour is shaped by people’s views of the future
- Psychologically healthy people are usually aware of what they are doing and why they are doing it
What was the most important motivating force in human behaviour
striving for success or superiority
can you explain the system for striving with the aspect of healthy and unhealthy
that we are all helpless and dependent on others in childhood and this activates feelings of inferiority
unhealthy people strive for personal superiority while healthy people strive for success for all of humanity
people move towards a personally constructed final goal of personal superiority or success for all humanity: The final goal is a fiction created by the individual that unifies their personality
The final goal begins being set by about 4 or 5, when children have sufficiently developed their creative power
subjective perception
Subjective perceptions of reality are described as fictions– Adler felt people behaved as if their fictions were true
Adler suggested that people are motivated not by what is true, but instead by their subjective perceptions of what is true
– unlike freuds causality – adler focused on teleology
…, physical deficiencies and perceived inferiorities are not the causes of personality, rather they influence our motivations and strivings toward future goals that we construct
Unity and Self consistency
this means that everyone is unique and all of our thoughts, actions and feelings leads us to our ultimate goal or purpose
- adler explains this under the organ dialect and the organ jargon
what is organ dialect
it is basically the way our body expresses this that are not expressed in words..
eg. someone who is suffering from disease, you can see it in their body stiffness or voice. it speaks louder than him merely saying how he feels
What does adler say about unconscious and conscious
he saw unconscious and conscious as 2 part of the same unified system
hence the concept of unity and consistency
he says that the unconscious is what we cannot fully express , or fully understood
A Style of Life
we developing when we overcome inferiority and strive towards a final goal
it is based off our goals, self concept, feeling of others, attitude towards the world
it is established at 4
differences in healthy and unhealthy people regarding style of life
unhealthy – life is ineflexible, they cannot choose new ways to react to things
healthy – they behave in a diverse and flexible way, they see potentiel in creating new options for themselves (open mindedness)
Social interest:
in german: gemeinshaftgefuhl
meaning: feeling of oneness with all humanity. community feeling
the fact that we feel inferiority unites people into a society (through protection for example)
Origins of social interest.
The potentiality for social interest is found in everyone.
Originates from the mother–child relationship and is fostered by experiences in the early social environment
Importance of social interest.
that social interest was the best measure of psychological health and maturity.
He described it as “the sole criterion of human values” and the “barometer of normality.”
Creative power - explain the concept
it is the aspect of having control of your own life, control of your final goal (touches on teleology )
Explain a neurotic person in adlers pov
someone who lacks social interest -
they set goals that are too high
they live a private world
THey are too rigid ( no flexibility)
safe guarding according to Adler
it is controlled by the conscious rather than the unconscious (like freud would say)
it is adler’s version of defense mechanism also linked to anxiety
it is also mainly found in neurotic people
Some people unconsciously escape life’s problems by setting up a distance between themselves and those problems.
Name the defense mechanisms or safe guarding methods of adler
Excuses
Withdrawal
Aggression
Excuses - adler
saying things like Yes but… or only if…
Aggression according to adler
consists of depreciation, accusation and self accusation
Withdrawal according to adler
Moving backwards
Standing still
Hesitating
and also Constructing obstacles (the least severe of the 4)
The Role of Birth Order
First born: At first they are the favored “only child,” but later they are “dethroned” and need to learn to share parental attention with siblings
Second born born into situations of rivalry and competition
These can be motivating, but repeated failures can be damaging to self-esteem
Last born: Usually more pampered as the “baby of the family”
Can lead to high levels of ambition, but too much comparison may be overly pressuring, leading to a “lazy” response and dependency on others
What are the application of individual personality
Family constellation
Early recollection
Dreams
Psychotherapy
Family constillation
it is birth order
Early recollection
it’s a common therapeutic technique used by Adler involved asking clients to describe their first memories
it is not to give insight to the unconscious
to adler, it provides clues to help understand someone’s style of life
theres no causal effect like freud would say
