Theories of Personality

Adler

Chapter 3© 2009 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

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Outline

• Overview of Individual Psychology

• Biography of Adler

• Striving for Success or Superiority

• Subjective Perceptions

• Unity and Self-Consistency of Personality

• Social Interest

• Style of Life Cont’d

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Outline

• Creative Power

• Abnormal Development

• Applications of Individual Psychology

• Related Research

• Critique of Adler

• Concept of Humanity

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Overview of Individual Psychology

• Optimistic and Emphasized Social Interest

• Differed from Freud in Four Ways– People motivated by social influences

• Striving for superiority or success

– People responsible for who they are– Behavior shaped by view of future– Consciousness important

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Biography of Adler• Born in a Viennese suburb in 1870• Second son of middle class Jewish

parents• Received his medical degree in 1895• Published Study of Organ Inferiority and

Its Psychical Compensation in 1907• Charter member of Freud’s organization• Rivalry with Freud led to his departure

from the group• Founded the Society for Individual

Psychology• Died in Scotland in 1937

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Introduction to Adlerian Theory

• Tenets of Individual Psychology– Striving for success is force behind behavior– Subjective perceptions shape behavior– Personality is unified and self-consistent– Value of all activity from social interest

perspective– Personality structure becomes one’s style of life– Style of life molded by creative power

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Striving for Success or Superiority

• Striving:Striving:– The Final Goal of BehaviorThe Final Goal of Behavior

– CompensationCompensation

– For Personal SuperiorityFor Personal Superiority

– For SuccessFor Success

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Subjective Perceptions

• Fictionalism– Final goal (which is a fiction):

• Guides our style of life

• Gives unity to our personality

• Renders our behavior purposeful

– Physical Inferiorities– All humans born physically inferior

• Need fictions of strength to overcome these deficiencies

– Serve as an impetus towards perfection

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Unity of Personality

• Organ Dialect– The deficient organ expresses the

direction of the individual’s goal• Conscious and Unconscious

– Unified personality is a function of harmony between conscious and unconscious processes aimed toward a single goal

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Social Interest• Social Interest: A Force that Binds

Society Together• Origins of Social Interest

– Potentiality is found in everyone

– Found in Mother-Infant relationship

– Fostered by social environment

• Importance of Social Interest– Measure of psychological health and

maturity

– “The sole criterion of human values” and the “barometer of normality”

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Style of Life

• “Style of life” is the term Adler used to refer to the flavor of a person’s life– Includes personal goal, self-concept,

empathy, and attitude toward world

– Product of heredity, environment, and creative power

– Mostly set by 4 or 5 years of age

– Healthy individuals express this through action and struggle to solve problems of neighborly love, sexual love, and occupation

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Creative Power

• Creative power is Adler’s term for an inner freedom that empowers each person to create his or her own style of life– Places one in control of his or her life– Responsible for one’s final goal– Determines one’s method of striving – Contributes to the development of one’s social

interest

• Importance is not endowment but how one uses this power

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Abnormal Development

• General Description• External Factors in Maladjustment

– Exaggerated Physical Deficiencies– Pampered Style of Life– Neglected Style of Life

• Safeguarding Tendencies– Excuses– Aggression– Withdrawal

• Masculine Protest

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Applications of Individual Psychology

• Family Constellation

• Early Recollections

• Dreams

• Psychotherapy

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Related Research

• Early Recollections and Career Choice– Kasler & Nevo (2005)

• Early Childhood and Health-Related Issues– Belangee (2009)

– Laird and Shelton (2009)

• Early Recollections and Counseling Outcomes– Savill & Eckstein (1987)

– Statton & Wilborn (1991)

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Critique of Adler

• Adler’s Theory Is

– High on Generating Research, Organizing Known Data, and Guiding Action

– Moderate on Parsimony

– Low on Verification, Falsification, and Internal Consistency

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Concept of Humanity

• Very High on Free Choice and Optimism

• High on Social Factors and Uniqueness

• Average on Unconscious Influences

• Very Low on Causality

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