Alfred Adler: Individual Psychology Key Points and Concepts: Individual Psychology The psychological theory of Alfred Adler, which is based on the concept that people strive for a sense of superiority, completion, and belonging throughout life and are driven by a conscious desire to overcome their sense of inferiority by realising their full potential, achieving their life goals, and designing their own ways of living. Individual Psychology vs. Psychoanalysis Theory o In contrast to Adler, who believed that humans are primarily driven by social factors and their desire for achievement or superiority, Freud reduced all motivation to sex and aggression; o Adler felt that psychologically healthy people are typically conscious of what they are doing and why they are doing it, in contrast to Freud who placed a great deal of emphasis on the unconscious components of behaviour. Main Tenants of Adlerian Theory Striving for Success or Superiority o Individual psychology holds that everyone begins life with physical deficiencies that activate feelings of inferiority—feelings that motivate a person to strive for either superiority or success. Final Goal- The final goal of an individual lessens the suffering of emotions of inferiority and directs them in the direction of either achievement or superiority. Striving Force as Compensation- People are constantly pushed towards completeness and pushed towards overcoming feelings of inferiority. Striving for Personal Superiority- Exaggeratedly inferior people strive for supremacy with no consideration for others. Their primary driving force is self-interest, which they believe will enable them to compensate for their inferiority and appear superior to others. Striving for Success- Their perception of their value is influenced by how much they give back to their community or society. People who strive for success see it more in terms of their contributions than in terms of personal benefit. Subjective Perceptions o Fictions or expectations for the future are concepts that don't exist in reality, but they still drive individuals to succeed and influence their life. FICTIONALISM- People behave AS IF the fiction they have built is their reality. Adler places a strong emphasis on the teleological viewpoint, which holds that people are motivated by their current expectations for the future. PHYSICAL INFERIORITIES- Physical challenges that made you feel inferior won't reflect on how you will live your life, but if may serve as your motivation to achieve different objectives in the future. Unity and Self-Consistency of Personality o Every individual is unique. The entire person functions in unity and selfconsistent. o There is no inconsistent behaviour Organ dialects use a language that is more expressive and clear than words. When we fail to comprehend the conscious existence, it immediately returns to being unconscious; inversely, when we comprehend an unconscious tendency, it becomes conscious right away. Unconscious ideas are ones that are not useful, while conscious thoughts are those that are recognised and viewed by the individual as helpful in achieving success. Social Interest o A person with a strong Gemeinschaftsgefühl (“social feeling”) aspires to excellence for everyone in a perfect community, not just for themselves. o An attitude of relatedness to humanity as a whole and empathy for each individual human might be described as social interest. It comes from the bond between a mother and her infant throughout the first few months of life. Every person who has survived childhood has been nurtured by someone who has some level of social interest. When a child suffers paternal disconnection, they develop goals based on self-improvement rather than a concern for society. When the father is viewed as a dictator, the child learns to pursue power and personal superiority. People are psychologically mature to the extent that they have social interest. People that are immature lack Gemeinschaftsgefühl (sense of community), are self-centered, and seek to dominate and dominate others. Style of Life o It reflects the individual’s unique, unconscious and repetitive way of responding to (or avoiding) the main tasks of living: friendship, love, and work. o The style of life is reflected in the unity of an individual’s way of thinking, feeling, and acting. o Adler distinguish four primary types of style; the ruling type: aggressive, dominating people who don’t have much social interest or cultural perception; the getting type: dependent people who take rather than give; and the avoiding type: people who try to escape life’s problems and take part in not much socially constructive activity. while the fourth lifestyle by Adler is the socially useful type: people with a great deal of social interest and activity. Creative Power o Adler believed that we are all born with a creative force: the creative power of the individual. o Their creative power places them in control of their own lives, is responsible for their final goal, determines their method of striving for that goal, and contributes to the development of social interest. o Adler used an interesting analogy, which he called “the law of the low doorway.” If you are trying to walk through a doorway four feet high, you have two basic choices. First, you can use your creative power to bend down as you approach the doorway, thereby successfully solving the problem. This is the manner in which the psychologically healthy individual solves most of life’s problems. Abnormal Development o According to Adler, the one factor underlying all types of maladjustments is underdeveloped social interest. Besides lacking social interest, neurotics tend to set their goals too high, live in their own private world, and have a rigid and dogmatic style of life. These characteristics follow inevitably from a lack of social interest. o To make it short, people become failures in life because they are overconcerned with themselves and care little about others. Exaggerated Physical Deficiencies developed exaggerated feelings of inferiority because they overcompensation for their inadequacy results in narcissism and lack of consideration for others Pampered Style of Life has a weak social interest but maintains parasitic relationship with other people. Feelings of being unloved because their parents have done everything for them. They see the world with private vision and believe that they are entitled to be first in everything. Neglected Style of Life are children who feel unloved and unwanted are likely to borrow heavily from these feelings in creating a neglected style of life. They developed low self- confidence, overestimating difficulties, distrust, refusal to cooperate, strong sense of envy and hostility. Safeguarding Tendencies o Safeguarding tendencies are a survival mechanism that people use to protect their sense of self from public criticism, and therefore, maintain their idea of self. These safeguarding tendencies make a person create what Adler refers to as, a “neurotic” lifestyle. Excuses o One form of safeguarding according to Adler is “excuses”. This is whereby a person expresses their intention to do what would please others, and then explains why they cannot do it. o Excuses help the person to protect their self-esteem by shifting the blame of their shortcomings. o Lack of responsibility for one’s actions limits a person from flourishing in life as the excuses one makes offer him or her comfort in failure. Aggression o The second category of safeguarding tendencies is aggression. Adler divides aggression into depreciation, accusation, and self-accusation. o Depreciation aims at putting down others or exaggerating one’s achievements to feel superior. o Secondly, accusation shifts blame to others and is accompanied by revenge towards those that have wronged the person. The person inflicts suffering to those around that he or she blames for their misfortune. o Lastly, with self-accusation, the person uses feelings of guilt to make others suffer and consequently, protect their inflated sense of self. In these three components of aggression, one projects negativity to others in order to improve how they feel about themselves. Withdrawal o Withdrawal is the last form of safeguarding tendencies and it involves inability to face one’s problems and running away from them. o This form of safeguarding tendency leads to stalling of one’s character development such that, a person does not grow skills that allow him or her to face life’s obstacles and disappointments. o These obstacles and disappointments help in development of character, and so when one avoids dealing with them they cannot flourish in relationships with others. Facing obstacles and disappointments requires courage and faith that all will be well. Masculine Protest o Overemphasis on the importance of being manly. o Resulting from cultural and social influences. o Women want the same things that men have. Origins of the Masculine Protest Masculine protest is a concept developed by the psychologist Alfred Adler, the founder of Individual Psychology. It is the suggestion that women reject a feminine identity in order to be valued and compensated in the same manner as men. In men it is typically expressed as a superiority complex. Adler proposed the concept of the inferiority complex which is when individuals compensate for feelings that they are lesser or not as good as others by acting in ways that give them an appearance of superiority. According to this theory women are typically devalued in comparison to men in many areas of society such as the stigmatization of having a girl baby instead of a boy, women being compensated less for doing the same job as a man, and the pressure to look or act a certain way that is deemed culturally appropriate. A woman who is participating in masculine protest is essentially rejecting these socially constructed norms and refusing to participate in things that are considered 'feminine.' Adler, Freud, and the Masculine Protest o In contrast to Freud, Adler (1930, 1956) 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. o According to Adler, cultural and social practices—not anatomy—influence many men and women to overemphasize the importance of being manly, a condition he called the masculine protest. o In many societies, both men and women place an inferior value on being a woman. Boys are frequently taught early that being masculine means being courageous, strong, and dominant. o In the previous chapter, Freud believed that "anatomy is destiny" and that he regarded women as the 'dark continent' for psychology". o According to Adler, these attitudes toward women would be evidence of a person with a strong masculine protest. o In contrast to Freud's views on women, Adler assumed that women-because they have the same physiological and psychological needs as men-want more or less the same things that men want. Applications of Individual Psychology Family Constellation Despite the fact that people's perceptions of their birth circumstances are more significant than numerical rank, Adler did develop several broad assumptions about birth order. Early Recollections He stated that people's subjective accounts of these experiences provide clues to understanding both their ultimate objective and their current way of life, and that early memory are always in line with people's present-day lifestyles. Dreams The dream reveals the way of life, but it deceives the dreamer by giving him an inflated sense of power and success.
