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Summary Theories of Personality - Adler's Individual Psychology
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A comprehensive summary of Alfred Adler's Individual Psychology. Source: Theories of Personality by Feist&Feist, 10th Edition.
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physical deficiencies—not sex—formed theChapter 3: Adler: foundation for human motivation
- became the president of the Vienna
Individual Psychology Psychoanalytic Society
- strongly opposed Freud’s theory and insisted that
Subject: Theories of Personality the drive for superiority was a more basic motive
Source: Feist & Feist, 10th Edition than sexuality
- Freud and Adler’s differences were irreconcilable;
Adler resigned his presidency and membership in
the Psychoanalytic Society
❖ Overview of Individual Psychology
- formed the Society for Free Psychoanalytic
- It presents an optimistic view of people while
Study, which then changed into Society for
resting heavily on the notion of social interest, that
Individual Psychology, clearly abandoning
is, a feeling of oneness with all humankind.
psychoanalysis
- People are motivated mostly by social influences
- social interest and compassion could be the
and by their striving for superiority or success.
cornerstones of human motivation
- People are largely responsible for who they are.
- By 1932, he was a permanent resident of the
- Present behavior is shaped by people’s view of
United States and held the position of Visiting
the future.
Professor for Medical Psychology at Long Island
- Psychologically healthy people are usually aware
College of Medicine, now Downstate Medical
of what they are doing and why they are doing it.
School, State University of New York.
- Adler was impressed by Americans and admired
their optimism and open-mindedness.
❖ Biography of Alfred Adler - married a fiercely independent Russian woman,
- was born on February 7, 1870 in Rudolfsheim, Raissa Epstein, in December 1897
Austria - Adler’s favorite relaxation was music; active
- was weak and sickly; nearly died of pneumonia at interest in art and literature
age of 5 - His personal qualities: optimistic attitude toward
- there is an unhappy competition between his the human condition, intense competitiveness
brother, Sigmund Adler’s good health and his own coupled with friendly congeniality, and strong belief
illness in the basic gender equality
- Neither Freud nor Adler was devoutly religious; - In 1937, Adler felt chest pains while on a speaking
Adler was described as agnostic tour in the Netherlands. Ignoring the doctor’s advice
- His goal in life would be to conquer death which is to rest, he continued on to Aberdeen, Scotland,
aligned to his dream profession, physician. where on May 28, 1937, he died of a heart attack.
- Freud preferred intense one-to-one relationships
while Adler feel more comfortable in group
situations
❖ Introduction to Adlerian Theory
- become an eye specialist, but gave that up and
- People are born with weak, inferior bodies—a
turned to psychiatry and general medicine
condition that leads to feelings of inferiority and a
- a member of Wednesday Psychological Society,
consequent dependence on other people.
which changed into the Vienna Psychoanalytic
- Therefore, a feeling of unity with others (social
Society
interest) is inherent in people and the ultimate
- one of the original members of Freud’s inner
standard for psychological health.
circle, but they never shared a warm personal
relationship
- published a book, Study of Organ Inferiority and
Its Psychical Compensation, which assumed that
, Main Tenets of Adlerian Theory - Creative power, it is the people’s ability to freely
1. The one dynamic force behind people’s shape their behavior and create their own
behavior is the striving for success or personality
superiority. - A person’s final goal reduces the pain of inferiority
2. People’s subjective perceptions shape their feelings and points that person in the direction of
behavior and personality. either superiority or success
3. Personality is unified and self-consistent.
4. The value of all human activity must be *If children feel neglected or pampered, their goal
seen from the viewpoint of social interest. remains largely unconscious.
5. The self-consistent personality structure *If children experience love and security, they set
develops into a person’s style of life. a goal that is largely conscious and clearly
6. Style of life is molded by people’s creative understood.
power. *Psychologically secure children strive toward
superiority defined in terms of success and social
interest.
Striving for Success or Superiority
- Adler reduced all motivation to a single drive—the The Striving Force as Compensation
striving for success or superiority. - People strive for superiority or success as a
- Everyone begins life with physical deficiencies means of compensation for feelings of
that activate feelings of inferiority (which becomes inferiority or weakness.
the single drive). - Adler (1930) believed that all humans are
- Psychologically unhealthy individuals strive for “blessed” at birth with small, weak, and inferior
personal superiority. bodies .These physical deficiencies ignite feelings
- Psychologically healthy people seek success for of inferiority only because people possess an
all humanity. innate tendency toward completion or wholeness.
- The striving force itself is innate, but its nature and
Masculine protest - single motivational force; direction are due both to feelings of inferiority and
implied will to power or a domination of others to the goal of superiority.
(soon abandoned as universal drive); was used - Without the innate movement toward perfection,
after Adler rejected the term ‘aggression’ children would never feel inferior; but without
Striving for superiority - single dynamic force; to feelings of inferiority, they would never set a goal of
describe those people who strive for personal superiority or success.
superiority over others - The goal, then, is set as compensation for the
Striving for success - to describe actions of deficit feeling, but the deficit feeling would not exist
people who are motivated by highly developed unless a child first possessed a basic tendency
social interest toward completion.
- Striving for success/superiority begins to develop
Note: Regardless of the motivation for striving, at about the age of 4 or 5.
each individual is guided by a final goal. - The final goal is not necessarily a mirror image of
the deficiency, even though it is a compensation for
The Final Goal it.
- Success is an individualized concept and all
- People strive toward a final goal of either
people formulate their own definition of it.
personal superiority or the goal of success for all
- The forces of nature and nurture can never
humankind.
deprive a person of the power to set a unique goal
- The final goal is fictional and has no objective
or to choose a unique style of reaching for the goal.
existence; it unifies personality; the product of
creative power
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