This document is a summary of the textbook 'Personology' in which the main aspects are written in point form for the reader's brain to grasp the content faster and easier in order to recall the content during the exam. It mostly focuses on the content that is important on the exam which makes it mu...
1870-1937
Born in Vienna
Second child of six children
Psychiatric and physician
Jewish
Viennese culture
From Judaism to Christian
Developed own theory of individual psychology (addressing the uniqueness of the
individual’s behaviour formed by interaction with social environment.
How did Adler’s childhood influence his theory
Difficult childhood
Sickness and jealousy
Suffered various illnesses (pneumonia and rickets (weakens skeleton)
Rejected by mother after birth of his brother
Closer to father
Rejected Freud’s Oedipus complex
Feelings of inferiority and compensation are central concepts of Adler’s theory
What was the nature of the relationship between Adler and Freud?
Adler active member of Viennese Psychoanalytic
He and Freud met once for Psychoanalysis discussion
Never had intimate friendship, but worked closely together
Differences of opinions b/t Adler and Freud led to formation of new society by Adler (Society
for Individual Psychology)
Why did Adler call his approach ‘individual Psychology’?
To emphasise his belief
Move away from psychoanalysis name
To emphasise uniqueness of each person and holistic nature of human functioning
Is there only way to understand Adler’s theory and does his theory, strictly speaking, belong
to depth psychology?
Initial concept influenced by medical background and freud’s theory
Then formulated independent viewpoint
Adler’s view: more human-oriented
Did not agree with freud’s sexual drive
‘Striving for power’
‘Feelings of inferiority’
Person-orientated framework
Human is free to make own choices
Complete human being- quest for superiority or perfection
,THE VIEW OF THE PERSON UNDERLYING
Why can Adler’s view underlying his theory be described as holistic, teleological and person-
orientated?
Individual functions as a whole
Personality can never be studied by personal components
Does not draw distinctions b/t structural, dynamic, and developmental concepts (unlike
freud)
Uses few concepts to explain behaviour
From teleological vantage point in explaining behaviour
Striving for superiority
Teleological position- idea that behaviour is goal-directed (fictional finalism-individual’s goals
are fictions)
Person as ‘master of his own destiny’
Environment factors as being subordinate to individuals
THE STRUCTURE OF THE PERSONALITY
Does Adler make use of structural concepts to explain behaviour?
Does not use structural concepts
Personality as whole that functions to achieve self-determined goals
CONSTITUTIONAL ATTRIBUTES
Every individual is born with a set of genetically determined attributes
Are potential in which interaction with environment and self play role in human
development
SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT
Feeling of inferiority develops because of a child ‘s first social interaction
Infant comparing their dependency to the strength of parents in the social
environment
Not genetically determined
THE CREATIVE SELF
Humans have ability to be creative in forming their own life goals and in planning
how to achieve them
Creativeness as the capability of the whole person
THE LIFESTYLE
What is a ‘lifestyle’, according to Adler, and how many does he distinguish?
Compensating for feelings of inferiority and strive for superiority
Lifestyle- individual specific goals and their own methods to reach it
Four characteristics types of lifestyle:
, LIFESTYLE TYPES EXPLANATION
The active-constructive types Develops in family atmosphere-
cooperation, trust, respect, positive,
supportive. Tends to serve community
The passive-constructive types Adopt community oriented goals in a
passive manner(let others take
initiative) , likely to be friendly &
charming
The active-destructive type Selfish, work towards their goal
The passive-destructive Antisocial, lazy, passively aggressive
THE DYNAMICS OF THE PERSONALITY
What motivates a person, according to Adler?
Experience of inferiority and striving for perfection are both motivational to a person
Striving manifest in two ways: striving for power and social interest (activated by experience
of inferiority for compensation)
THE STRIVING FOR SUPERIORITY: THE STRIVING FOR POWER
Activated by feelings of inferiority
Feelings focused upon physical weakness
In case of Individual person: baby feels inferior to its parents because they are bigger
Weakness can be caused by genetic factors or environmental factors(like accidents, illness)
Constitutional weakness: can make bodily organs vulnerable to diseases
Psychological influence of organs weakness as most important
How do people cope with their weaknesses and feelings of inferiority?
By three typical responses: compensation, sensitivity and overcompensation
Compensation- attempt by an individual to make up for a weakness by developing the weak
organ to an extraordinary high degree.
Sensitivity- refers to people’s preoccupations with their weakness, to the extent that they
are easily hurt if any reference is made to them
Overcompensation- an overemphasis of strong points in an attempt to hide weaknesses
(similar to Freud’s reaction formular)
THE STRIVING FOR SUPERIORITY: SOCIAL INTEREST
Human are weak
Try to compensate their weakness with intellectual abilities-solid structure
Striving leads to the formation of groups- social interest
Social interest: includes an interest in other people and the ability to experience events form
the viewpoint of another
Inferiority complex: acute feeling of inferiority characterised by extreme shyness or
aggressiveness as compensation for these feelings
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