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ALFRED ADLER:Biographical Sketch, Individual Psychology, Feeling of Inferiority

<< THE PSYCHOLOGICAL TYPES:Childhood, Young Adulthood, Middle Ages
INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY:Fictional Finalism, Social Interest, Mistaken Styles of Life >>
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Personality Psychology ­ PSY 405
VU
Lesson 9
ALFRED ADLER
(Individual Psychology)
Biographical Sketch
Adler was born in Vienna, Austria in 1870, he was second of six children and he had severe rivalry with his
older brother who was very athletic and the model child of the family. Alder thought of himself as ugly and
short. He had miserable childhood. He suffered from rickets which prevented him to take part in sports.
When he was five years old, he suffered from Pneumonia. He heard the doctor's say to his parents, you boy
is lost. After getting better, he decided to become a medical doctor. Adler read Freud's book called The
Interpretation of Dreams, and he wrote a paper supporting this book. Freud invited Adler to join the
psycho-analytic society and to become the president of the Society. This was Adler's biggest mistake to
become the president of the psycho-analytic society. Soon he began to find that Freud could not take
criticism and would become very aggressive and abusive. After breaking from Freud, Adler coined the term
Individual Psychology and began developing his own theory of personality. Initially, Adler's work was
focused on problems of child rearing, education and other every day problems. Adler's theory is still
pursued by his daughter Alexandra and son Kurt who practiced their father's brand of psychology in New
York.
Individual Psychology:
The term individual psychology refers to the fact that individuals are unique, they characterize by inner
harmony and a striving force to cooperate with fellow humans. It does not mean that human beings are
selfish, aggressive and motivated to satisfy their own biological motives. His theory focuses on the whole
individual, the whole is more than the sum of its parts. And we dissect we distort the harmony of the whole.
Thus Adler seems to be talking, like a Gestaltian.
Organs of Inferiority and Compensation:
According to Adler, some of us are born with weak eyes, others with weak stomach, some with weak hearts
and still other with damaged limbs. These biological deficiencies or shortcomings create problem for
people. An individual with organ inferiority compensates for this particular weakness by concentrating on
its development or by emphasizing other functions which make up for the weakness. For example, a blind
person may concentrate on development of his auditory skills or focused more on some other modality such
as touch or feeling. We have many examples, Helen Keller who was blind, deaf, worked hard and focused
on her sense of touch. Beethoven, who was toned deaf, created the best music in the world.
Feeling of Inferiority:
For Adler, all of us staff life with feelings of inferiority, because we are completely dependent on adults for
our survival. This feeling of being weak and inferior stimulates and creates intense desire to seek power
and to overcome feeling of inferiority. Are feeling of inferiority bad? It is a fact, which is the driving force
in all humans. One feels inferior and therefore, strives to become powerful and tries to accomplish more.
Therefore all humans experience the feeling of being inferior but in some, it creates neurosis, a need to
succeed under all circumstances and conditions.
Striving for Superiority:
Striving for superiority is individual's superiority to strive for a superior or a perfect society. This could be
beneficial as well as harmful, if a person concentrates on fulfilling his personal needs and ignores the needs
of others, and the society then he suffers from superiority complex i.e. one individual tries to be
domineering, arrogant and tries to deceive others. This is a self centered selfish individual.
Style of Life:
All humans strive for superiority, but how superiority is sought depends upon a person's unique
circumstances. The means by which a particular individual attempts to gain superiority is called the style of
life. A person's life style provides him with his identity. It determines how he will solve his problems, what
future goals he will pursue and how he will attain them. A healthy style of life permits a person to live in
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Personality Psychology ­ PSY 405
VU
harmony with others and to contribute towards the advancement of the society. A mistaken style of life is
based on one selfish motives and ignorance towards betterment of society. The style of life evolves early in
life so the child can overcome his feelings of inferiority and strive for perfection and pursue the betterment
of the society. Adler believed that style of life develops early in childhood, whereas Erikson sees style of
life as self identity and it develops during late adolescence.
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Table of Contents:
  1. THE NATURE OF PERSONALITY THEORY:Objectives of Personality Psychology
  2. PERSONALITY MEASUREMENT:Observational Procedures, Rating Scales
  3. MAIN PERSPECTIVES:Psychometrics, observation, Behavioral Coding Systems
  4. SIGMUND FREUD: A PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY OF PERSONALITY
  5. INSTINCT: WHAT MOTIVATES HUMAN BEHAVIOR?, The Oral Stage
  6. PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY OF SIGMUND FREUD:The Ego, Free association
  7. THEORY OF CARL JUNG:Biographical Sketch, Principles of Opposites, The Persona
  8. THE PSYCHOLOGICAL TYPES:Childhood, Young Adulthood, Middle Ages
  9. ALFRED ADLER:Biographical Sketch, Individual Psychology, Feeling of Inferiority
  10. INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY:Fictional Finalism, Social Interest, Mistaken Styles of Life
  11. KAREN HORNEY:Adjustment to Basic Anxiety, Adjustment Techniques
  12. ADJUSTMENT TO BASIC ANXIETY:Moving Towards People, Moving Against People
  13. ERIK ERIKSON:Anatomy and Destiny, Ego Psychology, Goal of Psychotherapy
  14. ERIK ERIKSON:Human Development, Goal of Psychotherapy
  15. SULLIVAN’S INTERPERSONAL THEORY:Core Concepts, The Self-System
  16. SULLIVAN’S INTERPERSONAL THEORY:Cognitive Process, Tension
  17. CONSTITUTIONAL PSYCHOLOGY:The Structure of Physique, Evaluation
  18. SHELDON’S SOMATOTYPE THEORY:The Structure of Physique
  19. MASLOW’S THEORY:Self-Actualizers Aren't Angels, Biographical Sketch
  20. MASLOW’S THEORY:Basic Concepts of Humanistic Psychology, Problem Centering
  21. ROGERS PERSON CENTERED APPROACH:Humanistic, Actualizing tendency
  22. ROGERS PERSON CENTERED APPROACH:Fully functioning person
  23. ROGERS PERSON CENTERED APPROACH:Client Centered Therapy,
  24. KELLY’S COGNITIVE THEORY OF PERSONALITY THEORY:Biographical Sketch
  25. CORE CONCEPTS OF GEORGE KELLY’S COGNITIVE THEORY OF PERSONALITY
  26. GORDON ALLPORT: A TRAIT THEORY OF PERSONALITY:Personality as a
  27. GORDON ALLPORT: A TRAIT THEORY OF PERSONALITY:Secondary Traits
  28. FACTOR ANALYTIC TRAIT THEORY:Factor Analysis, The Nature of Personality
  29. FACTOR ANALYTIC TRAIT THEORY:The Specification Equation, Research Methods
  30. HENRY MURRAY’S PERSONOLOGY:Need, Levels of Analysis, Thema
  31. HENRY MURRAY’S PERSONOLOGY (CONTINUED)
  32. ALBERT BANDURA’S SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY:BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
  33. ALBERT BANDURA’S SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY:Reciprocal Determinism
  34. THE STIMULUS RESPONSE THEORY OF DOLLARD AND MILLER:Core Concepts
  35. THE STIMULUS RESPONSE THEORY OF DOLLARD AND MILLER:Innate Equipment
  36. SKINNER’S THEORY OF PERSONALITY:Biographical Sketch, Books
  37. SKINNER’S THEORY OF PERSONALITY:Positive Reinforcement, Generalization
  38. ALBERT ELLIS THEORY OF PERSONALITY:Biographical Sketch, Social Factors
  39. THE GRAND PERFECT THEORY OF PERSONALITY:Genes and Biology
  40. PERSPECTIVES OR DOMAINS OF PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY:Dispositional
  41. PERSPECTIVES OR DOMAINS OF PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY
  42. PERSPECTIVES OR DOMAINS OF PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY:Need
  43. THE GRAND THEORY OF PERSONALITY:Psychosexual Stages of Development
  44. PERSONALITY APPRAISAL:Issues in Personality Assessment
  45. PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY: NEW DIRECTIONS IN THE DISCIPLINE