CHAPTER 3

ADLER: INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY

 

LECTURE OUTLINE

I.      Overview of Adler’s Individual Psychology

       An original member of Freud’s psychoanalytic group, Alfred Adler broke from Freud and advocated a theory of personality and an approach to psychotherapy that were nearly diametrically opposed to those of Freud. Whereas Freud’s view of humanity was deterministic, pessimistic, and rooted in biology, Adler’s view was idealistic, optimistic, and rooted in social experiences.

 


II.     Biography of Alfred Adler

       Alfred Adler was born in 1870 in a town near Vienna, a second son of middle-class Jewish parents. As a young child he was weak and sickly, a condition that contrasted sharply with his healthy older brother, Sigmund. Adler developed a strong rivalry with Sigmund—a rivalry that was similar to his later relationship with Freud. Like Freud, Adler was a physician, and in 1902, he became a charter member of Freud’s organization. However, personal and professional differences between the two men led to Adler’s departure from the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society in 1911. Adler soon founded his own group, the Society for Individual Psychology. Unlike Freud, who was a gifted writer, Adler was merely a mediocre writer. His strengths were his energetic oral presentations and his insightful ability to understand family dynamics. During the last few years of his life, Adler lived in the United States and earned a reputation as a gifted public speaker. He died in 1937 in Scotland while on a lecture tour.

 

III.    Introduction to Adlerian Theory

       Although Adler’s individual psychology is both complex and comprehensive, its main tenets can be organized into six main topics: (1) striving for success or superiority, (2) subjective perceptions, (3) unity and self-consistency of personality, (4) social interest, (5) style of life, and (6) creative power.

 

IV.    Striving for Success or Superiority

       The sole dynamic force behind all our actions, according to Adler, is the striving for success or superiority.

       A.      The Final Goal

       The final goal of success or perfection toward which all people strive unifies personality and makes all behavior meaningful. People are not always conscious of their final goal, even though they may be aware of their immediate subgoals.

       B.      The Striving Force as Compensation

       Because people are born with small, inferior bodies, they feel inferior and attempt to overcome these feelings through their natural tendency to move toward completion. The striving force can take one of two courses: personal gain (superiority) or community benefit (success).

       C.      Striving for Personal Superiority

       Psychologically unhealthy individuals strive for personal superiority with little concern for other people. Although they may appear to be interested in others, their basic motivation is personal benefit.

       D.      Striving for Success

       In contrast, psychologically healthy people strive for the success of all humanity, but they do so without losing their personal identity.

 

V.     Subjective Perceptions

       People’s subjective view of the world—not reality—shapes their behavior.

       A.      Fictionalism

       Fictions are people’s beliefs and expectations of the future. Adler held that fictions guide behavior, because people act as if these fictions are true. Adler emphasized teleology over causality; that is, he favored explanations of behavior in terms of future goals rather than past causes.

       B.      Organ Inferiorities

       Adler believed that all humans are “blessed” with organ inferiorities and that these small, inferior organs stimulate subjective feelings of inferiority and move people toward perfection or completion.

 

VI.    Unity and Self-Consistency of Personality

       Adler believed that all of our behaviors are directed toward a single purpose and that the entire personality functions in a self-consistent manner.

       A.      Organ Dialect

       People sometimes use a physical disorder to express style of life, a condition Adler called organ dialect.

       B.      Conscious and Unconscious

       Conscious and unconscious processes are unified and operate to achieve a single goal. The part of our goal that is not clearly understood is unconscious; to the extent that we comprehend our goal, it is conscious.

 

VII.   Social Interest

       Human behavior has value to the extent that it is motivated by social interest, or a feeling of oneness with all of humanity.

       A.      Origins of Social Interest

       Although social interest exists as potentiality in all people, it must be fostered in a social environment. Adler believed that both mothers and fathers have crucial roles in furthering the social interest of their children and that the parent–child relationship can be strong that it negates the effects of heredity.

       B.      Importance of Social Interest

       Without social interest, societies could not exist, because individuals could not protect themselves from danger. Thus, an infant’s helplessness predisposes it toward a nurturing person. According to Adler, social interest is “the sole criterion of human values,” and the “barometer of normality.” The worthiness of all one’s actions must be viewed by these standards.

 

VIII. Style of Life

       The manner of a person’s striving is called style of life. It is a product of the interaction of heredity, environment, goal of success, social interest, and creative power. Style of life is relatively well set by 4 or 5 years of age, but Adler believed that healthy individuals are marked by flexible behavior and that they have some limited ability to change their style of life.

 

IX.    Creative Power

       Adler believed that heredity and environment provide the building materials for our style of life, but he insisted that ultimately style of life is shaped by our creative power; that is, it is shaped by our ability to freely choose which building materials to use and how to use them. In other words, Adler contended that people have considerable ability to freely choose their actions and their personality.

 

X.     Abnormal Development

       Creative power is not limited to healthy people; unhealthy individuals also create their own personalities. Thus, each of us is free to choose either a useful or a useless style of life.

       A.      General Description

       The most important factor in abnormal development is underdeveloped social interest. In addition, people with a useless style of life tend to (1) set their goals too high, (2) live in their own private world, and (3) have a rigid and dogmatic style
of life.

       B.      External Factors in Maladjustment

       Adler listed three factors that relate to abnormal development.

       1.      Exaggerated Physical Deficiencies

       Severe physical defects do not by themselves cause abnormal development,
but they may contribute to it by generating subjective and exaggerated feelings
of inferiority.


      2.      Pampered Style of Life

       Children who see themselves as being pampered develop low levels of social interest and continue to have an overriding drive to establish a permanent parasitic relationship with their mother or a mother substitute.

       3.      Neglected Style of Life

       Children who feel neglected often use these feelings as building material for a useless style of life—one characterized by distrust of other people.

       C.      Safeguarding Tendencies

       Both normal and neurotic people create symptoms as a means of protecting their fragile self-esteem. These safeguarding tendencies maintain a neurotic style of life and protect a person from public disgrace.

       1.      Excuses

       The most common safeguarding tendency is excuses, which frequently take the form of “Yes, but” or “If only.” By making excuses for their shortcomings, people can preserve their inflated sense of personal worth.

       2.      Aggression

       People often safeguard a weak self-esteem by behaving aggressively toward themselves or others. Safeguarding through aggression may take the form of depreciating others’ accomplishments, accusing others of being responsible for one’s own failures, and accusing one’s self as a means of inflicting suffering
on others.

       3.      Withdrawal

       People with a neurotic style of life often try to escape from life’s problems by running away from them; that is, they withdraw or safeguard themselves by maintaining distance. People can withdraw psychologically by moving backward, standing still, hesitating, or constructing obstacles.


      D.      Masculine Protest

       Both men and women sometimes overemphasize the desirability of being manly,
a condition Adler called the masculine protest. The frequently found inferior
status of women is not based on physiology but on historical developments and social learning.

 

XI.    Applications of Individual Psychology

       Adler applied the principles of individual psychology to family constellation (birth order), early recollections, dreams, and psychotherapy.

       A.      Family Constellation

       Adler believed that people’s perception of how they fit into their family is related to their style of life. He claimed that firstborns are likely to have strong feelings of power and superiority, to be overprotective, and to have more than their share of anxiety. Secondborns (like Adler himself) are likely to have strong social interest, provided they do not get trapped trying to overcome their older sibling. Youngest children are likely to be pampered and to lack independence, whereas only children may have even less social interest and tend to expect others to take care of them.

       B.      Early Recollections

       A more reliable method of determining style of life is to ask people for their earliest recollections (ERs). Adler believed that ERs are not chance memories but templates on which people project their current style of life. These recollections need not be accurate accounts of early events; they have psychological importance because they reflect our current view of the world.

       C.      Dreams

       Adler believed that dreams can provide clues to solving future problems. However, dreams are disguised to deceive the dreamer and therefore are most accurately interpreted by another person.


      D.      Psychotherapy

       The goal of Adlerian therapy is to create a relationship between therapist and patient that fosters the patient’s social interest, courage, and self-esteem. To ensure that the patient’s social interest will eventually generalize to other relationships, the therapist adopts both a maternal and a paternal role.

 

XII.   Related Research

       Although birth order, or family constellation, has been widely studied by psychologists and other social scientists, a research area more pertinent to Adlerian theory is early recollections, a topic that is beginning to receive increased attention by researchers.

       A.      Early Recollections and Personal Traits

       Research shows that early recollections are related to a number of personal traits, such as birth order, depression, college major, alcoholism, criminal behavior, and eating disorder. Nichols and Feist (1994) showed that optimists and pessimists had quite different early recollections. In general, they found that optimists were more likely to include other people in their ERs, see themselves as active, have clear and vivid ERs, have more sustained interpersonal interactions in their ERs, recall events in which they gained success, and have more pleasant ERs. Other research (Buchanan, Kern, & Bell-Dumas, 1991) suggested that made-up early recollections may be as meaningful as actual ones.

       B.      Early Recollections and Psychotherapy Outcomes

       Research has also shown that early recollections are related to success in counseling and psychotherapy. For example, Savill and Eckstein (1987) found that patients receiving therapy changed their ERs from pre- to post-treatment. In addition, Statton and Wilborn (1991) demonstrated that change as a result of counseling may be capable of producing changes in early recollections.

 


XIII.  Critique of Adler

       Individual psychology rates high on its ability to generate research, organize data, and guide the practitioner. It receives a moderate rating on parsimony, but the authors rated it low on internal consistency because it lacks operational definitions and low on falsification because many of its related research findings can be explained by other theories.

 

XIV  Concept of Humanity

       Adler saw people as forward moving, social animals who are motivated by goals they set (both consciously and unconsciously) for the future. People are ultimately responsible for their own unique style of life. Thus, Adler’s theory rates high on free-choice, social influences, and uniqueness; very high on optimism and teleology; and average on unconscious influences.

 

 


Twelve Stages of Classical Adlerian Psychotherapy

Classical Adlerian psychotherapy is characterized by a diplomatic, warm, empathic, and Socratic style of treatment. This climate embodies the qualities of respect and equality necessary for building a trusting cooperative, relationship.

A full psychotherapy can be envisioned as a progression though twelve stages. These stages should be considered as teaching guidelines and should not be interpreted as a systematic procedure. Psychotherapy is an art that must be practiced creatively. The best therapeutic strategy is frequently a unique invention for the individual client.

1) Empathy and Relationship Stage:

Establishing an empathic, cooperative, working relationship. Offering hope, reassurance, and encouragement.

2) Information Stage:

Unstructured gathering of relevant information. Details of presenting problem and overview of general functioning. Exploration of early childhood situaiton, memories, and dreams.

3) Clarification Stage:

Clarifying vague thinking with Socratic questionsing. Evaluating consequences of ideas and behavior. Correcting mistaken ideas about self and others.

4) Encouragement Stage:

Encouraging thinking and behavior in a new direction. Beginning to move in a new direction, away from life style. Clarifying feelings about effort and results.

5) Interpretation and Recognition Stage:

Interpreting inferiority feelings, style of life, and fictional final goal of superiority. Identifying what has been in avoided in development. Integrating birth order, earliest recollections, and dreams.

6) Knowing Stage:

Reinforcing client's self-awareness of life style and feelings about new successes. Client knows what needs to be done but may feel blocked.

7) Emotional Breakthrough Stage:

When needed, promoting emotional breakthroughs with "missing experiences" that correct past or present negative influences. Use of role-playing, guided imagery, and group dynamics.

8) Doing Differently Stage:

Converting insight into a different attitude. Experimenting with concrete actions based on abstract ideas. Comparing new and old behavior.

9) Reinforcement Stage:

Encouraging all new movements toward significant change. Affirming positive results and feelings. Evaluating progress and new courage.

10) Social Interest Stage:

Using client's better feelings to extend cooperation and caring about other people. Learning to give generously of oneself and to take necessary risks. Awakening feeling of equality.

11) Goal Redirection Stage:

Challenging client to let go of self and the old fictional goal. Dissolving the style of life and adopting new values. Discovering a new psychological horizon.

12) Support and Launching Stage:

Launching client into a new, creative, gratifying way of living for self and others. Learning to love the struggle and prefer the unfamiliar. Promoting a path of continual growth for self and others.

Cognitve, Affective, & Behavioral Change

Comprehensive treatment strategies stimulate cognitive, affective, and behavioral change. The Socratic method guides clients to insights that generate decisions and plans for action. Guided and eidetic imagery, as well as "missing experience" techniques facilitate affective change and growth. Role-playing and "future scenarios" provide safe and encouraging behavioral preparation and practice.

Classical Adlerian psychotherapy attempts to bring each individual to an optimal level of personal, interpersonal, and occupational functioning. For some clients, brief therapy is the limit of their interest or budget and therapy stops at the fourth stage of treatment. For others, after completing the twelve stages, philosophical and/or spiritual issues are discussed.