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.
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.
Establishing an empathic, cooperative, working relationship. Offering hope, reassurance, and encouragement.
Unstructured gathering of relevant information. Details of presenting problem and overview of general functioning. Exploration of early childhood situaiton, memories, and dreams.
Clarifying vague thinking with Socratic questionsing. Evaluating consequences of ideas and behavior. Correcting mistaken ideas about self and others.
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.
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.
Reinforcing client's self-awareness of life style and feelings about new successes. Client knows what needs to be done but may feel blocked.
When needed, promoting emotional breakthroughs with "missing experiences" that correct past or present negative influences. Use of role-playing, guided imagery, and group dynamics.
Converting insight into a different attitude. Experimenting with concrete actions based on abstract ideas. Comparing new and old behavior.
Encouraging all new movements toward significant change. Affirming positive results and feelings. Evaluating progress and new courage.
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.
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.
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.
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.