ALFRED ADLERS CONCEPT REGARDING PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT

Dr Smitha R.Menon I MD OM smitha.sijun@gmail.com

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PERSONALITY
Personality is the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his unique adjustments to his environment

GORDON ALLPORT
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THEORIES OF PERSONALITY

Type & trait theories Dynamic personality theories Learning & behavioral theories Humanistic theories Social cognitive theory

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DYNAMIC PERSONALITY THEORY

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The dynamic personality theories includes

The psychoanalytic theory of FREUD The analytical psychology of JUNG The individual psychology of ADLER & The psychoanalytic interpersonal theory of HORNEY
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The first three were considered as the TRIO OF PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY. ADLER along with FREUD & JUNG were considered as one of the three founding figures of DEPTH PSYCHOLOGY, which PSYCHOLOGY emphasizes the unconscious and psychodynamics.
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THE NEO-FREUDIAN PSYCHOANALYSTS

One important out growth of Freuds theory was the work done by a series of successors who were trained in the traditional Freudian theory but who later rejected some of its major points. These theorists are known as neo Freudian psychoanalysts. They paid greater attention to social factors& effect of society & culture on personality.
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These personality theorists accepted basic portions of Freuds theory but rejected or modified other portions. These people placed less emphasis on sex as a driving force in life but they paid greater attention to social factors and the effects of society and culture on personality development.

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They include
Carl

J Jung Alfred Adler Erik Erikson Anna Freud Karen Horney

ALFRED ADLER

One important neo Freudian and was the first major figure to break away from psychoanalysis to form an independent school of psychotherapy and personality theory

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Born February 7, 1870 Rudolfsheim, Austria Died May 28, 1937 (aged 67) Aberdeen, Scotland Residence Austria Nationality Austrian Ethnicity Jewish Occupation Psychiatrist

Alfred Adler

Known for Individual Psychology

Alfred Adler was an Austrian medical doctor, psychologist and founder of the school of individual psychology. Adler was among the co-founders of the psychoanalytic movement as a core member of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society. Following the split, Adler would come to have an enormous, independent effect on the disciplines of counseling and psychotherapy as they developed over the course of the 20th century . His writings preceded, and were at times surprisingly consistent with, later neo-Freudian insights .
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Early life

Alfred Ethan Adler was the second child of seven children . Early on, he developed rickets, which kept him from walking until he was four years old. He almost died of pneumonia when he was five and it was at this age that he decided to be a physician. Alfred was an active, popular child and an average student who was also known for his competitive attitude toward his older brother, Sigmund. In 1895 he received a medical degree from the University of Vienna. He began his medical career as an opthalmologist.

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ADLERS CONCEPT OF PERSONALITY

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Exaggerated sensitiveness is an expression of the feeling of inferiority ADLER

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INFERIORITY COMPLEX

He believed that the most basic human drive is the striving from an initial state of inadequacy, or what he termed "inferiority", toward "superiority", or selfactualization. Adler emphasized the importance of feelings of inferiority ,which he believed we experience as children because of our small size and physical weakness. He viewed personality development as stemming primarily from our efforts to overcome such feelings through what he termed striving for superiority.
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Early social relationship with parents have an important effect on how well children are able to outgrow feelings of personal inferiority and how they can attain more socially useful goals, such as improving society

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His most famous concept is the inferiority complex which speaks to the problem of selfesteem and its negative effects on human health (e.g. sometimes producing a paradoxical superiority striving) In the course of his work as a physician he made study of the interplay between what he termed "organ deficiency" (illness, physical handicaps, etc.) and an individual's personality and self-image
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He argued that human personality could be explained as parts of the individual's unconscious self ideal work to convert feelings of inferiority to superiority (or rather completeness). If the corrective factors were disregarded and the individual over-compensated, then an inferiority complex would occur, fostering the danger of the individual becoming egocentric, power-hungry and aggressive or worse.

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Primary human motivation is a striving for superiority , not in terms of superiority over others, but as a quest to achieve self improvement and perfection

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A simple rule in dealing with those who are hard to get along with is to remember that this person is striving to assert his superiority; and you must deal with him from that point of view ADLER
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INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY

Alfred Adler was the founder of individual psychology . In 1912, he published The Neurotic Constitution, where he at last introduced the term "individual psychology. For Adler the individual was the smallest unit for study and description , and he took as his focus the individual in relation to his larger community in context -- his family, work associates, society. The individual's level of functionality and fulfillment as part of the group was Adler's chief indicator of wellness.
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Each individual creates his or her own personal approach to living; This highly individualized style grows out of the individuals unique sense of his or her own inferiorities and the strategies he/she develop to overcome these inferiorities.

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Each of us develop a unique and relatively lasting method of coping with life. This concepts ,together with the concept of the subjective nature of individual goals ,led Adler to label his theory individual psychology STYLE OF LIFE

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BIRTH ORDER

Adler often emphasized one's birth order as having an influence on the Style of Life and the strengths and weaknesses in one's psychological make up. Birth Order referred to the placement of siblings within the family. Adler believed that the firstborn child would be loved and nurtured by the family until the arrival of a second child. This second child would cause the first born to suffer feelings of dethronement, no longer being the center of attention.
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Adler believed that in a three-child family, the oldest child would be the most likely to suffer from neuroticism and substance addiction which he reasoned was a compensation for the feelings of excessive responsibility "the weight of the world on one's shoulders" (e.g. having to look after the younger ones) and the melancholic loss of that once supremely pampered position
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As a result, he predicted that this child was the most likely to end up in jail or an asylum. Youngest children would tend to be overindulged, leading to poor social empathy. Consequently, the middle child, who would experience neither dethronement nor overindulgence, was most likely to develop into a successful individual yet also most likely to be a rebel and to feel squeezed-out.
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Adler himself was the second in a family of six children. He believed the middle children were competitive and ambitious possibly so they are able to surpass the first-borns achievements, but were not as much concerned about the glory. Also he believed the last born would be more dependent and sociable but be the baby. He also believed that the only child loves being the center of attention and matures quickly, but in the end fails to become independent
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The subjective experiences of sibling positionality and inter-relations are psychodynamically important for Adlerian therapists

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TYPOLOGY

Adler (1956) developed a scheme of socalled personality types. These 'types' are to be taken as provisional since he did not, in essence, believe in personality types

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The Getting or Leaning type are those who selfishly take without giving back. These people also tend to be antisocial and have low activity levels. The Avoiding types are those that hate being defeated. They may be successful, but have not taken any risks getting there. They are likely to have low social contact in fear of rejection or defeat in any way. The Ruling or Dominant type strive for power and are willing to manipulate situations and people, anything to get their way. People of this type are also prone to anti-social behavior. The Socially Useful types are those who are very outgoing and very active. They have a lot of social contact and strive to make changes for good.

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FICTIONAL FINALISM

unrealistic goals. Adler called the story that we tell ourselves (much of it unconscious) a "fiction", to distinguish it from who and how an individual really is.

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These fictions then govern not only how we see the world, and ourselves in relation to it, but they govern the very choices we make. Adler felt that if we could help the individual identify fictions that were dysfunctionally inaccurate, and help them develop a new one, a new self-image and goal, they would lead a happier more productive life.
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PSYCHODYNAMICS & TELEOLOGY

Adler maintained that human psychology is psychodynamic in nature, yet unlike Freud's metapsychology that emphasizes instinctual demands, human psychology is guided by goals and fueled by a yet unknown creative force. Like Freud's instincts, Adler's fictive goals are largely unconscious
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CONTRIBUTIONS OF ADLER THE ADLERIAN SCHOOL

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Built an independent school of psychotherapy and a unique personality theory. He traveled and lectured for a period of 25 years promoting his socially oriented approach.

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After the conclusion of the world war I (1930s), he established a number of child guidance clinics. From 1921 onwards, he was a frequent lecturer in Europe and the United States, becoming a visiting professor at Columbia University in 1927. His clinical treatment methods for adults were aimed at uncovering the hidden purpose of symptoms using the therapeutic functions of insight and meaning.
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Adler was concerned with the overcoming of the superiority/inferiority dynamic and was one of the first psychotherapists to discard the analytic couch in favor of two chairs. This allows the clinician and patient to sit together more or less as equals.

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. Clinically, Adler's methods are not limited to treatment after-the-fact but extend to the realm of prevention by preempting future problems in the child. He often wrote for the lay publicunlike Freud and Jung, who tended to write almost exclusively for an academic audience

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. Adler always retained a pragmatic approach that was task-oriented. These "Life tasks" are occupation/work, society/friendship, and love/ sexuality. Their success depends on cooperation. The tasks of life are not to be considered in isolation since, as Adler famously commented, "they all throw crosslights on one another
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Parent education
As a psychodynamic psychology, Adlerians emphasize the foundational importance of childhood in developing personality and any tendency towards various forms of psychopathology --------to train a child to be and feel an equal part of the family.

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Adler was against corporal punishment and cautioned parents to refrain from the twin evils of pampering and neglect . The responsibility to the optimal development of the child is not limited to the Mother or Father but to teachers and society more broadly.

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When a child does not feel equal and is enacted upon (abused through pampering or neglect) they are likely to develop inferiority or superiority complexes and various accompanying compensation strategies.---Higher divorce rates, the breakdown of the family, criminal tendencies, and subjective suffering in the various psychopathologies.
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Adlerian-based scholarly, clinical and social practices focus on the following topics --BASIC PRINCIPLES

Mental Health Prevention Social Interest and Community Feeling Holism and the Creative Self Fictional Finalism, Teleology, and Goal constructs Psychological and Social Encouragement Inferiority, Superiority and Compensation Life Style / Style of life
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Early Recollections Family Constellation and Birth Order Life Tasks & Social Embeddedness The Conscious and Unconscious realms Symptoms and Neurosis Safeguarding Behaviour Guilt and Guilt Feelings Dream Interpretation Child and Adolescent Psychology Democratic approaches to Parenting and Families Adlerian Approaches to Classroom Management Leadership and Organisational Psychology
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Publications

The Practice and Theory of Individual Psychology (1927) Understanding Human Nature (1927) What Life Could Mean to You (1931) The Collected Clinical Works of Alfred Adler(1898-1937) The Neurotic Character(1907)
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Emigration and death

In the early 1930s, after most of Adler's Austrian clinics were closed due to his Jewish heritage (although he had converted to Christianity) Adler left Austria for a professorship at the Long Island College of Medicine in the USA. Adler died from a heart attack in Aberdeen, Scotland during a lecture tour in 1937.
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Around the world there are various organizations promoting Adler's orientation towards mental and social well-being. These include International Committee of Adlerian Summer Schools and Institutes (ICASSI) North American Society for Adlerian Psychology (NASAP) and International Association for Individual Psychology.

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FREUD Vs ADLER

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SIMILARITIES

Psychodynamic system they excavate the past experiences of the client. Unconscious motives & impulses are studied--- depth psychology Child hood experiences Dream analysis

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CONTROVERSIES

People are primarily SOCIAL & not SEXUAL SOCIAL MOTIVES are more powerful than SEXUAL. STYLE OF LIFE determines how a person satisfies SEXUAL NEEDS rather than vice versa CONSCIOUS goal directed behavior is more important to explore than UNCONSCIOUS MOTIVATION
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FREUD Id-- unconscious Sexually obsessed abstractions Sexual impulses driving force behind behavior Did not share the socialist belief Psychoanalytic couch

ADLER Individual Real &daily life experience Power &motivation driving force Social equality&interest Analyst &patient relationshipnonauthoritarian
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FREUD DREAMS repressed feelings

ADLER DREAMS issues the dreamer is well aware of & how to resolve them. Solving real life problem in a realistic way There is continuity of thought during waking & sleep
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APPLICATIONS OF ALDERIAN PERSONALITY THEORY

COUNCELLING -What you are is not important, what you think what you are is important ADLER INDIVIDUAL & GROUP THERAPY CHILD GUIDANCE PARENTS & TEACHER TRAINING SIBLING BOND
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REFERENCES
GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY C.T.MORGAN INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY- S.K.MANGAL PSYCHOLOGY ROBERT A.BARON UNDERSTANDING PSYCHOLOGY ROBERT S.FELDMAN

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THANK YOU

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