Alfred Adler - Biography, Six major Tenets

Alfred Adler

[Brief Biography of Alfred Adler]

• The founder of Individual Psychology
• The son of Leopold and Pauline Adler
• Born in Austria in 1870, died in 1937 (67 years old)
• Suffered a near death experience (Pneumonia)
• Like Freud, his younger brother died
• Become a medical doctor to conquer death
• Had an intense rivalry with his old brother, Sigmund Adler

[Six Major Tenets]

• The one dynamic force behind people's behavior is the striving for success or superiority
• People's subjective perceptions shape their behavior and personality
• Personality is unified and self-consistent
• The values of all human activing must be seen from the view point of social interest
• The Self-consistent personality develops into a person's style of life
• Style of life is molded by people's creative power

[Striving for success or superiority]

• As a baby > Physical Weakness > Final Goal

             - Personal superiority

             - Success for all humanity

• 2 Forces

             - Tendency towards completion

             - Feeling of inferiority

• Final Goal depends on psychological maturity

             - Party conscious, healthy goal ( e.g. low/middle SES)

             - Purely unconscious, unhealthy goal (e.g. spoiled rich kid)

• Final Goal is fictional

             - Subjective

             - Goals can be broken down to sub-goals

[Fictionalism or Subjective perceptions]

• We live our lives based on our fictional beliefs.

 

[Social Interest]

• Gemeinschaftsgefuhl (German term)

             - Social interest, social feelings, oneness with all Humanity

             - Manifests as cooperation with others for social advancement rather than for personal gain

             - Difference between success & superiority

• Origin

             - Parental Relationship

             - Mother

                    - Love that is centered on the child's well being, not on the mother's need and wants

             - Father

                    - Avoid the dual errors

                            - Emotional detachment > Parasitic attachment to the mother

                            - Paternal authoritarianism > Striving for personal superiority

             - Moderate inferiority leads to social interest

             - Exaggerated inferiority leads to psychopathology

             - Environment smothers heredity

• Absolute yard stick of psychological health

             - Not always apparent from behavior

[Unity & Self Consistency of behavior]

• Everything works towards the goal

             - No inconsistent behavior

• Organ dialect
• Conscious & Unconscious cooperate

[Style of Life]

• The flavor of a person's life
• A combination of goals, self-concept, feeling for others, and attitude towards the world
• Established around 4 to 5 years old

[Creative power]

• The freedom to choose and build your own style of life
• Power of our choice ( according to Adler)