PSYCHODYNAMIC THEORIES Inferiority Feelings; The Source of Human Striving:
II. Alfred Adler: Individual Psychology
The Life of Alfred Adler - Childhood:
-he had an illness called rickets and
pneumonia, he became jealous of others
that were able to play due to physical
limitations
-he forced himself to join in games
and sports
-He experienced the death of his brother
and his own near-death experience
-with this he decided to be a doctor
-he was quite mediocre in school, and he
was supposed to be trained to become a
shoemaker
-however, he topped his class
because of his hard work
The Life of Alfred Adler - Adulthood:
-He studied medicine at the university of
Vienna
-he went into private practice as an
ophthalmologist (but this has very little
influence)
-he then shifted to General Medicine and
specialized in Neurology and Psychiatry
The Life of Alfred Adler – Relationship with Freud:
-they met once a week to discuss about
psychoanalysis, but Adler was never a
student of Freud
-Adler became president of the Vienna
Psychoanalytical Society and a coeditor of
the journal
-he then developed a negative relationship
with Freud
The Life of Alfred Adler - Becoming a Celebrity in
America:
-America's first popular psychologist
-he founded the Society of individual
psychology in 1912
-he organized child counseling clinics in
Vienna
-he also introduced group therapy
techniques and made several visits in the US
in 1926
-he moved to New York in 1929
-he died in 1937 because of a heart attack when he
was doing a lecture tour (56 lecture series) in Europe
-Inferiority feelings are common to all and it
is not just for people who have struggles in
the intrapersonal level
-when we have interiority feelings, we tend
to compensate
Compensation- the motivation to
overcome inferiority and to strive
for higher levels of development
-and when we compensate, we then strive
for superiority or perfection
-however, if we are unable to compensate,
we then developed an inferiority complex
(comes in three forms)
-Organic Inferiority- includes
defective organs or body parts that
shape our personality (but Adler
states that this should only lead us
to compensate)
-Spoiling- it's the way that people
get what they want, when they
want it (ex: family, friends, other
people spoiling a person)
-Neglecting- it stems from the
neglect of our parents or the lack of
love and security
-and then we develop inferiority complex
through the three forms, we tend to
overcompensate
Overcompensation- it is superiority
complex that is developed that is
not striving for perfection
-Superiority complex- describe as boasting,
vanity, and self-centeredness
Striving for Superiority/Perfection:
-striving for superiority or perfection should
be the ideal according to Adler
-perfection comes from the Latin word that
means “to complete/to finish”
-said that while inferiority is the general
feeling of weakness or of femininity we can
still work through our masculine protest
 masculine protest- it is a will or
drive toward power
-He tells us that human motivation is based
on our view of the future and not on
causality because of striving for superiority
and fictional Finalism
Fictional Finalism:
-it states that there is an imagined or
potential goal that guides our behavior
-it requires great expenditures of energy
and effort
-and it is manifested both by the individual
and the society as a whole
Style of Life:
-it does unique pattern of characteristics,
behaviors, and habit
-it is like conflict with between Determinism
vs. Free Will
-while all of us has a style of life
(determinism) but we still have that
creative power (free will)
Creative Power- the ability to
create an appropriate style of life
-the style of life is developed in children at
an early age (4-5 yrs. old)
-the style of life is developed in us, and we
are also able to influence it
Three Categories of Universal Problems:
-problems involving our behavior towards
others
-problems of occupation
-problems of love
Four Basic Styles of Life:
Dominant Type- more of the ruling type in
which they have little social awareness and
regard of others
(ex: personality for sociopaths,
sadists, delinquents, etc.)
Getting Type- it is the most common and it
believes that our satisfaction will come
from other people
-like to get from other people and
become dependent on them
Avoiding Type- it has no attempts to face
difficulties
-they like to avoid all possibilities of
failure
Socially Useful Type- if is someone who
knows how to cooperate with other people
and is sensitive to other people’s needs
Social Interest:
-it is the individuals innate potential to
cooperate with other people in order to
achieve personal and social goals
-“gemeinschaftsgefuhl” - the community
feeling; the potential for social interest
-it is biological and is developed socially
Safeguarding Tendencies:
-almost similar to the defense mechanisms
-but different from defense mechanisms, in
a way that it pushes anxiety to the
unconscious, safeguarding tendencies also
deal with the conscious
-it protects our self-image, and inflated self-
image from public display
Excuses- it protects a weak, but artificially
inflated, sense of self-worth and deceive
people into believing that they are more
superior than they really are
Aggression- it safeguards a person’s
exaggerated superiority complex, and
fragile self-esteem
Depreciation- it is to undervalue
others achievement
Accusation- blaming others for
one's failure
Self-Accusation- it is when people
devalue themselves in order to
inflict suffering on others while
protecting their own magnified
feelings of self-esteem
Withdrawal- it is running away from
difficulties
Psychologically Moving Backwards-
it is when we psychologically revert
to a more secure period of life to
elicit sympathy
Standing Still- it is to avoid all
responsibility by insuring
themselves against any threat of
failure
Hesitating- it is vacillated when
faced with difficult problems like
procrastination
Constructing Obstacles- constructing
our own obstacles and overcoming it
thus protecting our self-esteem
 Organ Dialect- it is not a safeguarding
tendency but is a concept of Adler and
states that whenever our bodies feel
stressed out or has an internal conflict, it
comes out as a body manifestation (ex:
butterflies in the stomach, headache, etc.)
Birth Order:
-Adler tells us that our birth order
influences our personality
-he says that our different birth order
(oldest-youngest) will influence different
parental attitudes (parenting styles for
different birth order)
-these will then influence different
childhood conditions, and thus will lead
different kinds of personalities
Human Nature:
-it is influenced by the innate aspects of
human nature and childhood experience
-it is more on Optimism, Free Will, and
Uniqueness
Assessment in Adler’s Theory- How is it Done:
What- verbalization and behavior
Where- room with comfortable chairs
facing each other
How- it is like chats between friends,
including sense of humor
Purpose- to discover the patient’s style of
life and its appropriateness
Assessment- Other Types:
Early Recollections- it is the recollection of
earliest memories, whether real events or
fantasies are assumed to reveal the primary
interest of our life
-ex: What people remember from
childhood:
-images that confirm and
support their current views
of themselves in the world
-memories that support
their direction of striving for
significance and security
Dream Analysis- Adler believes it involves
our feelings about the current problem and
what we intend to do about it
Measures of Social Interest- it supports the
use of memory and intelligence tests but
criticizes the use of personality tests
Social Interest Scale
Social Interest Index
Basic Adlerian Scales for
Interpersonal Success
Research on Adler's theory:
-it is primarily through case studies
-it cannot be repeated or duplicated
-it is not conducted in a controlled and
systematic fashion
-it has no interest in applying experimental
method
The Contributions of Adler's Theory:
-his theories are one of the most enduring
-Cognitive and Social emphases are more
comparable with trends in Psychology today
-his insights are seen in theories of Karen
Horney, Gordon Allport, Abraham Maslow,
and Julian Rotter
-aggressive drive is also contributed by him
 -women's inferiority due to social
conditioning and sexual stereotyping;
equality for the sexes

-Organic Inferiority, Inferiority Complex,

Compensation, Order of Birth

-forerunner of Social Psychology and Group

Therapy

Criticisms:

-his theories were oversimplified

-it relies heavily on common sense

-it is inconsistent and unsystematic

-it has issues between Determinism vs. Free

Choice

Later Recognition and Influence:

-his public recognition declined after his

death

-there was a string quartet named after him

-he introduced Individual Psychology: The

Journal of Adlerian Theory, Research, and
Practice